Marriage and Divorce^(A)

10 Then ^(B)He arose from there and came to the region of Judea by the other side of the Jordan. And multitudes gathered to Him again, and as He was accustomed, He taught them again.

^2 (C)The Pharisees came and asked Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” testing Him.

³ And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?”

⁴ They said, ^(D)“Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her.”

⁵ And Jesus answered and said to them, “Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this ^[a]precept. ⁶ But from the beginning of the creation, God ^(E)‘made them male and female.’ ^7 (F)‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, ⁸ and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹ Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

¹⁰ In the house His disciples also asked Him again about the same matter. ¹¹ So He said to them, ^(G)“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. ¹² And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

³ The 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?”

Marriage Is Sacred and Binding^(A)

³¹ “Furthermore it has been said, ^(B)‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ ³² But I say to you that ^(C)whoever divorces his wife for any reason except ^[a]sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.

⁸ He said to them, “Moses, because of the ^(A)hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your ^(B)wives, but from the beginning it was not so. ^9 (C)And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for ^[a]sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

Law Concerning Divorce

24 “When a ^(A)man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some ^[a]uncleanness in her, and he writes her a ^(B)certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, ² when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, ³ if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, ^4 (C)then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is ^[b]an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

¹² But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. ¹³ And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. ¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise ^(A)your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. ¹⁵ But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us ^(B)to peace. ¹⁶ For how do you know, O wife, whether you will ^(C)save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

^39 (A)A wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whom she wishes, ^(B)only in the Lord.