Matthew 19:1-12

Teaching About Divorce

1 Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from ¹Galilee and ²entered ³the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.

2 And ⁴large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

3 And Pharisees came up to him and ⁵tested him by asking, ⁶“Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause? ”

4 He answered, ⁷“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,

5 and said, ⁸‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and ⁹the two shall become one flesh’?

6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. ¹⁰What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. ”

7 They said to him, ¹¹“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 ¹²hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

9 ¹³And 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, ¹⁴“Not everyone can receive this saying, but only ¹⁵those to ¹⁶whom 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 ¹⁷for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it. ”