He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
He saith unto them, Moses (as a civil lawgiver), because of, [ pros (G4314 ) teen (G3588 ), or 'having respect to'] the hardness of your hearts (looking to your low moral state, and your inability to endure the strictness of the original law), suffered you to put away your wives - tolerated a relaxation of the strictness of the marriage bond-not as approving of it, but to prevent still greater evils.
But from the beginning it was not so. This is repeated, in order to impress upon His audience the temporary and purely civil character of this Mosaic relaxation.