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

13Here 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. 14You 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. Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. 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!” says the Lord, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.” 17You have wearied the Lord with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. You have wearied him by saying that all who do evil are good in the Lord’s sight, and he is pleased with them. You have wearied him by asking, “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 human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
• Genesis 2:20He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.
• Matthew 19:4“Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’”
• Mark 10:6But ‘God made them male and female’ from the beginning of creation.
• 1 Corinthians 7:2But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband.
• Genesis 2:7Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
• Job 27:3As long as I live, while I have breath from God,
• Ecclesiastes 12:7For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.
• John 20:22Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
• Genesis 24:3Swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not allow my son to marry one of these local Canaanite women.
• Genesis 26:34At the age of forty, Esau married two Hittite wives: Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon.
• Genesis 27:46Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m sick and tired of these local Hittite women! I would rather die than see Jacob marry one of them.”
• Genesis 28:2Instead, go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your grandfather Bethuel, and marry one of your uncle Laban’s daughters.
• Deuteronomy 7:4for they will lead your children away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and he will quickly destroy you.
• Ezra 9:4Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel came and sat with me because of this outrage committed by the returned exiles. And I sat there utterly appalled until the time of the evening sacrifice.
• Nehemiah 13:24Furthermore, half their children spoke the language of Ashdod or of some other people and could not speak the language of Judah at all.

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