Matthew 19:1-15

¹It happened when 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, <sup>5</sup>and said, `For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will join to his wife; and the two will become one flesh?` <sup>6</sup>So 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 bill 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 will put away his wife, except for sexual immorality, and will marry another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is put away 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 they 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."

¹³Then little children were brought to him, that he should lay his hands on them, and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴But Jesus said, "Allow the little children, and don`t forbid them to come to me; for to such belongs the Kingdom of Heaven." ¹⁵He laid his hands on them, and departed there.