New International Version
Malachi 4:6
6He 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.”
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.
- 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.”
- New Living Translation (NLT)His preaching 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.”
Context of Malachi 4:6
4“Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. 5“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 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.”
Read all of Malachi 4Malachi 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 bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.
- Isaiah 61:2to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,
- Daniel 9:26After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
- Zechariah 11:6For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,” declares the Lord. “I will give everyone into the hands of their neighbors and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands.”
- Zechariah 13:8In the whole land,” declares the Lord, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it.
- Zechariah 14:2I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.
- Matthew 22:7The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
- Matthew 23:35And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
- Matthew 24:27For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
- Mark 13:14“When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
- Luke 19:41As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it
- Luke 21:22For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written.
- Deuteronomy 29:19When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,” they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.
- Isaiah 24:6Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.
- Isaiah 43:28So I disgraced the dignitaries of your temple; I consigned Jacob to destruction and Israel to scorn.
- Isaiah 65:15You will leave your name for my chosen ones to use in their curses; the Sovereign Lord will put you to death, but to his servants he will give 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
In the dictionaries
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
New International Version — © NIV® 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 Biblica
Commentaries