Menlo Church

The second requirement is, relational. You have to cleave. The ESV translation says hold fast. In the old King James translation, it actually translates it to this word that feels kinda funny to us called cleave. It comes from the Hebrew word debak, and it's a construction term. It has this idea of being glued together, being welded, or being fused. Now this is a snapshot of how different our culture's understanding of marriage as a contract is from the Bible's understanding of marriage as a covenant. We live in a consumer culture, but marriage is designed as a covenant reality.