Mark 10:1–12

Jesus Teaches about Divorce

10Then Jesus left that place, went to the province of Judea, and crossed the River Jordan. Crowds came flocking to him again, and he taught them, as he always did.

²Some Pharisees came to him and tried to trap him. “Tell us,” they asked, “does our Law allow a man to divorce his wife?”

³Jesus answered with a question, “What law did Moses give you?”

^4*Their answer was, “Moses gave permission for a man to write a divorce notice and send his wife away.”

⁵Jesus said to them, “Moses wrote this law for you because you are so hard to teach. ^6*But in the beginning, at the time of creation, ‘God made them male and female,’ as the scripture says. ^7*‘And for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and unite with his wife,^{q 8*}and the two will become one.’ So they are no longer two, but one. ⁹No human being then must separate what God has joined together.”

¹⁰When they went back into the house, the disciples asked Jesus about this matter. ^11*He said to them, “A man who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against his wife. ^12*In the same way, a woman who divorces her husband and marries another man commits adultery.”