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 law of my servant Moses, to whom at Horeb I gave rules and regulations for all Israel to obey. 5Look, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives. He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.”

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 people of Israel to the Lord their God.
• Isaiah 61:2to announce the year when the Lord will show his favor, the day when our God will seek vengeance, to console all who mourn,
• Daniel 9:26Now after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one will be cut off and have nothing. As for the city and the sanctuary, the people of the coming prince will destroy them. But his end will come speedily like a flood. Until the end of the war that has been decreed there will be destruction.
• Zechariah 11:6Indeed, I will no longer have compassion on the people of the land,” says the Lord, “but instead I will turn every last person over to his neighbor and his king. They will devastate the land, and I will not deliver it from them.”
• Zechariah 13:8It will happen in all the land, says the Lord, that two-thirds of the people in it will be cut off and die, but one-third will be left in it.
• Zechariah 14:2For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to wage war; the city will be taken, its houses plundered, and the women raped. Then half of the city will go into exile, but the remainder of the people will not be taken away.
• Matthew 22:7The king was furious! He sent his soldiers, and they put those murderers to death and set their city on fire.
• Matthew 23:35so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
• Matthew 24:27For just like the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so the coming of the Son of Man will be.
• Mark 13:14“But 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 19:41Now when Jesus approached and saw the city, he wept over it,
• Luke 21:22because these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.
• Deuteronomy 29:19When such a person hears the words of this oath he secretly blesses himself and says, “I will have peace though I continue to walk with a stubborn spirit.” This will destroy the watered ground with the parched.
• Isaiah 24:6So a treaty curse devours the earth; its inhabitants pay for their guilt. This is why the inhabitants of the earth disappear, and are reduced to just a handful of people.
• Isaiah 43:28So I defiled your holy princes, and handed Jacob over to destruction, and subjected Israel to humiliating abuse.”
• Isaiah 65:15Your names will live on in the curse formulas of my chosen ones. The sovereign Lord 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