But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Then some Pharisees came to him in order to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful to divorce a wife for any cause?”
He answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female,
and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?
So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
They said to him, “Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?”
Jesus said to them, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of your hard hearts, but from the beginning it was not this way.
Now I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another commits adultery.”
To the married I give this command – not I, but the Lord – a wife should not divorce a husband
(but if she does, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband), and a husband should not divorce his wife.
To the rest I say – I, not the Lord – if a brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is happy to live with him, he should not divorce her.
And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is happy to live with her, she should not divorce him.
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified because of the wife, and the unbelieving wife because of her husband. Otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.
But if the unbeliever wants a divorce, let it take place. In these circumstances the brother or sister is not bound. God has called you in peace.
For how do you know, wife, whether you will bring your husband to salvation? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will bring your wife to salvation?
Nevertheless, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each person, so must he live. I give this sort of direction in all the churches.
Let each one remain in that situation in life in which he was called.
In whatever situation someone was called, brothers and sisters, let him remain in it with God.
Yet you ask, “Why?” The Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law.
No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. What did our ancestor do when seeking a child from God? Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth.
“I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel, “and the one who is guilty of violence,” says the Lord who rules over all. “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful.”