3
And Pharisees came up to him and 1tested him by asking, 2"Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?"
4
He answered, 3"Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,
5
and said, 4'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and 5the two shall become one flesh'?
6
So they are no longer two but one flesh. 6What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."
7
They said to him, 7"Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?"
8
He said to them, "Because of your 8hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
9
9And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery."[a]
10
The disciples said to him, "If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry."
11
But he said to them, 10"Not everyone can receive this saying, but only 11those to 12whom it is given.
12
For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs 13for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it."
Let the Children Come to Me
1314Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples 15rebuked the people,
[a].
Some manuscripts add and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery; other manuscripts except for sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.