Malachi 2:16

[Josh Williamson]

I'm currently studying Malachi 2:10-16 for a sermon, and I've come across a bit of a debate over verse 16.

The ESV renders it: “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.” (Malachi 2:16 ESV)

Whereas the AV (and most other translations) render it along the lines of: "For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously." (Malachi 2:16 AV)

Most other translations and paraphrases bring out the fact that God hates divorce, yet the ESV doesn't. Some of the commentaries I read on it state it could go both ways, and that the Hebrew in this passage is one of the hardest in the OT.

What's your thoughts, what is the best rendering of this passage?

 

[Ask Mr. Religion]

The Hebrew in the first portion of the verse is quite elliptical, with "hating", "divorcing", "and covers", "violence", "upon protection of him" that somehow need to be meaningfully combined. The masculine participle combined with a following infinitive construct may suggest "He {the man} who hates and divorces". "Clothing" could be referred to by the "His protection", yet the previous verses contextually suggest the referent here is more likely to be the wife, the one he was supposed to protect rather than engage in polygamous practices at the wife's expense.

Green's interlinear rendered the passage:

Mal 3:16 Jehovah, the God of Israel, says, He hates sending away, and to cover with violence on his garment, says Jehovah of Hosts. Even guard your spirit and do not act deceitfully.

The NET bible notes on the passage read:

The verb שָׂנֵא (sane’) appears to be a third person form, “he hates,” which makes little sense in the context, unless one emends the following word to a third person verb as well. Then one might translate, “he [who] hates [his wife] [and] divorces her…is guilty of violence.” A similar translation is advocated by M. A. Shields, “Syncretism and Divorce in Malachi 2, 10–16, ” ZAW 111 (1999): 81-85. However, it is possible that the first person pronoun אָנֹכִי (’anokhi, “I”) has accidentally dropped from the text after כִּי (ki). If one restores the pronoun, the form שָׂנֵא can be taken as a participle and the text translated, “for I hate” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).

Though the statement “I hate divorce” may (and should) be understood as a comprehensive biblical principle, the immediate context suggests that the divorce in view is that of one Jewish person by another in order to undertake subsequent marriages. The injunction here by no means contradicts Ezra’s commands to Jewish men to divorce their heathen wives (Ezra 9–10).

Heb “him who covers his garment with violence” (similar ASV, NRSV). Here “garment” is a metaphor for appearance and “violence” a metonymy of effect for cause. God views divorce as an act of violence against the victim.

See also Calvin here.

Not buying the emendation assumed by the NET Bible folks, my first-order translation would be something like:

He who hates and divorces, says the LORD God of Israel, covers his garment with violence {that is, has done violence to the one he was to protect, his wife}, says the LORD of hosts. Therefore guard yourself, and be not unfaithful.

AMR

 

[J. Dean]

I don't know, Josh. The first part of the ESV rendering makes it pretty clear to me that God hates divorce, even if those exact words aren't used there. Saying that one is covering his garment with violence in divorce isn't exactly a thumbs-up for divorce!

 

[BibleCyst]

How about the NKJV rendering?

“For the Lord God of Israel says
That He hates divorce,
For it covers one’s garment with violence,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
“Therefore take heed to your spirit,
That you do not deal treacherously.”