Malachi 2:14

Malachi 2:14 in other versions

• King James Version (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.
• New International Version (NIV)You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
• English Standard Version (ESV)But you say, "Why does he not?" Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Yet you say, “For what reason?” Because the Lord has been witness Between you and the wife of your youth, With whom you have dealt treacherously; Yet she is your companion And your wife by covenant.

Context of Malachi 2:14

12As 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. 13And 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. 15Has 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.

Malachi 2:14 word by word

וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֖ם עַל־מָ֑ה עַ֡ל כִּי־יְהוָה֩ הֵעִ֨יד בֵּינְךָ֜ וּבֵ֣ין׀ אֵ֣שֶׁת נְעוּרֶ֗יךָ אֲשֶׁ֤ר אַתָּה֙ בָּגַ֣דְתָּה בָּ֔הּ וְהִ֥יא חֲבֶרְתְּךָ֖ וְאֵ֥שֶׁת בְּרִיתֶֽךָ׃Read the interlinear

• Yet you askאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
• Whyעַל‛al · uponH5921
• Whyמָהmâh mah mâ ma meh · what?H4100
• It is becauseכִּיkîy · forH3588
• the LORDיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• has been a witnessעוּד‛ûd · to testifyH5749
• between youבַּ֫יִןbêyn · betweenH996
• the wifeאִשָּׁה'ishshâh nâshîym · woman: wifeH802
• of your youthנְעוּרִיםnâ‛ûr nâ‛ûr ne‛ûrâh · youthH5271
• against whomאֲשֶׁר'ăsher · whichH834
• youאַתָּ֫ה'attâh 'attâ 'ath 'attîy 'attem 'atten 'attênâh 'attênnâh · you(m.s.)H859
• have broken faithבָּגַדbâgad · to act treacherouslyH898
• though she isהוּאhû' hîy' · he/she/itH1931
• your companionחֲבֶ֫רֶתchăbereth · consortH2278
• by covenantבְּרִיתberîyth · covenantH1285

Cross-references for Malachi 2:14

• Malachi 1:6“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?” says the LORD of Hosts to you priests who despise My name. “But you ask, ‘How have we despised Your name?’
• Malachi 3:8Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.
• Proverbs 30:20This is the way of an adulteress: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’
• Isaiah 58:3“Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers.
• Jeremiah 8:12Are 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.
• Malachi 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.
• Genesis 31:50If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, although no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.”
• Judges 11:10And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD is our witness if we do not do as you say.”
• 1 Samuel 12:5Samuel said to them, “The LORD is a witness against you, and His anointed is a witness today, that you have not found anything in my hand.” “He is a witness,” they replied.
• Jeremiah 42:5Then 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.
• Micah 1:2Hear, O peoples, all of you; listen, O earth, and everyone in it! May the Lord GOD bear witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple.
• Malachi 2:15Has 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.
• Proverbs 5:18May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:
• Ecclesiastes 9:9Enjoy 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.
• Isaiah 54:6For 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.
• Genesis 2:18The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”

Commentaries on Malachi 2:14

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 14Ye say, Wherefore? - Is the Lord angry with us? Because ye have been witness of the contract made between the parties; and when the lawless husband divorced his wife, the wife of his youth, his companion, and the unite of his covenant, ye did not execute on him the discipline of the law. They kept their wives till they had passed their youth, and then put them away, that they might get young ones in their place.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 14And ye say, Wherefore? - They again act the innocent, or half-ignorant. What had they to do with their wives‘ womanly tears? He who knows the hearts of all was Himself the witness between them and the wife of youth of each; her to whom, in the first freshness of life and their young hearts, each had plighted his troth having been entrusted by her with her earthy all. Genesis 31:49-50. “The Lord,” said even Laban, when parting from his daughters, “watch…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 10-17Verses 10-17 Corrupt practices are the fruit of corrupt principles; and he who is false to his God, will not be true to his fellow mortals. In contempt of the marriage covenant, which God instituted, the Jews put away the wives they had of their own nation, probably to make room for strange wives. They made their lives bitter to them; yet, in the sight of others, they pretend to be tender of them. Consider she is thy wife; thy own; the nearest relation…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 14In the Greek Old Testament, wife is called koinōnos, meaning "joint partner." The Hebrew word for a seam or joint in construction (for example, Exodus 26:6–11) implies a lasting bond. covenant: Marriage is a serious promise, with God as a witness (see Proverbs 2:17).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 10-1610-16. Reproof of those who contracted marriages with foreigners and repudiated their Jewish wives. 10. Have we not all one father?--Why, seeing we all have one common origin, "do we deal treacherously against one another" ("His brother" being a general expression implying that all are "brethren" and sisters as children of the same Father above (1Th 4:3-6), and so including the wives so injured)? namely, by putting away our Jewish wives, and taking…Read the comment

Topics related to Malachi 2:14

• Divorce
• Husband
• Marriage
• Polygamy
• Sin

In the dictionaries

• Corrupt
• Malachi
• Profane
• Wherein
• Covenant, in the Old Testament
• Israel, History of
• Priests and Levites

Commentaries on Malachi 2

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings