Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Parallel translations
- WEB So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don’t let man tear apart.”
- BSB So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
- NKJV So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
- NASB So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.”
- NLT Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.”
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 concludes that the married couple is one flesh and that what God has joined, man must not separate. Marriage is a divinely joined union not to be broken by human will.
Overview
Drawing the conclusion from creation, Jesus affirms the permanence of marriage as God's joining, not merely a human contract. The prohibition against separating it confronts the casual divorce culture of his day. His teaching upholds the sanctity and lifelong intent of the marriage covenant.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Heb 13:4Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
- Mark 10:9What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
- Rom 7:2For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
- 1 Cor 7:10–14And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
- Eph 5:28So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
- Mal 2:14Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
- Prov 2:17Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 19:6 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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