Matthew Chapter 19 verse 11 Holy Bible
But he said unto them, Not all men can receive this saying, but they to whom it is given.
read chapter 19 in ASV
But he said to them, Not all men are able to take in this saying, but only those to whom it is given.
read chapter 19 in BBE
And he said to them, All cannot receive this word, but those to whom it has been given;
read chapter 19 in DARBY
But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.
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read chapter 19 in WBT
But he said to them, "Not all men can receive this saying, but those to whom it is given.
read chapter 19 in WEB
And he said to them, `All do not receive this word, but those to whom it hath been given;
read chapter 19 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 11. - Our Lord makes a gentle reply to this observation of the disciples concerning the inexpediency of marriage under some circumstances. You say true, he seems to mean, but all men cannot receive this saying; i.e. their words, "It is not good to marry." But he endorses these words in a different signification from theirs. Their objection to marry arose from the impossibility of putting away a wife for any cause. Christ passes over these ignoble scruples, and enunciates the only principle which should lead a man to abstain from marriage. They to whom it is given. They to whom are given the call and the grace to abstain from marriage. These persons' practice forms an exception to the general view of the propriety and blessedness of the marriage state.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(11) All men cannot receive this saying.--As the words stand, "this saying" might refer either to the rule which our Lord had laid down on the subject of divorce, or to the comment of the disciples on that rule. What follows, however, determines the reference to the latter. Looking at marriage from a simply selfish point of view, and therefore with an entirely inadequate estimate of its duties on the one hand, and on the other of the temptations incident to the unmarried life when chosen on such grounds, they had come rashly to the conclusion that, if our Lord's rule held good, it was not good, not expedient, to "marry." He declares that judgment to be false. There were but few who were capable of acting safely on that conclusion. For those who were not so capable, and the next verse tells us who they were, marriage, with all its risks, was the truer, healthier, safer state. Alike in its brighter or sadder sides, in seeming success or seeming failure, it brought to men the discipline they needed.
