Genesis 2:24
The context
The second creation account has formed the woman from the man's side and brought her to him. Verse 24 steps outside the story to draw a conclusion: a man leaves his father and mother, holds fast to his wife, and the two become one flesh. The narration then notes that they were naked and unashamed.
What it establishes
It establishes marriage as a departure and a binding, not merely a cohabitation: the man leaves one household and cleaves to a new one. The one-flesh language names a union the text treats as given, and both Jesus and Paul later quote the verse as normative.
What it does not establish
It does not prescribe a wedding rite. No ceremony, vow, or officiant appears in the verse. Nor is it a definition covering every arrangement the Old Testament reports; it states the pattern of the creation account, and the narrative's own later stories show how often that pattern was broken.
Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.
Cited in these answers
Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.