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15 The Lord has joined you together, as a man with his wife. Your body and your spirit belong to him. Why did God put you together? He wanted you to have children who would belong to him. So think carefully about how you live. Do not leave the wife that you married when you were a young man.

16 The Lord God of Israel says this: ‘If a man sends his wife away from him, I hate that! He has been cruel to his wife when he should take care of her. So be very careful! Remember your promise to take care of your wife.’

That is what the Lord Almighty says.

17 The Lord has become tired as he listens to your words.

You ask, ‘Why is he tired? What have we done to cause that?’ You say, ‘The Lord thinks that all people who do evil things are good! He does not punish them but he is happy with them.’ You also say, ‘God is not here to bring justice!’

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15 Has not the one God made you?(A) You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.[a](B) So be on your guard,(C) and do not be unfaithful(D) to the wife of your youth.

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

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

Breaking Covenant Through Injustice

17 You have wearied(H) the Lord with your words.

“How have we wearied him?” you ask.(I)

By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased(J) with them” or “Where is the God of justice?(K)

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Footnotes

  1. Malachi 2:15 The meaning of the Hebrew for the first part of this verse is uncertain.
  2. 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,”