Teachings about Divorce

(Matthew 19:1–12)

10 Then Jesus left that place [and] went into the region of Judea, beyond the Jordan. Again [the] crowds came to Him and He taught them, as was His custom.

2 [Some] Pharisees came to test Him. “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” they inquired.

3 “What {did} Moses command you?” He replied.

4 They answered, “Moses permitted [a man] to write [his wife] a certificate of divorce and send [her] away.”[fn]

5 But Jesus told them, “[Moses] wrote this commandment for you because of your hardness of heart. 6 However, from [the] beginning of creation, ‘[God] made them male and female.’[fn] 7 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,[fn] 8 and the two will become one flesh.’[fn] So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, {let} man not separate.”

10 When [they were] back inside the house, the disciples asked [Jesus] about this matter. 11 [So] He told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another [woman] commits adultery against her. 12 And if a woman divorces her husband [and] marries another [man], she commits adultery.”