@IshChayil and others......I didn't realize I posted something from somebody who elicited such negative emotions! Lesson learned. Ok, how about this
@IshChayil,
Yes or no?
Hey no emotions over here toward you, just don't like to see anti-missionaries quoted over here.
For your yes/no question, if you force me to answer Yes/No jury style, then "no".
Here's the verse which is often over-referenced/leaned on regarding divorce:
כִּֽי־שָׂנֵ֣א שַׁלַּ֗ח אָמַ֤ר יְהוָה֙ אֱלֹהֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְכִסָּ֤ה חָמָס֙ עַל־לְבוּשׁ֔וֹ אָמַ֖ר יְהוָ֣ה צְבָא֑וֹת וְנִשְׁמַרְתֶּ֥ם בְּרוּחֲכֶ֖ם וְלֹ֥א תִבְגֹּֽדוּ׃ ס
Mal 2:16
Here is my literal translation (bold means there is emphasis in the Hebrew which does not always get translated into English due to awkwardness in English if not using a style marker like
bold).
Italics means these words are not in the Hebrew but are provided in the English to make it make sense; I'm
inferring them.
"For the
one who hates
his wife and
sends her away, Adonai G-d of Israel says, "He
covered with violence in addition to his clothing"; Adonai of legions says, "You shall
indeed guard your spirits and never
change clothes."
explanation:
It does NOT say "I hate". See the word in red, in order to say "I hate" in Biblical Hebrew we would have seen:
שַֹנֵאְתִי sanēʾtī but instead the text only says
שָׂנֵ֣א sanēʾ "he hated" which flows better in English here to say "one who hates". Technical stuff: it's an infinitive without the lamedh which means it gets translated as a participle, or an imperative and occasionally as a concept. My gut was to translated it as a participle so I did and sanity checked myself by checking how the ancient Septuagint translated it: μισήσας misēsas (participle).
שַׁלַּ֗ח šallaḥ "to send out"; this is an intensive verbal form (piel) of the regular verb
שלח šālaḥ meaning "send"
In syntax where we want to express divorce, it is as
@Kevin stated used in conjunction with "give a writing of divorce" or often this "send out" verb is left out and we just see "give a writing of divorce". It is, however, still possible (and in context here likely) that this is meant to convey divorce. I just elected to be absolutely literal in my translation.
I understand that many translations want to say "I hate" and even the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (premier critical Hebrew text put out by the German Bible Society) has this word marked as a possible scribal error:
prb l שׂנאתִי
Meaning "probably I hate"
I prefer to not accept theories of textual corruption when they can be understood differently other than just the need of translational tradition to say something else.
The "
change clothes" verb here implies "
act treacherously" I just wanted you all to see what's happening with the Hebrew under the hood (we are talking about dressing up in violence (which can also mean falsity, as in a false witness) then one of the words for betray is used which is based on the word begged (clothing).
********************** it gets deeper get out now if this language stuff is too boring************
So what does our pal the Greek Septuagint say? How did the ancient rabbis translate this stuff into Greek a couple centuries before Yeshua showed up on the scene?
ἀλλὰ ἐὰν μισήσας ἐξαποστείλῃς, λέγει Κύριος ὁ θεὸς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, καὶ καλύψει ἀσέβεια ἐπὶ τὰ ἐνθυμήματά σου, λέγει Κύριος Παντοκράτωρ. καὶ φυλάξασθε ἐν τῷ πνεύματι ὑμῶν καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐνκαταλίπητε,
Swete, H. B. (1909). The Old Testament in Greek: According to the Septuagint. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
My literal translation:
If then, hating
you may send out your wife, L-rd, the G-d of Israel says, "and he will hide impiety concerning your thoughts"; L-rd Almigty says, "and you guard! your spirit so that you
may not abandon
your wife"
"
may send" because this is the subjunctive mood, a speculative mood in Greek
"
may not" same reason as above
I added
your wife where it seemed implied by context.
Hope this helps in justifying my answer of "no" to your question.
