“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.” (NKJV)
"I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a man's covering himself with violence as well as with his garment," says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.” (NIV (1984))
“‘The man who hates and divorces his wife,’ says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘does violence to the one he should protect,’ says the Lord Almighty. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.” (NIV (2011))
“For I hate divorce!” says the Lord, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.” (NLT)
“‘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.’” (ESV)
What does this verse often get misunderstood to mean?
God hates divorce in all circumstances without any exception, so to divorce for any reason is to go against him.
What does this verse actually mean?
God hates when a man cruelly abandons his wife as that is not how he wants wives to be treated.
Explanation
Many people have grown up hearing the phrase “God hates divorce.” It is understood to mean that divorce is not permissible in any circumstance, so no matter what, you have to remain married because you made a covenant with your spouse. Sadly, this mindset and this verse have been weaponized to convince women to stay in abusive situations.
Kitchen Mexican
As you might notice above, various versions of the Bible each translate Malachi 2:16 differently. That is because there are different schools of thought when making a translation—you could do a word-for-word translation or a thought-for-thought translation. If you’ve ever been to a Mexican restaurant, you might see a sign that says, “Cocina Mexicana.” If you wanted to translate that to English using the word-for-word method, you would get “kitchen Mexican,” which gets the point across but doesn’t sound right to English-speaking ears. If you used the thought-for-thought method, you would take the translations of the words, rearrange them to fit English grammar rules, and end up with “Mexican kitchen.” This concept is important to understand because Malachi 2:16 is regarded as a notoriously difficult and awkward verse to translate.
Word for Word vs. Thought for Thought
Many early translations of the Bible used the word-for-word method, and it resulted in some of the phrasings you see above, such as the NKJV. This created that blanket statement of “God hates divorce” that became so prevalent and rigidly enforced in the church. However, when you translate the original text with a thought-for-thought method, you get a different phrasing that insinuates a different message: God hates when a husband abandons his wife.
A great example of this is in the NIV translations. The 1984 NIV translation first translated the verse as “I hate divorce.” Upon scholars looking closer at the original Hebrew texts, the updated 2011 translation changed the phrasing to say, “The man who hates and divorces his wife.” Rather than God being the one who hates, it is the man who is needlessly abandoning his wife who is characterized as being full of hate. God is expressing grief that the wife is being treated with cruelty.
Who Invented Divorce?
Furthermore, divorce as an official, legally documented separation was a concept invented by God as a way to protect women. Deuteronomy 24:1-2 speaks to this, noting a certificate of divorce. This was a practice that no other people group in the ancient world did. This was unique to the laws that God gave the Israelites. At this point in history, being a single woman was incredibly vulnerable. Wives were being abandoned and left destitute with no way to protect or provide for themselves, and without an official certificate of divorce, they couldn’t remarry either. By instituting divorce, God ensured that abandoned women would still be legally protected and could rebuild their lives.
Additionally, Exodus 21:10 states that in a marriage, there was an expectation of care that must be given to the wife (this included food, clothes, and marital rights). If those standards were not met, the woman was free to leave without any consequence. Meaning, if a husband was not taking care of his wife, she was able to leave him.
When we look at Malachi 2:16 with the knowledge that God instituted divorce in the first place, we can see that it is more accurate to understand the verse as meaning God hates when a husband is cruel to his wife, rather than God hating all instances of divorce.
Conclusion
In conclusion, God loves marriage, but he does not stand for a veneer of marriage that hides domestic abuse. He expects husbands to value their wives and love them selflessly (Ephesians 5:25). Divorce was instituted by God to protect women who were in a vulnerable or abusive situation.
Sources
The Committee on Bible Translation’s official statement regarding the changes made to the 2011 NIV: https://georgesjournal.net/niv-translators-notes.pdf
Complexity of Malachi 2:16: https://livingfaith.blog/does-god-hate-divorce-rethinking-malachi-215
Therapy and Theology Podcast: https://share.transistor.fm/s/3e3ab9fd/transcript
Divorce, Remarriage, and Abuse: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article