Malachi 4:6

Malachi 4:6 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
• New International Version (NIV)He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
• English Standard Version (ESV)And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction."
• New King James Version (NKJV)And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

Context of Malachi 4:6

4“Remember the instruction of Moses my servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. 5Look, I am going to send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

Malachi 4:6 word by word

וְהֵשִׁ֤יב לֵב־אָבוֹת֙ עַל־בָּנִ֔ים וְלֵ֥ב בָּנִ֖ים עַל־אֲבוֹתָ֑ם פֶּן־אָב֕וֹא וְהִכֵּיתִ֥י אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ חֵֽרֶם׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And he shall turnשׁוּבshûb · to return: turn backH7725
• the heartלֵבlêb · heartH3820
• of the fathersאָב'âb · fatherH1
• to the childrenבֵּןbên · son: childH1121
• lest I comeבּוֹאbô' · to come (in): comeH935
• and smiteנָכָהnâkâh · to smiteH5221
• the earthאֶ֫רֶץ'erets · land: country/planetH776
• with a curseחֵ֫רֶםchêrem cherem · devoted thingH2764

Cross-references for Malachi 4:6

• Luke 1:16He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
• Isaiah 61:2to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance; to comfort all who mourn,
• Daniel 9:26After those sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the coming ruler will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come with a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations are decreed.
• Zechariah 11:6Indeed, I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land” — this is the Lord’s declaration. “Instead, I will turn everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue it from their hand.”
• Zechariah 13:8In the whole land — this is the Lord’s declaration — two-thirds will be cut off and die, but a third will be left in it.
• Zechariah 14:2I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle. The city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city.
• Matthew 22:7The king was enraged, and he sent out his troops, killed those murderers, and burned down their city.
• Matthew 23:35So all the righteous blood shed on the earth will be charged to you, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
• Matthew 24:27For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
• Mark 13:14“When you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be” (let the reader understand), “then those in Judea must flee to the mountains.
• Luke 19:41As he approached and saw the city, he wept for it,
• Luke 21:22because these are days of vengeance to fulfill all the things that are written.
• Deuteronomy 29:19When someone hears the words of this oath, he may consider himself exempt, thinking, ‘I will have peace even though I follow my own stubborn heart.’ This will lead to the destruction of the well-watered land as well as the dry land.
• Isaiah 24:6Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants have become guilty; the earth’s inhabitants have been burned, and only a few survive.
• Isaiah 43:28So I defiled the officers of the sanctuary, and set Jacob apart for destruction and Israel for scorn.
• Isaiah 65:15You will leave your name behind as a curse for my chosen ones, and the Lord God will kill you; but he will give his servants another name.

Commentaries on Malachi 4:6

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6And he shall turn (convert) the heart of the fathers (על al, with) the children - Or, together with the children; both old and young. Lest I come, and, finding them unconverted, smote the land with a curse, חרם cherem, utter extinction. So we find that, had the Jews turned to God, and received the Messiah at the preaching of John the Baptist and that of Christ and his apostles, the awful חרם cherem of final excision and execration would not have been…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers unto the children - Now they were unlike, and severed by that unlikeness from each other. Yet not on earth, for on earth parents and children were alike alienated from God, and united between themselves in wickedness or worldliness. The common love of the world or of worldly pursuits, or gain or self-exaltation, or making a fortune or securing it, is, so far, a common bond of interest to those of one family…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 4-6Verses 4-6 Here is a solemn conclusion, not only of this prophecy, but of the Old Testament. Conscience bids us remember the law. Though we have not prophets, yet, as long as we have Bibles, we may keep up our communion with God. Let others boast in their proud reasoning, and call it enlightening, but let us keep near to that sacred word, through which this Sun of Righteousness shines upon the souls of his people. They must keep up a believing expectation…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 6he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children: Two key themes in Malachi and the Old Testament prophets are turning hearts and reconciliation. In the Old Testament, turn means repentance and a complete change of loyalties. Turning toward God results in reconciliation between generations (see 2 Corinthians 5:18–20). strike the land with a curse: The word curse means total destruction (see Deuteronomy 7:26; 1 Samuel 15:18; Zechariah 14:11). The…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 66. turn ... heart of ... fathers to ... children, &c.--Explained by some, that John's preaching should restore harmony in families. But Lu 1:16, 17 substitutes for "the heart of the children to the fathers," "the disobedient to the wisdom of the just," implying that the reconciliation to be effected was that between the unbelieving disobedient children and the believing ancestors, Jacob, Levi, "Moses," and "Elijah" (just mentioned) (compare Mal 1:2; 2:4…Read the comment

Topics related to Malachi 4:6

• John
• Malachi
• Messenger
• Parents
• Prophecy
• Quotations and Allusions

In the dictionaries

• Dreadful
• Malachi
• Wickedly
• Accursed
• Eschatology of the New Testament
• Eschatology of the Old Testament
• Jesus Christ
• Restoration
• Vulgate
• Messiah

Commentaries on Malachi 4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings