Matthew 19:1-12 - On Divorce

¹ When Jesus had finished this discourse, he left Galilee and went to the part of Judea that is on the other side of the Jordan. ² Great crowds followed him about and he cured them there. ³ And some Pharisees came up to him to test him, and they said, "Is it right for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?"

⁴ But he answered, "Did you never read that the Creator at the beginning made them male and female, ⁵ and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two of them shall become one'? So they are no longer two but one.

⁶ Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not try to separate."

⁷ They said to him, "Then why did Moses command us to draw up a written divorce-notice and give it to her?"

⁸ He said to them, "It was on account of your perversity that Moses permitted you to divorce your wives, but it was not so at the beginning. ⁹ I tell you that whoever divorces his wife on any ground but her unfaithfulness, and marries another woman, commits adultery."

¹⁰ The disciples said to him, "If that is a man's relation to his wife, it is better not to marry!"

¹¹ He said to them, "It is not everyone who can accept that, but only those who have a special gift. ¹² For some are incapable of marriage from their birth, and some have been made so by men, and some have made themselves so for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let him accept it who can."

¹ And he left that place and went into the district of Judea and crossed the Jordan, and crowds of people again gathered about him, and again he taught them as he was accustomed to do. ² Some Pharisees came up, and in order to test him asked him whether a man should be allowed to divorce his wife.

³ But he answered, "What has Moses commanded you to do?"

⁴ They said, "Moses permits a man to divorce his wife by drawing up a written divorce-notice."

⁵ But Jesus said to them, "It was on account of your perversity that he laid down that law for you. ⁶ But from the beginning of the creation, 'God made them male and female.

⁷ Therefore a man must leave his father and mother, and he and his wife must become one,' ⁸ and so they are no longer two but one. ⁹ Therefore what God has joined together man must not try to separate."

¹⁰ When they reached the house the disciples asked him about this again. ¹¹ And he said to them, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against his former wife, ¹² and if a woman divorces her husband and marries another man, she is an adulteress."

¹⁸ Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and whoever marries a woman who has been divorced from her husband commits adultery.