Instruction About Divorce

Mark 10:1–16; Luke 18:15–17

19 Now it came to pass, awhen Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 bAnd great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.

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?”

4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who 1made them at the beginning c‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, d‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and ethe two shall become one flesh’? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

7 They said to Him, f“Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”

8 He said to them, “Moses, because of the ghardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your hwives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 iAnd I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for 2sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

10 His disciples said to Him, j“If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

11 But He said to them, k“All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: 12 For there are 3eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and lthere are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”

13 mThen little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for nof such is the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And He laid His hands on them and departed from there.