Malachi 2:15

Malachi 2:15 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
• New International Version (NIV)Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.
• New King James Version (NKJV)But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.

Context of Malachi 2:15

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. 14And 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. Didn’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. 17You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you ask, “How have we wearied him?” When you say, “Everyone who does what is evil is good in the Lord’s sight, and he is delighted with them, or else where is the God of justice?”

Malachi 2:15 word by word

וְלֹא־אֶחָ֣ד עָשָׂ֗ה וּשְׁאָ֥ר ר֙וּחַ֙ ל֔וֹ וּמָה֙ הָֽאֶחָ֔ד מְבַקֵּ֖שׁ זֶ֣רַע אֱלֹהִ֑ים וְנִשְׁמַרְתֶּם֙ בְּר֣וּחֲכֶ֔ם וּבְאֵ֥שֶׁת נְעוּרֶ֖יךָ אַל־יִבְגֹּֽד׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And did not he makeעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to makeH6213
• oneאֶחָד'echâd · oneH259
• Yet had he the residueשְׁאָרshe'âr · remnantH7605
• of the spiritרוּחַrûach · spiritH7307
• That he might seekבָּקַשׁbâqash · to seekH1245
• a godlyאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
• seedזֶ֫רַעzera‛ · seed: childrenH2233
• Therefore take heedשָׁמַרshâmar · to keep: guardH8104
• and let none deal treacherouslyבָּגַדbâgad · to act treacherouslyH898
• against the wifeאִשָּׁה'ishshâh nâshîym · woman: wifeH802
• of his youthנְעוּרִיםnâ‛ûr nâ‛ûr ne‛ûrâh · youthH5271

Cross-references for Malachi 2:15

• Genesis 1:27So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.
• Genesis 2:20The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal; but for the man no helper was found corresponding to him.
• Matthew 19:4“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that he who created them in the beginning made them male and female,
• Mark 10:6But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female.
• 1 Corinthians 7:2But because sexual immorality is so common, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman should have sexual relations with her own husband.
• Genesis 2:7Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
• Job 27:3as long as my breath is still in me and the breath from God remains in my nostrils,
• Ecclesiastes 12:7and the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
• John 20:22After saying this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
• Genesis 24:3and I will have you swear by the Lord, God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live,
• Genesis 26:34When Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hethite, and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hethite.
• Genesis 27:46So Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m sick of my life because of these Hethite girls. If Jacob marries someone from around here, like these Hethite girls, what good is my life?”
• Genesis 28:2Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.
• Deuteronomy 7:4because they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will swiftly destroy you.
• Ezra 9:4Everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me, because of the unfaithfulness of the exiles, while I sat devastated until the evening offering.
• Nehemiah 13:24Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples but could not speak Hebrew.

Commentaries on Malachi 2:15

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 15And did not he make one? - One of each kind, Adam and Eve. Yet had he the residue of the Spirit, he could have made millions of pairs, and inspired them all with living souls. Then wherefore one? He made one pair from whom all the rest might proceed, that he might have a holy offspring; that children being a marked property of one man and one woman, proper care might be taken that they should be brought up in the discipline of the Lord. Perhaps the holy…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 15And did not He - , God, of whom he had spoken as the witness between man and his wife, “make one,” namely, Adam first, to mark the oneness of marriage and make it a law of nature, appointing “that out of man (created in His own image and similitude), woman should take her beginning, and, knitting them together, did teach that it should never be lawful to put asunder those, whom He by matrimony had made one?” “Between those two, and consequently between…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. 10-16Malachi’s third message shows that the failure to keep the covenant spread from the priests to all the people. They did not keep their promises to the Lord or to their fellow citizens when they married foreign women. They also broke their promises to their wives when they divorced them. The prophet now addresses the people as fellow members of the community. This marks a clear change in tone. He moves from sharp accusation to an inclusive appeal (Malachi…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 2:15

• Divorce
• Husband
• Marriage
• Polygamy
• Watchfulness

In the dictionaries

• Corrupt
• Malachi
• Profane
• Wherein
• Abraham
• Genesis
• Priests and Levites
• Seed

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