So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.”
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.”
- KJV Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
- 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.”
- 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 13:4Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- Mark 10:9What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
- Rom 7:2For the woman that has a husband is bound by law to the husband while he lives, but if the husband dies, she is discharged from the law of the husband.
- 1 Cor 7:10–14But to the married I command — not I, but the Lord — that the wife not leave her husband
- Eph 5:28Even so husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself.
- Mal 2:14Yet you say, ‘Why?’ Because Yahweh has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant.
- Prov 2:17who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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
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.