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14 Yet you say, “Why?”
Because Adonai bears witness
    between you and the wife of your youth,
    whom you have treated deceitfully.
Yet she had been your companion
    and your wife by covenant.
15 Did the One not make her with a remnant of Ruach?
Then what is the One seeking?
Offspring of God!
So protect your spirit—
do not betray the wife of your youth.
16 “For I hate[a] divorce,”
—says Adonai the God of Israel—
“and the one who covers his garment with injustice,”
says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
So protect your spirit—do not act treacherously.

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Footnotes

  1. Malachi 2:16 Lit. He hates.

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.

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Footnotes

  1. Malachi 2:15 The meaning of the Hebrew for the first part of this verse is uncertain.
  2. 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,”