Bible Strands
Malachi 2:14
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses the post-exilic community of Judah regarding their neglected sacrifices and broken marital vows. He responds to their question about God's rejection of their offerings by pointing directly to their covenant unfaithfulness.
The words — The text highlights הֵעִ֨יד (he.'Id), literally "he has testified," and בֵּינְ/ךָ֜ (bei.ne./Kha), meaning "between you." These terms establish Yahweh as the observing party to the marriage covenant.
The thread — The theme of marital unity and covenant faithfulness appears in Malachi 2:15 and Isaiah 54:6. Ecclesiastes 9:9 also addresses the lifelong commitment to one's spouse.
Why it lands — The text states that God witnesses marital vows and rejects religious rituals performed alongside covenant betrayal. It requires readers to prioritize fidelity in marriage over external religious performance.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Malachi 2:15 Has 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.
- Ecclesiastes 9:9 Enjoy 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 54:6 For 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 31:50 If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, although no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.”
- Proverbs 2:17 who abandons the partner of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.
- Jeremiah 8:12 Are 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.
- Jeremiah 42:5 Then 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.
- 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.
- Proverbs 5:18 May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:
- Proverbs 30:20 This is the way of an adulteress: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’