"Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast…" — Malachi 2:14

Malachi 2:14 · KJV

“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.”

— Malachi 2:14

Verse 13

And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth {it} with good will at your hand.

Verse 15

And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. {residue: or, excellency} {godly...: Heb. seed of God} {treacherously: or, unfaithfully}

Malachi 2 — Context

The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts. {the master...: or, him that waketh, and him that answereth}

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.

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. {that he...: or, if he hate her, put her away} {putting...: Heb. to put away}

Cross References

Malachi 2:15

Isaiah 54:6

For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.

Ecclesiastes 9:9

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that {is} thy portion in {this} life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. {Live...: Heb. See, or, Enjoy life}

Genesis 31:50

If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take {other} wives beside my daughters, no man {is} with us; see, God {is} witness betwixt me and thee.

Jeremiah 8:12

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD. {I will...: or, In gathering I will consume}

Proverbs 2:17

Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.

Malachi 3:5

And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in {his} wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger {from his right}, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. {oppress: or, defraud}

Jeremiah 42:5

Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.