If a man hates his wife he should set her free from the marriage. That’s what Malachi 2:16 says. Updated post.

Malachi 2:15 has been mistranslated and used as a clobber verse to shame abused wives. Some recent English versions have slightly improved their translation of this verse, but to my knowledge none have given serious consideration to how Myles Coverdale translated it in the early 1500s.

In Coverdale’s translation, God says to husbands: “If you hate your wife, release her! Let her go free! And give her a clothing for the scorn. Look well to your spirit, and do not despise her.” 

“Give her a clothing for the scorn” means the husband must compensate her for the wrong he has done her, to mitigate the poverty and stigma she might endure as a divorced woman.

Abusive husbands are highly skilled at hiding their abuse from the public gaze. They blame their wives for fleeing the marriage and applying for divorce. When an abused wife gets divorced, the abusive husband can use the mistranslation of Malachi 2:16 to bolster his self-justifying narrative that he is the victim and his wife is the abuser.

The abusive husband only needs to say, “God hates divorce, and my wife is divorcing me; I hope she will repent!” and many Christians will given him the benefit of the doubt. They didn’t seen any signs that he was abusing his wife, so they offer him himpathy and comfort.

Because I’ve seen how damaging the mistranslation of Malachi 2:16 has been to both men and women, I implore Christian academics and scholars to look at the work I’ve done on this verse. I’m sure my work is far from perfect. I’m sure it could be improved and built upon. I’m not trained in Hebrew and Greek, but I’ve done my best with my limited capacity to examine the translation of this verse and research how it’s been mistranslated over many centuries.

If you haven’t been abused by your spouse, you may not see the critical theological insights that I’ve seen about Malachi 2:16 and other verses that discuss divorce. And you may not have been gripped by the desire to develop better doctrine about divorce for abuse.

As an abused wife who has been called to develop better doctrine about divorce for abuse, I have become an author and advocate for Christians who have been abused by their spouses. I have no formal theological qualifications, but I have decades of training in the school of hard knocks. This has led me to see many things in scripture which pertain to divorce for abuse — things they don’t teach in seminary. Please give me space at your table. Please critically evaluate my work and build on it so that abused spouses will no longer be harmed by false teaching and bad praxis.

Please read my updated post If a man hates his wife he should set her free from the marriage. That’s what Malachi 2:16 says.

To see how much work I’ve done on the doctrine of divorce, go here.

To see all my work on Malachi 2:16, go here.

To check out my book, go to notunderbondage.com

If a man hates his wife he should set her free from the marriage. That’s what Malachi 2:16 says.