Texts in Conversation
The Hebrew version of Malachi 2:15 is one the hardest in the Bible to translate, hinting that the faithful seek godly children. The Greek Septuagint struggled and created new meaning about a remnant of breath and what other offspring God could want.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Malachi 2:15
Hebrew Bible
14 Yet you ask, “Why?” The Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law. 15 No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. What did our ancestor do when seeking a child from God? Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth. 16 “I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel, “and the one who is guilty of violence,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful.”
LXX Malachi 2:15
Septuagint
13 And these things, which I hate, you do: You cover with tears the altar of the Lord, and with weeping and groaning from troubles. Yet is it worthy to look upon the sacrifice or to take an acceptable gift from your hands? 14 And you said, ‘Because of what?’ Because the Lord has testified between you and the wife of your youth, whom you deserted, even though she is your partner and the wife of your covenant. 15 And he did not make her good, yet she has the residue of his breath. And you said, ‘What other seed does God desire?’ So, observe in your spirit, and do not desert the wife of your youth.
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Notes and References
"... This may be rendered: 'And another has not done [so], and [there was] a remnant of his spirit. But you say, "What else does God seek but a seed?" But guard your spirit, and do not forsake the wife of your youth.' Commenting on the Septuagint of Malachi 2:15, J. Packard once wrote, 'The Septuagint translator seems to have given his understanding a holiday, and made his pen supply its place.' The harshness of Packard's criticism, however, may have been due in large part to the inferior text of the Septuagint to which he and most older commentators had access. ..."
Hugenberger, Gordon P.
Marriage as a Covenant: A Study of Biblical Law and Ethics Governing Marriage Developed from the Perspective of Malachi
(p. 142) Brill, 1994
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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