Divorce & Separation

1When Jesus had finished these words, he departed from Galilee, and came into the borders of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2Great multitudes followed him, and he healed them there. 3Pharisees came to him, testing him, and saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?” 4He answered, “Haven’t you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, 5and said, ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh?’ 6So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don’t let man tear apart.” 7They asked him, “Why then did Moses command us to give her a certificate of divorce, and divorce her?” 8He 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. 9I 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.” 10His disciples said to him, “If this is the case of the man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.” 11But he said to them, “Not all men can receive this saying, but those to whom it is 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 Kingdom of Heaven’s sake. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it.”