Matthew 19:4

“But he answered and said, “Have you not read that the one who created them from the beginning made them male and female,”

Matthew 19:4 · direct translation from the Greek
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Jesus goes back to the beginning to explain what marriage isDating and Marriage

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4

Quotation · Genesis 1:27

Go to Genesis 1:27

Jesus quotes the end of Genesis 1:27, “male and female he made them.”

Formula: Οὐκ ἀνέγνωτε ὅτι “have you not read that…?” (Matthew 19:4)

See the original texts

Greek of the New Testament: ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν Οὐκ ἀνέγνωτε ὅτι ὁ κτίσας ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ ἐποίησεν αὐτοὺς

Hebrew (Masoretic text): וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים אֶת הָאָדָם בְּצַלְמוֹ בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים בָּרָא אֹתוֹ זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה בָּרָא אֹתָם

Septuagint (Genesis 1:26-27 in the Septuagint numbering): καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός Ποιήσω- μεν ἄνθρωπον κατ’ εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ κἀς ὁμοίωσιν· καὶ ἀρχέτωσαν τῶν ἰχθύων τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ τῶν πετεινῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῶν κτηνῶν καὶ πάτης τῆς γῆς καὶ πόντων τῶν ἑρπετῶν τῶν ἑρπόντων ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, κατ’ εἰκόνα θεοῦ ἐποίησεν αὐτόν· ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ ἐποίησεν αὐτούς.

The Greek of the NT matches the Septuagint word for word in 5 consecutive words: “ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ ἐποίησεν αὐτοὺς.”

Septuagint, Swete’s text, First1KGreek transcription (with reading errors), CC BY-SA 4.0

Matthew 19:4, word by word

answeredἀποκριθεὶςapokritheis

answer

To say something back to the one who spoke or asked.

Where else “apokritheis” appears
and saidεἶπενeipen

say

To express something in words to others.

Where else “eipen” appears
readἀνέγνωτεanegnōte

read

Read.

Where else “anegnōte” appears
created themκτίσαςktisas

create

Create.

Where else “ktisas” appears
the beginningἀρχῆςarchēs

beginning

The point where something starts: its first moment.

Where else “archēs” appears
madeἐποίησενepoiēsen

make

To bring something into being: to make or create it.

Where else “epoiēsen” appears
maleἄρσενarsen

male

Male.

Where else “arsen” appears
femaleθῆλυthēly

female

Female; a woman.

Where else “thēly” appears

Parallel passages

Other books that tell the same thing or quote these words.

The question about divorce

Mark 10:1-12

See them side by side

Matthew 19:1-12

1And it happened when Jesus had finished these words that he departed from Galilee and came into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2And many crowds followed him, and he healed them there. 3And Pharisees came to him, testing him and saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?” 4But he answered and said, “Have you not read that the one who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” 7They say to him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce and to divorce her?” 8He says to them, “Moses, because of your hardness of heart, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so. 9And I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” 10The disciples say to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11But he said to them, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who is able to accept this, let him accept it.”

Mark 10:1-12

1And getting up from there, he goes into the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan; and crowds gather around him again, and as was his custom, he was again teaching them. 2And they were asking him whether it is lawful for a man to divorce his wife, testing him. 3But he answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” 4And they said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and to divorce her.” 5But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6But from the beginning of creation, ‘male and female he made them.’ 7‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8and the two will become one flesh’; so they are no longer two but one flesh. 9So what God has joined together, let man not separate.” 10And in the house the disciples were asking him again about this. 11And he says to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; 12and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Quotation · Genesis 1:27

Jesus quotes the end of Genesis 1:27, “male and female he made them.”

See them side by side

Matthew 19:4

4But he answered and said, “Have you not read that the one who created them from the beginning made them male and female,

Genesis 1:27

27And Elohim created the human being in his image; in the image of Elohim he created him; male and female he created them.

The context

3And Pharisees came to him, testing him and saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”

4 · This verse (above)

5and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?

Read all of Matthew 19

To study Matthew 19 in a group

  1. 1. What it says

    What did Jesus answer the young man who asked what good to do to have eternal life, and how did he react (vv. 16–22)?

  2. 2. What it means

    Why did Jesus welcome the children and say the kingdom belongs to those like them (vv. 13–14)?

  3. 3. How I live it

    The young man left sad because of his possessions (v. 22). What is hard for you to let go of, and what might Jesus say about it?

How to use it