Paragraph 19:10–12
19:10a
His disciples: There is a textual issue here:
(1) Some Greek manuscripts have the disciples here. For example:
The disciples (Revised Standard Version)
(New International Version, English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, God’s Word, NET Bible, Revised English Bible, New Century Version, New Jerusalem Bible)
(2) Some Greek manuscripts have his disciples here. For example:
His disciples (Good News Translation)
(Berean Standard Bible, King James Version, New Revised Standard Version, New Living Translation (2004), Good News Translation, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
The majority of English versions follow the Greek texts that have “the disciples.” However, here you should do what is most natural in your language. In some languages, it is more natural to say “his disciples” or “Jesus’ disciples.”
For help in translating the word disciples, see the note at 5:1c.
If this is the case between a man and his wife: This clause refers to Jesus’s teaching that a man can divorce his wife and remarry only if his wife has committed adultery.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
If that is the only reason a man can divorce his wife (New Century Version)
-or-
If a man can divorce his wife only for adultery
-or-
If this is the case (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
If that is the way it is
19:10b
it is better not to marry: The disciples thought that if a man could not divorce his wife (unless she committed adultery), it was better for him not to get married at all. They thought that it was better not to get married than to be stuck in an unhappy marriage.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
it is better not to get married
-or-
it is better that/if a man does not get married
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