The Question of Divorce
1 When Jesus had finished this instruction, He departed from Galilee and went to the region of Judea across the Jordan.
2
Large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there.
3
Some Pharisees approached Him to test Him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife on any grounds?"
4
"Haven't you read," He replied, "that He who created them in the beginning made them male and female ,
5
and He also said: For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh ?
6
So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate."
7
"Why then," they asked Him, "did Moses command [us] to give divorce papers and to send her away?"
8
He told them, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of the hardness of your hearts. But it was not like that from the beginning.
9
And I tell you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery."
10
His disciples said to Him, "If the relationship of a man with his wife is like this, it's better not to marry!"