Matthew · 30 verses
Matthew 19
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
A young man arrives claiming to have kept the commandments, and departs sorrowfully when obedience is priced in possessions. The camel, meanwhile, is asked to perform the chapter’s most preposterous piece of geometry.
Beyond the Jordan, a question about marriagevv. 1–12
Jesus leaves Galilee for Judea beyond the Jordan, with crowds following and being healed there. The Pharisees come not for healing but for a test about divorce, and Jesus answers by reaching back to the beginning: two become one flesh, and what God has joined is not to be separated. Moses enters the exchange as the bearer of a concession made for hard hearts, while the disciples, hearing the severity of it, conclude that marriage may be best avoided altogether. Jesus replies that such a life is not a universal talent, and then names three sorts of eunuchs—born so, made so, or living so for the sake of the kingdom.
Children, commandments, and a sorrowful departurevv. 13–22
Little children are brought for Jesus to touch and pray over, and the disciples attempt to turn them away. Jesus stops that small piece of traffic control, welcomes the children, and goes on. Then a man asks about eternal life, receives a list of commandments, and announces that he has kept them all. Jesus gives him one further instruction—sell the possessions, give to the poor, and follow Him—and the man leaves in sorrow, carrying the considerable burden of being rich.
The camel and the hundredfoldvv. 23–30
Jesus now turns the rich man’s difficulty into an image large enough to require a camel: entry into the kingdom is easier for the beast to pass through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter. The disciples are astonished and ask who can be saved; Jesus answers that what is impossible with man is possible with God. Peter then presents the disciples’ abandoned homes, family, and fields for inspection and asks what they will receive. Jesus promises thrones, judgment over the twelve tribes of Israel, a hundredfold return for what was left, and eternal life—then hangs the whole arrangement upside down with the warning that many first will be last and the last first.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Matt 19:1When Jesus had finished saying these things, He left Galilee and went into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.
Matt 19:2Large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there.
Matt 19:3Then some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”
Matt 19:4Jesus answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’
Matt 19:5and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?
Matt 19:6So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
Matt 19:7“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses order a man to give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
Matt 19:8Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of your hardness of heart. But it was not this way from the beginning.
Matt 19:9Now I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
Matt 19:10His disciples said to Him, “If this is the case between a man and his wife, it is better not to marry.”
Matt 19:11“Not everyone can accept this word,” He replied, “but only those to whom it has been given.
Matt 19:12For there are eunuchs who were born that way; others were made that way by men; and still others live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”
Matt 19:13Then little children were brought to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them and pray for them. And the disciples rebuked those who brought them.
Matt 19:14But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Matt 19:15And after He had placed His hands on them, He went on from there.
Matt 19:16Just then a man came up to Jesus and inquired, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to obtain eternal life?”
Matt 19:17“Why do you ask Me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
Matt 19:18“Which ones?” the man asked. Jesus answered, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness,
Matt 19:19honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Matt 19:20“All these I have kept,” said the young man. “What do I still lack?”
Matt 19:21Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”
Matt 19:22When the young man heard this, he went away in sorrow, because he had great wealth.
Matt 19:23Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matt 19:24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Matt 19:25When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
Matt 19:26Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Matt 19:27“Look,” Peter replied, “we have left everything to follow You. What then will there be for us?”
Matt 19:28Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Matt 19:29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for the sake of My name will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
Matt 19:30But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.’’
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 374 passages were voted onto 30 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 26Jeremiah 32:27“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?
- 29Luke 18:29–30“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God
- 26Luke 1:37For no word from God will ever fail.”
- 26Job 42:2“I know that You can do all things and that no plan of Yours can be thwarted.
- 26Mark 10:27Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
- 26Luke 18:27But Jesus said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
- 29Mark 10:29–30“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
- 26Jeremiah 32:17“Oh, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!
- 29Philippians 3:8More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
- 26Genesis 18:14Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son.”
- 29Luke 14:26“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.
- 29Matthew 16:25For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
- 26Psalms 62:11God has spoken once; I have heard this twice: that power belongs to God,
- 29Matthew 10:37–38Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me;
- 5Genesis 2:21–24So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept, He took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the area with flesh.
- 26Numbers 11:23The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not My word will come to pass.”
Onward