1 ^zAnd he left there and went ^ato the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them.

2 And Pharisees came up and in order ^bto test him asked, ^c“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, ^d“Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” 5 And Jesus said to them, “Because of your ^ehardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6 But ^ffrom the beginning of creation, ‘God made them ^gmale and female.’ 7 ^h‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife,¹ 8 and ⁱthe two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9 ^jWhat therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”