After condemning sin just before in Mark 9, Jesus answers a question from the Pharisees about divorce. He teaches the crowd in his customary way and the Pharisees ask him if divorce is lawful; Mark comments that this is asked to test (or to trick or trap) Jesus. The Amplified Bible suggests their intention was "to trick Him into saying something wrong". In the Torah, allows a man to divorce his wife if he finds her "indecent or unacceptable" by issuing a written writ of divorce. This is seen as a trap where Jesus either agrees with Moses and is seen as submitting to him or disagrees and shows himself in opposition to Moses. Also, Jesus has just moved into the region of Judea, across the Jordan. Both the Pharisees and Jesus would be aware that this was John the Baptist's old ground, and that John had recently been imprisoned, and then put to death as a result of his pronouncements on the topic of Herod Antipas' illegitimate marriage to his brother's wife. It is possible that the Pharisees are trying to entrap Jesus into making similar statements.