Matthew 19:1-9 ▼

1 It happened when Jesus had finished these words, he departed from Galilee, and came into the borders of Judea beyond the Jordan.

2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

3 And Pharisees came to him, testing him, and saying to him, |Is it lawful for a man to divorce a wife for any reason?|

4 He answered, and said, |Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,

5 and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife; and the two will become one flesh?'

6 So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no one separate.|

7 They asked him, |Why then did Moses command us to give her a certificate of divorce, and divorce her?|

8 He said to them, |Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so.

9 I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery. And he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery.|