18 Bible Translations of Malachi 2:16: Does God Hate Divorce?

2400 Years of Translating Malachi 2:16:  How Ancient, Early and Modern English Bibles Interpret It

The chart above shows that the interpretation "God hates divorce" is not the traditional view. When you look at 2400 years of Bible translations, you see that it is a very odd wording.

The Hebrew in this passage says:

if he hates (verb) divorce (verb)

The word "divorce " is a verb not a noun. No one is hating divorce (noun). And God is not speaking about himself, because the next phrase is that "he" (the person doing the hating) is covering his clothing with violence. So it cannot be talking about God. Plus God speaks in the first person in Malachi. He uses "I" when he speaks to the people, not "he," followed by the phrase "says the Lord" (sixteen times) in Malachi. So "God hates divorce" is not the time-tested traditional translation even though people may claim it is.

Here are the 4 main ways the major English Bibles interpreted Malachi 2:16 over the past 2400 years

1) “If you hate your wife, divorce her...” - Wycliffe, Coverdale, Matthew, The Great Bible, Bishop's Bible, Geneva Bible, some Septuagint, etc.

2) “If he hates and divorces [his wife].” Septuagint, Masoretic, CSB, 2011 NIV, and ESV.

3) “God hates divorce...”  KJV (AV), even though the word in Hebrew is he, not God. Also, despite the online Hebrew interlinear Bibles, the Hebrew language doesn't have upper- and lowercase letters. So the capitalized "H" in he, does not really exist.

4)  "I hate divorce"-  Young's, ERV, ASV, RSV, 1984 NIV, NASB, NRSV, NLT  (even though the word "I" is not in the Hebrew; it's the word "he")

2 Scholars Discuss the Hebrew: Problems with the Interpretation "God Hates Divorce."

• Dr. C. Jack Collins Compares Multiple Ancient Bible Texts, Including the Septuagint (LXX), the Mastoretic.  "Malachi 2:16 Again, by Jack Collins, Covenant Theological Seminary, Old Testament Faculty. https://www.academia.edu/5304267/Malachi_2_16_again_

From Collins's abstract: "Most English Bibles, beginning with the AV , render Malachi 2:16 in such a way that God is saying that he hates divorce – either in the first person (“I hate divorce,” NASB, NIV, NRSV) or in the third person (“he [= the LORD] hates divorce,” AV). Most acknowledge that this is extremely difficult to get from the Masoretic Text, and offer some set of corrections (re-vocalizing, emending the consonants)"

 

From Collins's conclusion:

I believe the discussion here shows the following:

1. The translation of this verse found in the AV (and most English Bibles since then), with God hating divorce, represents a departure from the translation tradition of the previous centuries.

2. The rendering of the ESV, which has a Judean man “hating” his wife and divorcing her, does the best job of handling the details of the Masoretic Text, with no corrections. It also enables us to see how this fits into the context of profaning the calling of the people of God .

3. This way of reading Malachi 2:16 allows us to see how the verse fits into the overall promotion of covenant fidelity as the ideal of marriage, an ideal for which the faithful among the people of God – whether in ancient Israel or in the Christian Church today – will seek all the resources of grace, of forgiveness, of fellowship with the saints, and of the Holy Spirit’s enabling power.

• Kyle Pope Compares the two Hebrew texts (the Masoretic and the Dead Sea 4QXII^a), "He Hates" or "God Hates" The Text of Malachi 2:16 see: https://focusmagazine.org/he-hates-or-god-hates-the-text-of-malachi-216.php.Kyle Pope notes, "Is Malachi quoting the Lord? If so, who is the “he” the Lord says “hates”? Is Malachi summarizing the declaration of the Lord? We do this all the time—“He says that he hates onions!”—rather than, “He says, ‘I hate onions!’” The next phrase raises further questions. The Hebrew speaks of “his clothing.” About whose clothing is this speaking? If God hates and God says, is this speaking of God’s clothing? If not, where is the shift?"

Scholar Discusses the Pastoral Aspects of Malachi 2:16

• Marg Mowscko:  https://margmowczko.com/divorce-malachi-2/ "God on Divorce: Malachi 2:16"

Summary: "Divorce is hard, horrible, and heartbreaking, but we should stop saying that God hates divorce, as this is misquoting and misrepresenting scripture. Moreover, pronouncing that “God hates divorce” brings only hurt, confusion, and feelings of condemnation to Christians who are divorced or contemplating divorce. This pronouncement does nothing to help the church’s mission of bringing healing and hope through the gospel. Furthermore, we simply must stop using Malachi 2:16 to coerce or guilt a wronged or abused spouse to remain in a harmful marriage."