Matthew 19:1–15

Teaching About Divorce

19Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from ⁿGalilee and ^oentered ^pthe region of Judea beyond the Jordan. ²And ^qlarge crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

³And Pharisees came up to him and ^rtested him by asking, ^s“Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” ⁴He answered, ^t“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, ⁵and said, ^u‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and ^vthe two shall become one flesh’? ⁶So they are no longer two but one flesh. ^wWhat therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” ⁷They said to him, ^x“Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” ⁸He said to them, “Because of your ^yhardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. ^9zAnd I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”¹

¹⁰The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” ¹¹But he said to them, ^a“Not everyone can receive this saying, but only ^bthose to ^cwhom it is given. ¹²For 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 ^dfor the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

Let the Children Come to Me

^13eThen children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples ^frebuked the people, ¹⁴but Jesus said, ^g“Let the little children ^hcome to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” ¹⁵And he laid his hands on them and went away.