Bible in a Year - Women’s Thematic Reading Plan | Day 137

Day 137 of the Women’s Bible Plan: Read Malachi 2:10-16 and reflect on God’s serious warning against treachery in marriage. Through this passage, we consider how deeply God values faithfulness, covenant, reverence, and responsibility within marriage. This devotional invites women to see marital faithfulness not merely as a private matter, but as part of a life lived honestly before God.

🌸  Dear Sister, welcome to Day 137 of our reading journey. 

Marriage is not merely a formality, nor is it only an emotional choice between two people. In Scripture, marriage carries the weight of covenant. It involves faithfulness, responsibility, trust, and the way a person treats the one who has become closest, most vulnerable, and most entrusted to them.

Malachi Chapter 2 speaks with a serious tone. Through the prophet, God rebukes His people because they were coming before the altar with weeping, crying out, and offerings, while at the same time acting treacherously in their marriages. They had dealt faithlessly with the wives of their youth, despised the marriage covenant, and wounded the ones with whom they had entered into covenant. God did not treat this as a small matter. He did not look only at outward religious devotion. He saw the unfaithfulness in the home, the betrayal in relationships, and the hidden treachery behind public worship.

Today’s passage reminds us that God cares not only about offerings brought to Him, but also about faithfulness shown within marriage. He hears prayers, but He also sees whether we treat others—especially those closest to us—with truth, honor, and reverence.

A Minute of Grace

Malachi 2:10-16 is a solemn passage about covenant and marital faithfulness. The prophet begins by reminding Israel, “Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?” Since they belong to the same God, they should not deal treacherously with one another or profane the holiness the Lord loves.

This passage especially rebukes those who had dealt treacherously with “the wife of thy youth.” She is not described merely as a woman in the household, but as “thy companion” and “the wife of thy covenant.” These words are important. Marriage is not a relationship to be discarded whenever convenient. It is a covenant made before God. To deal treacherously with one’s spouse is not only to wound another person, but also to despise a covenant God sees and values.

This passage also shows us that God cares deeply about the one who is wounded in marriage. The tears, weeping, and crying out covered the altar of the Lord. People may have assumed that their religious practices could continue as usual, but God said He would no longer regard their offerings or receive them with goodwill from their hands. God does not separate worship from life. He sees how a person treats a spouse at home. He sees whether there is honesty, faithfulness, and justice within relationships.

When this passage says that God hates putting away, it must not be used to force those who are wounded, abused, or in danger to remain in harmful situations. Nor should it be used as a weapon against victims. In this passage, God is rebuking treachery, unfaithfulness, covenant-breaking, selfish abandonment, and the religious hypocrisy that tries to cover betrayal with outward piety. God hates the kind of wrongdoing that wounds a spouse and then pretends that worship can continue as though nothing has happened.

Today’s theme, “God Hates Treachery in Divorce,” invites us to reflect: Do we value faithfulness within covenant? In marriage, close relationships, and family life, are we willing to treat others with reverence before God? Even for sisters who are not married, this passage still reminds us that God values covenant, truthfulness, faithfulness, and justice in relationships. He calls us to live with genuine godliness even before those closest to us.

Whispers for the Heart

1 This passage calls the wife “thy companion” and “the wife of thy covenant.” How does this help you understand marriage not merely as an emotional bond, but as a covenant before God? How might this shape the way you view faithfulness, responsibility, communication, and mutual care?

2 Malachi rebukes people who brought offerings while acting treacherously in marriage. Have you ever separated your spiritual life from your relational life? Could God be reminding you today that true worship includes the way we treat our spouse, family members, and those closest to us?

3 This passage shows us that God sees the tears of those who have been wounded. Have you ever been betrayed, dismissed, or harmed in a close relationship? Or is someone around you carrying pain within marriage or family? How can you bring these tears before God and learn to watch over the wounded with both truth and mercy?

As you read Malachi 2:10-16 today, do not see this passage only as a rebuke to ancient Israel. Let it also examine how we view marriage, relationships, and worship today. God cares about the prayers of our lips, and He also cares about faithfulness in our closest relationships.

Take a quiet breath before you begin. Bring your thoughts about marriage, faithfulness, wounds, covenant, and family before the Lord, and let His Word meet you there.

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🪕 Response Hymn: 

Malachi 2:10-16 (KJV)

10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?

11 Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.

12 The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts.

13 And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.

14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.

15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

16 For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.

🪕 Response Hymn: 

💡 Closing Thought · Faithfulness Is Also Worship

After reading Malachi 2:10-16, we see that God cares not only about whether people bring offerings, but also about whether they keep covenant in marriage. People may weep at the altar and clothe themselves in religious language, but God sees the truth in the home. He sees the tears of the spouse. He sees every hidden treachery. To God, faithfulness is not a small matter in marriage; it is part of worship.

As we close this page and return to real life, perhaps you are learning faithfulness within marriage. Perhaps you are carrying wounds from a relationship. Perhaps you are praying for someone else’s marriage. Remember this: God values covenant, and He also values tears. He calls us to honest covenant-keeping, and He has compassion for those who have been wounded.

May today’s Scripture remind you that true godliness is not only saying we love God with our mouths, but learning honesty, respect, faithfulness, and responsibility in our relationships. May God help us live with faithfulness in marriage and family, so that our love is not merely an emotion, but a love shaped by reverence, responsibility, and covenant.

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