1
From there he went to the area of Judea across the Jordan. A crowd of people, as was so often the case, went along, and he, as he so often did, taught them.
2
Pharisees came up, intending to give him a hard time. They asked, "Is it legal for a man to divorce his wife?"
3
Jesus said, "What did Moses command?"
4
They answered, "Moses gave permission to fill out a certificate of dismissal and divorce her."
5
Jesus said, "Moses wrote this command only as a concession to your hardhearted ways.
6
In the original creation, God made male and female to be together.
7
Because of this, a man leaves father and mother, and in marriage
8
he becomes one flesh with a woman - no longer two individuals, but forming a new unity.
9
Because God created this organic union of the two sexes, no one should desecrate his art by cutting them apart."
10
When they were back home, the disciples brought it up again.
11
Jesus gave it to them straight: "A man who divorces his wife so he can marry someone else commits adultery against her.
12
And a woman who divorces her husband so she can marry someone else commits adultery."