Covenant Faithfulness

1And it happened that when Jesus had finished these words, he departed from Galilee and came into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.

2And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

3And Pharisees came up to him, testing him and saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?”

4He answered, “Have you not read that the one who created them from the beginning made them male and female?”

5and 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’?”

6So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate.

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

8He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so.”

9But I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

10His disciples said to him, “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is not beneficial to marry.”

11But he said to them, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given.”

12For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one able to accept this should accept it.