Matthew 1:19

1:19 Because Joseph, her husband to be, ¹  was a righteous man, and because he did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her ²  privately.

Malachi 2:16

2:16 “I hate divorce,” ³  says the Lord God of Israel, “and the one who is guilty of violence,” ⁴  says the Lord who rules over all. “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful.”

¹ tn Grk “husband.” See following note for discussion.

² tn Or “send her away.”

³ tc The verb שָׂנֵא (sane’) appears to be a third person form, “he hates,” which makes little sense in the context, unless one emends the following word to a third person verb as well. Then one might translate, “he [who] hates [his wife] [and] divorces her…is guilty of violence.” A similar translation is advocated by M. A. Shields, “Syncretism and Divorce in Malachi 2,10-16,” ZAW 111 (1999): 81-85. However, it is possible that the first person pronoun אָנֹכִי (’anokhi, “I”) has accidentally dropped from the text after כִּי (ki). If one restores the pronoun, the form שָׂנֵא can be taken as a participle and the text translated, “for I hate” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).

⁴ tn Heb “him who covers his garment with violence” (similar ASV, NRSV). Here “garment” is a metaphor for appearance and “violence” a metonymy of effect for cause. God views divorce as an act of violence against the victim.