Matthew 19:1-12

Matthew 19:1-12

19:1 When Jesus had finished these words, He left Galilee and came into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan; ² and large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there.

³ Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?”⁴ And 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 shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.” ⁷ They *said to Him, “Why, then, did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?”⁸ He *said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. ⁹ And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

¹⁰ The disciples *said to Him, “If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry.” ¹¹ But He said to them, “Not all men can accept this statement, but onlythose to whom it has been given. ¹² For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by people; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who is able to accept this, let him accept it.”