Matthew 19:1-12 - On Divorce

¹ And it happened that when Jesus had finished these statements, he went away from Galilee and came into the region of Judea on the other side of the Jordan. ² And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. ³ And Pharisees came up to him [in order to] test him, and asked if it was permitted for a man to divorce his wife for any cause.

⁴ And he answered [and] said, "Have you not read that the one who created [them] from the beginning made them male and female ⁵ and said, 'On account of this a man will leave his father and his mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'?

⁶ So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate."

⁷ They said to him, "Why then did Moses command [us] to give a document--a certificate of divorce--and to divorce her?"

⁸ He said to them, "Moses, with reference to your hardness of heart, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not like this. ⁹ Now I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except on the basis of sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery."

¹⁰ The disciples said to him, "If this is the case of a man with his wife, it would be better not to marry!"

¹¹ But he said to them, "Not everyone can accept this saying but [those] to whom it has been given. ¹² For there are eunuchs who were born as such from [their] mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by people, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves [eunuchs] for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who is able to accept [this], let him accept [it]."

¹ And from there he set out [and] came to the region of Judea and the other side of the Jordan, and again crowds came together to him. And again, as he was accustomed [to do], he began to teach them. ² And they asked him if it was permitted for a man to divorce [his] wife, [in order to] test him.

³ And he answered [and] said to them, "What did Moses command you?"

⁴ So they said, "Moses permitted [a man] to write a certificate of divorce and to send [her] away."

⁵ But Jesus said to them, "He wrote this commandment for you because of your hardness of heart. ⁶ But from the beginning of creation 'he made them male and female.

⁷ Because of this a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, ⁸ and the two will become one flesh,' so that they are no longer two but one flesh. ⁹ Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate."

¹⁰ And in the house again the disciples began to ask him about this. ¹¹ And he said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. ¹² And if she divorces her husband [and] marries another, she commits adultery."

¹⁸ "Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and the one who marries a woman divorced from [her] husband commits adultery.