Matthew 19:1-10

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!"

Footnotes 11

  • [a]. *Here "[in order to]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("test") which is understood as purpose
  • [b]. *Here the participle ("asked") is translated as a finite verb because of English style
  • [c]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("answered") has been translated as a finite verb
  • [d]. *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  • [e]. *Literally "the"; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  • [f]. *Literally "the"; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  • [g]. A quotation from Gen 2:24
  • [h]. *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  • [i]. Some manuscripts omit "and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery"
  • [j]. Some manuscripts have "His disciples"
  • [k]. *Literally "the"; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.