Matthew 19:1–12

¹When Jesus had finished saying these things, He left Galilee and went into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. ²Large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there.

³Then some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”

⁴Jesus answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’^{a 5}and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’^b? ⁶So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

⁷“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses order a man to give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?^c”

⁸Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of your hardness of heart. But it was not this way from the beginning. ⁹Now I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.^d”

¹⁰His disciples said to Him, “If this is the case between a man and his wife, it is better not to marry.”

¹¹“Not everyone can accept this word,” He replied, “but only those to whom it has been given. ¹²For there are eunuchs who were born that way; others were made that way by men; and still others live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”