Wendy, since we are here talking about divorce, could you give us just a, an introduction? I know that so much more could be said, but what are maybe the biblical reasons or the biblical grounds for divorce? Why would a marriage end?

Right.

Um, it's interesting that scripture really only addresses grounds for divorce or, or separation in two explicit passages.

So Matthew 19, um, and there the context is that Jesus is talking with Pharisees, and He's confronting them over their hardness of heart over divorce.

So this context, and I think the context is really important, is that they want to... an easy divorce.

They want to...

Their hearts are hardened to what the covenant vow of marriage was supposed to mean, and so they're putting away wives and, and Jesus confronts them and says, "That's your hardness of your heart." But He, but He says, "Except for grounds of sexual immorality or adultery." And, you know, the point there is that the covenant has already been voca- broken, um, through adultery or sexual immorality.

[laughs]