Matthew 19:1–15

Instruction About Divorce

Mark 10:1–16; Luke 18:15–17

19Now it came to pass, ^awhen Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. ^2bAnd great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.

³The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”

⁴And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who ¹made them at the beginning ^c‘made them male and female,’ ⁵and said, ^d‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and ^ethe two shall become one flesh’? ⁶So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

⁷They said to Him, ^f“Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”

⁸He said to them, “Moses, because of the ^ghardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your ^hwives, but from the beginning it was not so. ⁹ⁱAnd I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for ²sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

¹⁰His disciples said to Him, ^j“If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

¹¹But He said to them, ^k“All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: ¹²For there are ³eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and ^lthere are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”

^13mThen little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for ⁿof such is the kingdom of heaven.” ¹⁵And He laid His hands on them and departed from there.