Does God have one specific plan for who I marry?

¹⁸Yahweh God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

¹⁹Out of the ground Yahweh God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature became its name.

²⁰The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper comparable to him.

²¹Yahweh God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.

²²Yahweh God made a woman from the rib which had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.

²³The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of Man.”

²⁴Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.

²⁵The man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.

¹⁴Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

¹⁵What agreement has Christ with Belial? Or what portion has a believer with an unbeliever?

¹⁶What agreement has a temple of God with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

¹⁷Therefore “‘Come out from among them, and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing. I will receive you.

¹⁸I will be to you a Father. You will be to me sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

²⁵Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord to be trustworthy.

²⁶I think that it is good therefore, because of the distress that is on us, that it is good for a man to be as he is.

²⁷Are you bound to a wife? Don’t seek to be freed. Are you free from a wife? Don’t seek a wife.

²⁸But if you marry, you have not sinned. If a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have oppression in the flesh, and I want to spare you.

²⁹But I say this, brothers: the time is short, that from now on, both those who have wives may be as though they had none;

³⁰and those who weep, as though they didn’t weep; and those who rejoice, as though they didn’t rejoice; and those who buy, as though they didn’t possess;

³¹and those who use the world, as not using it to the fullest. For the mode of this world passes away.

³²But I desire to have you to be free from cares. He who is unmarried is concerned for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord;

³³but he who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife.

³⁴There is also a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband.

³⁵This I say for your own profit; not that I may ensnare you, but for that which is appropriate, and that you may attend to the Lord without distraction.

³⁶But if any man thinks that he is behaving inappropriately toward his virgin, if she is past the flower of her age, and if need so requires, let him do what he desires. He doesn’t sin. Let them marry.

³⁷But he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but has power over his own heart, to keep his own virgin, does well.

³⁸So then both he who gives his own virgin in marriage does well, and he who doesn’t give her in marriage does better.

³⁹A wife is bound by law for as long as her husband lives; but if the husband is dead, she is free to be married to whomever she desires, only in the Lord.

⁴⁰But she is happier if she stays as she is, in my judgment, and I think that I also have God’s Spirit.

¹⁰Who can find a worthy woman? For her price is far above rubies.

¹¹The heart of her husband trusts in her. He shall have no lack of gain.

¹²She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.

¹³She seeks wool and flax, and works eagerly with her hands.

¹⁴She is like the merchant ships. She brings her bread from afar.

¹⁵She rises also while it is yet night, gives food to her household, and portions for her servant girls.

¹⁶She considers a field, and buys it. With the fruit of her hands, she plants a vineyard.

¹⁷She arms her waist with strength, and makes her arms strong.

¹⁸She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp doesn’t go out by night.

¹⁹She lays her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.

²⁰She opens her arms to the poor; yes, she extends her hands to the needy.

²¹She is not afraid of the snow for her household; for all her household are clothed with scarlet.

²²She makes for herself carpets of tapestry. Her clothing is fine linen and purple.

²³Her husband is respected in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land.

²⁴She makes linen garments and sells them, and delivers sashes to the merchant.

²⁵Strength and dignity are her clothing. She laughs at the time to come.

²⁶She opens her mouth with wisdom. Faithful instruction is on her tongue.

²⁷She looks well to the ways of her household, and doesn’t eat the bread of idleness.

²⁸Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also praises her:

²⁹“Many women do noble things, but you excel them all.”

³⁰Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman who fears Yahweh, she shall be praised.

³¹Give her of the fruit of her hands! Let her works praise her in the gates!

¹When Jesus had finished these words, he departed from Galilee, and came into the borders of Judea beyond the Jordan.

²Great multitudes followed him, and he healed them there.

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

⁴He answered, “Haven’t you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female,

⁵and said, ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall join to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh?’

⁶So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don’t let man tear apart.”

⁷They asked him, “Why then did Moses command us to give her a bill of divorce, and divorce her?”

⁸He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so.

⁹I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery.”

¹⁰His disciples said to him, “If this is the case of the man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.”

¹¹But he said to them, “Not all men can receive this saying, but those to whom it is 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 Kingdom of Heaven’s sake. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it.”