Brownie; Gentle mockery is no crime - the Lord used it a lot in the NT! As for marriage - I was simply pointing out that legalised marriage existed long before the Pentateuch was written - or indeed edited. I have no issues whatsoever with gay or straight civil partnerships or secular marriage. Christian marriage, though, can only be between one man and one woman. And language? Sorry, Brownie, but resorting to Jacobean English really sets my teeth on edge! I should use the term 'pre-Jacobean' English, of course, as much of the KJV was simply lifted from the pre-existing (and better) Geneva Bible with some nice flummery and tweaking by James VI himself. While the language is majestic, the translation is poor, and the version incomprehensible to those not versed in the tongue. When the NT was written, the Koine was the lingua franca of the day, familiar as 'common' rather than'high' Greek. Similarly, when we try to communicate the Gospel in the twenty first century, we should do so in a language which is easy to understand. The KJV, sadly, isnot.