Malachi 2:14
12 As for the man who does this, may the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob everyone who is awake and aware—even if he brings an offering to the LORD of Hosts.
13 And this is another thing you do: You cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and groaning, because He no longer regards your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands.
Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
15 Has not the LORD made them one, having a portion of the Spirit? And why one? Because He seeks godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
16 “For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel. “He who divorces his wife covers his garment with violence,” says the LORD of Hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith.
Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
- KJV
- Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
- WEB
- Yet you say, ‘Why?’ Because the LORD has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and the wife of your covenant.
- ASV
- Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because Jehovah hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, though she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
- DARBY
- Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because Jehovah hath been a witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt unfaithfully: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
- BLB
- And you⁺ say, “For what?” Because that YHWH is a witness between you and between the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously, and she [is] your companion and the wife of your covenant.
- ÅB
- Og dere sier: Hvorfor? Fordi Herren har vært vitne mellom deg og din ungdoms hustru, som du har vært troløs mot, enda hun er din ektemake og din hustru som du har inngått pakt med.
- OTB
- Dere spør, «Hvorfor?» Det er fordi Herren er vitne mellom deg og din ungdoms hustru. Du har vært utro mot henne, selv om hun er din partner, din ekteskaps hustru.
- B1930
- Og I sier: Hvorfor? Fordi Herren har vært vidne mellem dig og din ungdoms hustru, som du har vært troløs mot, enda hun er din ektemake og din hustru som du har inngått pakt med.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Malachi 2:15
Has not the LORD made them one, having a portion of the Spirit? And why one? Because He seeks godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
Read in contextEcclesiastes 9:9
Enjoy life with your beloved wife all the days of the fleeting life that God has given you under the sun—all your fleeting days. For this is your portion in life and in your labor under the sun.
Read in contextIsaiah 54:6
For the LORD has called you back, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, like the rejected wife of one’s youth,” says your God.
Read in contextGenesis 31:50
If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, although no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.”
Read in contextMalachi 3:5
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
Read in contextProverbs 2:17
who abandons the partner of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.
Read in contextJeremiah 42:5
Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act upon every word that the LORD your God sends you to tell us.
Read in contextJeremiah 8:12
Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they will collapse, says the LORD.
Read in context