God never said he hates divorce
Malachi 2:16 NIV
“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.
The Bible doesn’t say, “I hate divorce.” The translation of this verse from the ancient Hebrew language to English is incorrect. [2] The earliest
English Bibles (Wycliffe, Geneva, Bishops, and the Great Bible) didn’t translate it as “I hate divorce” or “God hates divorce.” And neither do the three most recent English Bible translations.
Malachi 2:16 was written about 500 years before the time of Christ. For the
first 2,100 years of Bible translating (from about 500 BC to AD 1600), no Bible translation said, “I hate divorce” or “God hates divorce.” The entire context of Malachi 1 and 2, is God’s stinging rebuke of hypocrites who make showy displays of loyalty to the Lord, but in reality are cheating him. Then God says he doesn’t answer their prayers because of how bad they treat their wives.
This verse is not about God’s anger at divorce, but his anger at hypocritical, unfaithful, violent husbands who dump their wives without just cause.
The Hebrew text does not say “I hate divorce.” Rather, it can be better translated from Hebrew to English like this in the
New International Version of the Holy Bible.
So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth. “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. —Malachi 2:15b-16 (New International Version, NIV, emphasis mine)
The same verses in the
English Standard Version read like this:
…let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. “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 2:15b-16 (ESV, emphasis mine)
The
Holman Christian Standard Bible published by Lifeway (Southern Baptist), translated it like this. (And the revision of the HCSB, the
Christian Standard Bible, treats that phrase the same way):
So watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously against the wife of your youth. “If he hates and divorces his wife,” says the LORD God of Israel, “he covers his garment with injustice,”at says the LORD of Hosts. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously. —Malachi 2:15b-16 (HCSB, emphasis mine)
God is not against all divorce. God is against treacherous divorce, divorce where the vow breaker abandons the faithful spouse.
more at
This myth says divorce is a sin, and that it may even be an unpardonable sin. However, the Scriptures say that God allows for divorce.