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

12May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this, whoever he may be, even if he presents an offering to the Lord of Armies. 13This is another thing you do. You are covering the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning, because he no longer respects your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands. And you ask, “Why?” Because even though the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, you have acted treacherously against her. She was your marriage partner and your wife by covenant. 15Didn’t God make them one and give them a portion of spirit? What is the one seeking? Godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully, so that no one acts treacherously against the wife of his youth. 16“If he hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord God of Israel, “he covers his garment with injustice,” says the Lord of Armies. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously.

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

Words taken from the KJV.

• Yet ye sayאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
• Whereforeמָהmâh mah mâ ma meh · what?H4100
• Because the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• hath been witnessעוּד‛ûd · to testifyH5749
• between thee and the wifeאִשָּׁה'ishshâh nâshîym · woman: wifeH802
• of thy youthנְעוּרִיםnâ‛ûr nâ‛ûr ne‛ûrâh · youthH5271
• against whom thou hast dealt treacherouslyבָּגַדbâgad · to act treacherouslyH898
• she thy companionחֲבֶ֫רֶתchăbereth · consortH2278
• of thy 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 Armies to you priests, who despise my name.” Yet you ask, “How have we despised your name?”
• Malachi 3:8“Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me!” “How do we rob you?” you ask. “By not making the payments of the tenth and the contributions.
• Proverbs 30:20This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I’ve done nothing wrong.”
• Isaiah 58:3“Why have we fasted, but you have not seen? We have denied ourselves, but you haven’t noticed!” “Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast, and oppress all your workers.
• Jeremiah 8:12Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably? They weren’t at all ashamed. They can no longer feel humiliation. Therefore, they will fall among the fallen. When I punish them, they will collapse,” says the Lord.
• Malachi 3:5“I will come to you in judgment, and I will be ready to witness against sorcerers and adulterers; against those who swear falsely; against those who oppress the hired worker, the widow, and the fatherless; and against those who deny justice to the resident alien. They do not fear me,” says the Lord of Armies.
• Genesis 31:50If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, though no one is with us, understand that God will be a witness between you and me.”
• Judges 11:10The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord is our witness if we don’t do as you say.”
• 1 Samuel 12:5He said to them, “The Lord is a witness against you, and his anointed is a witness today that you haven’t found anything in my hand.” “He is a witness,” they said.
• Jeremiah 42:5And they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we don’t act according to every word the Lord your God sends you to tell us.
• Micah 1:2Listen, all you peoples; pay attention, earth and everyone in it! The Lord God will be a witness against you, the Lord, from his holy temple.
• Malachi 2:15Didn’t God make them one and give them a portion of spirit? What is the one seeking? Godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully, so that no one acts treacherously against the wife of his youth.
• Proverbs 5:18Let your fountain be blessed, and take pleasure in the wife of your youth.
• Ecclesiastes 9:9Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting life, which has been given to you under the sun, all your fleeting days. For that is your portion in life and in your struggle under the sun.
• Isaiah 54:6For the Lord has called you, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,” says your God.
• Genesis 2:18Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.”

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