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13 Here is another thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, weeping and groaning because he pays no attention to your offerings and doesn’t accept them with pleasure. 14 You cry out, “Why doesn’t the Lord accept my worship?” I’ll tell you why! Because the Lord witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been unfaithful to her, though she remained your faithful partner, the wife of your marriage vows.

15 Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his.[a] And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth. 16 “For I hate divorce!”[b] says the Lord, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,[c]” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.”

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Footnotes

  1. 2:15 Or Didn’t the one Lord make us and preserve our life and breath? or Didn’t the one Lord make her, both flesh and spirit? The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  2. 2:16a Hebrew For he hates divorcing.
  3. 2:16b Hebrew to cover one’s garment with violence.

13 And this is [a]another thing you do: you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and sighing, because He (A)no longer gives attention to the [b]offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 14 Yet you say, “For what reason?” Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the (B)wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt (C)treacherously, though she is your marriage companion and your wife by covenant. 15 [c]But not one has (D)done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And [d]why the one? He was seeking a (E)godly offspring. Be careful then about your spirit, and see that none of you deals (F)treacherously against the wife of your youth. 16 “For [e]I hate [f](G)divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “and [g]him who covers his garment with (H)violence,” says the Lord of armies. “So be careful about your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”

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Footnotes

  1. Malachi 2:13 Lit a second
  2. Malachi 2:13 Or grain offering
  3. Malachi 2:15 Or Did He not make one, although He had the remnant
  4. Malachi 2:15 Or what did the one do while he was seeking
  5. Malachi 2:16 Lit He hates
  6. Malachi 2:16 Lit sending away
  7. Malachi 2:16 Lit he covers