¹⁸ Now the Lord God said, “It is not good (beneficial) for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper [one who balances him—a counterpart who is] ^[a]suitable and complementary for him.” ¹⁹ So the Lord God formed out of the ground every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.

²¹ So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and while he slept, He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. ²² And the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man He made (fashioned, formed) into a woman, and He brought her and presented her to the man. ²³ Then Adam said,

²⁴ For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.^(A)

³ And Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?” ⁴ He replied, “Have you never read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, ⁵ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined inseparably to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?^{(A) 6} So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.”