And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.
Parallel translations
- WEB But Jesus said to them, “For your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment.
- BSB But Jesus told them, “Moses wrote this commandment for you because of your hardness of heart.
- NKJV And Jesus answered and said to them, “Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.
- NASB But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.
- NLT But Jesus responded, “He wrote this commandment only as a concession to your hard hearts.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus says Moses gave that command because of their hardness of heart. The divorce provision was a concession to human sin, not God's design.
Overview
Jesus interprets Deuteronomy's regulation as accommodating the reality of sinful, stubborn hearts, limiting harm rather than endorsing divorce. This distinguishes what God permits in a fallen world from what he originally intended. It models a careful reading of Scripture that weighs the purpose behind a command.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Matt 19:8He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
- Acts 7:51Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
- Neh 9:16–17But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments,
- Heb 3:7–10Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
- Neh 9:26Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.
- Deut 9:6Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.
- Deut 31:27For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 10:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.