and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Parallel translations
- WEB and the two will become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh.
- KJV And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.
- BSB and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
- NKJV and the two shall become one flesh’ ; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh.
- NLT and the two are united into one.’ Since they are no longer two but one,
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
The two become one flesh, no longer two but one. Marriage creates a profound, God-made union, not merely a contract.
Overview
Continuing Genesis 2:24, Jesus stresses the deep unity of husband and wife as one flesh. This oneness encompasses the whole of life, not only physical union. The permanence of marriage rests on this God-established reality, which human authorities have no right to dissolve at will. The New Testament later sees in this union a picture of Christ and his church (Ephesians 5:31-32).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Eph 5:28Even so husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself.
- Gen 2:24Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.
- 1 Cor 6:16Or don’t you know that he who is joined to a prostitute is one body? For, “The two”, he says, “will become one flesh.”
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 10:8 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.