Malachi 2:14
BSB · Public Domain (CC0)“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.”
A short, plain-language explanation of Malachi 2:14 goes here — the kind of answer a reader (or an AI assistant) can quote in one breath. Original meaning coming soon.
“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 · Public Domain (CC0)“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.”
King James Version · Public Domain“Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because Jehovah hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, though she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.”
American Standard Version · Public Domain“And ye have said, `Wherefore?' Because Jehovah hath testified between thee And the wife of thy youth, That thou hast dealt treacherously against her, And she thy companion, and thy covenant-wife.”
Young's Literal Translation · Public DomainOther passages that echo Malachi 2:14 — 21 related verses from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Genesis 2:18The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”
- Genesis 31:50If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, although no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.”
- Judges 11:10And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The LORD is our witness if we do not do as you say.”
- 1 Samuel 12:5Samuel said to them, “The LORD is a witness against you, and His anointed is a witness today, that you have not found anything in my hand.” “He is a witness,” they replied.
- Proverbs 2:17who abandons the partner of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.
- Proverbs 5:18May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth:
- Proverbs 5:20Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, or embrace the bosom of a stranger?
- Proverbs 30:20This is the way of an adulteress: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’
- Ecclesiastes 9:9Enjoy 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.
- Song of Solomon 1:15How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves.
- Isaiah 54:6For 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.
- Isaiah 58:3“Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers.
- Jeremiah 8:12Are 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 29:23For they have committed an outrage in Israel by committing adultery with the wives of their neighbors and speaking lies in My name, which I did not command them to do. I am He who knows, and I am a witness, declares the LORD.”
- Jeremiah 42:5Then 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.
- Ezekiel 16:8Then I passed by and saw you, and you were indeed old enough for love. So I spread My cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged Myself to you, entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine, declares the Lord GOD.
- Micah 1:2Hear, O peoples, all of you; listen, O earth, and everyone in it! May the Lord GOD bear witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple.
- Malachi 1:6“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?” says the LORD of Hosts to you priests who despise My name. “But you ask, ‘How have we despised Your name?’
- Malachi 2:15Has 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.
- 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.
- Malachi 3:8Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.
Cross-reference data: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain) via OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).