Malachi 2:10-16

New International Version

Breaking Covenant Through Divorce

¹⁰Do we not all have one Father^[a]?^(A) Did not one God create us?^(B) Why do we profane the covenant^(C) of our ancestors by being unfaithful^(D) to one another?

¹¹Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable^(E) thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves^(F) by marrying^(G) women who worship a foreign god.^(H) ¹²As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove^(I) him from the tents of Jacob^[b]^(J)—even though he brings an offering^(K) to the Lord Almighty.

¹³Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears.^(L) You weep and wail^(M) because he no longer looks with favor^(N) on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.^(O) ¹⁴You ask,^(P) “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness^(Q) between you and the wife of your youth.^(R) You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.^(S)

¹⁵Has not the one God made you?^(T) You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.^[c]^(U) So be on your guard,^(V) and do not be unfaithful^(W) to the wife of your youth.

¹⁶“The man who hates and divorces his wife,^(X)” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,”^[d]^(Y) says the Lord Almighty.

So be on your guard,^(Z) and do not be unfaithful.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Malachi 2:10 Or father
Malachi 2:12 Or ¹²May the Lord remove from the tents of Jacob anyone who gives testimony in behalf of the man who does this
Malachi 2:15 The meaning of the Hebrew for the first part of this verse is uncertain.
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,”