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Malachi 2:14-16
Evangelical Heritage Version
Malachi 2:14-16
Evangelical Heritage Version
14 So you ask, “Why is this happening?” This is why—because the Lord is a witness in the case between you and the wife you married when you were young, because you have betrayed her—though she was your partner, the wife with whom you made a covenant! 15 No one has done this who has a remnant of the Spirit.[a] And why one? He is seeking offspring from God.[b] So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not act unfaithfully against the wife you married when you were young. 16 He hates divorce! That is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. He hates it when a person wears violence as a garment. That is what the Lord of Armies says. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be unfaithful.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Malachi 2:15 Verse 15 is very difficult. There is no consensus about the translation. The Hebrew text translated very literally reads: and not one—he has done; and a remnant of spirit to him, and what the one? Desiring seed God. The translation above is an effort to connect these thoughts into a smooth translation. Other suggested translations for the first part of the sentence are: has not one God made them or has not God made them one; and for the second part of the sentence: he has left a remnant of the Spirit or they are his, in flesh and spirit. What is clear in the verse is that God’s purpose for the lifelong union of one man and one woman is godly offspring and that God hates wrongful divorce.
- Malachi 2:15 Either the man is seeking godly offspring or God seeks offspring. There is no consensus on the translation of this verse. The biggest difficulty is the uncertainty about who or what the word one in the previous sentence refers to.
Malachi 2:14-16
New International Version
Malachi 2:14-16
New International Version
14 You ask,(A) “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness(B) between you and the wife of your youth.(C) You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.(D)
15 Has not the one God made you?(E) You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.[a](F) So be on your guard,(G) and do not be unfaithful(H) to the wife of your youth.
16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife,(I)” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,”[b](J) says the Lord Almighty.
So be on your guard,(K) and do not be unfaithful.
Footnotes
- Malachi 2:15 The meaning of the Hebrew for the first part of this verse is uncertain.
- Malachi 2:16 Or “I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “because the man who divorces his wife covers his garment with violence,”
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.