Jesus answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’
Parallel translations
- WEB He answered, “Haven’t you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female,
- KJV And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
- NKJV And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’
- NASB And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female,
- NLT “Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’”
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 appeals to creation, citing that God made humanity male and female from the beginning. He grounds marriage in God's design rather than later concessions.
Overview
Rather than entering the rabbinic dispute on its own terms, Jesus returns to Genesis 1:27. By citing the Creator's making of male and female, he establishes that marriage rests on God's intention from the start. This sets the foundation for his high view of the permanence of marriage.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Gen 2:23And the man said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man she was taken.”
- Gen 1:27So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
- Gen 5:2Male and female He created them, and He blessed them. And in the day they were created, He called them “man.”
- Luke 10:26“What is written in the Law?” Jesus replied. “How do you read it?”
- Mal 2:15Has not the LORD made them one, having a portion of the Spirit? And why one? Because He seeks godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
- Gen 2:18The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”
- Matt 22:31But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what God said to you:
- Mark 12:10Have you never read this Scripture: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
- Matt 21:42Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
- Mark 12:26But concerning the dead rising, have you not read about the burning bush in the Book of Moses, how God told him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?
- Matt 12:3Jesus replied, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
- Luke 6:3Jesus replied, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
- Mark 2:25Jesus replied, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?
- Matt 21:6So the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 19:4 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
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