God wants husbands and wives to stay together
1 Then Jesus left that place. He went to the part of Judea that is on the east side of the Jordan River. Crowds of people came to him again. So he taught them, as he usually did.
2 Some Pharisees came to Jesus. They wanted to find out how he would answer their question. They asked him, ‘Can a man send his wife away, so that she is no longer his wife? Is it right for him to do that?’
3 Jesus replied with a question: ‘What did Moses say was right for you?’
4 The Pharisees said, ‘Moses said that a man could write a letter to say that he and his wife are no longer married. Then the man can send the woman away.’
5 Jesus said to them, ‘Moses made this rule for you because you did not want to obey God. 6 But at the start, when God made the world, he made people male and female. 7 That is the reason that a man leaves his father and his mother. Then God joins him and his wife together. 8 The man and the woman become like one body. They are not two separate people any longer. They have come together as one person. 9 God has put them together to be husband and wife. So nobody should cause them to be separate.’
10 When Jesus went into the house, the disciples asked him about these things again. 11 So Jesus said to them, ‘A man must not send his wife away and then marry another woman. If he does that, he has not been faithful to his wife. It is the same as if he had sex with another man's wife. 12 In the same way, a woman must not leave her husband and then marry another man. She also has done a wrong thing. It is the same as if she had sex with another woman's husband.’
