Mark 10:1-31

1Then Jesus left that place and went into the region of Judea, beyond the Jordan. Again the crowds came to Him and He taught them, as was His custom.

2Some Pharisees came to test Him. “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” they inquired.

3“What did Moses command you?” He replied.

4They answered, “Moses permitted a man to write his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away.”1

5But Jesus told them, “Moses wrote this commandment for you because of your hardness of heart. 6However, from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’2 7‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,3 8and the two will become one flesh.’4 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

10When they were back inside the house, the disciples asked Jesus about this matter. 11So He told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

13Now people were bringing the little children to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them, and the disciples rebuked those who brought them.

14But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and told them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15Truly I tell you, anyone who does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16And He took the children in His arms, placed His hands on them, and blessed them.

17As Jesus started on His way, a man ran up and knelt before Him. “Good Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

18“Why do you call Me good?” Jesus replied. “No one is good except God alone. 19You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not cheat others, honor your father and mother.’5”

20“Teacher,” he replied, “all these I have kept from my youth.”

21Jesus looked at him, loved him, and said to him, “There is one thing you lack: Go, sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.6”

22But the man was saddened by these words and went away in sorrow, because he had great wealth.

23Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

24And the disciples were amazed at His words.

But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter7 the kingdom of God! 25It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

26They were even more astonished and said to one another, “Who then can be saved?”

27Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

28Peter began to say to Him, “Look, we have left everything and followed You.”

29“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for My sake and for the gospel 30will fail to receive a hundredfold in the present age—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, along with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”