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 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 Moses, My servant, Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, With the statutes and judgments. 5Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 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.”

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 1:16And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
• Isaiah 61:2To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
• Daniel 9:26“And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
• Zechariah 11:6For I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land,” says the Lord. “But indeed I will give everyone into his neighbor’s hand and into the hand of his king. They shall attack the land, and I will not deliver them from their hand.”
• Zechariah 13:8And it shall come to pass in all the land,” Says the Lord, “That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one–third shall be left in it:
• Zechariah 14:2For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; The city shall be taken, The houses rifled, And the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
• Matthew 22:7But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
• Matthew 23:35that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
• Matthew 24:27For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
• Mark 13:14“So when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not” (let the reader understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
• Luke 19:41Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it,
• Luke 21:22For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
• Deuteronomy 29:19and so it may not happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart’—as though the drunkard could be included with the sober.
• Isaiah 24:6Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, And those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, And few men are left.
• Isaiah 43:28Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; I will give Jacob to the curse, And Israel to reproaches.
• Isaiah 65:15You shall leave your name as a curse to My chosen; For the Lord God will slay you, And call His servants by 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