Malachi 4:2

4:2 But for you who respect my name, the sun of vindication ¹  will rise with healing wings, ²  and you will skip about ³  like calves released from the stall.

Malachi 3:14

3:14 You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. How have we been helped ⁴  by keeping his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord who rules over all? ⁵ 

Malachi 1:11

1:11 For from the east to the west my name will be great among the nations. Incense and pure offerings will be offered in my name everywhere, for my name will be great among the nations,” ⁶  says the Lord who rules over all.

Malachi 3:15

3:15 So now we consider the arrogant to be happy; indeed, those who practice evil are successful. ⁷  In fact, those who challenge ⁸  God escape!’”

Malachi 3:6

Resistance to the Lord through Selfishness

3:6 “Since, I, the Lord, do not go back on my promises, ⁹  you, sons of Jacob, have not perished.

Malachi 4:5

4:5 Look, I will send you Elijah ¹⁰  the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives.

Malachi 2:3

2:3 I am about to discipline your children ¹¹  and will spread offal ¹²  on your faces, ¹³  the very offal produced at your festivals, and you will be carried away along with it.

Malachi 2:7

2:7 For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge of sacred things, and people should seek instruction from him ¹⁴  because he is the messenger of the Lord who rules over all.

Malachi 1:9

1:9 But now plead for God’s favor ¹⁵  that he might be gracious to us. ¹⁶  “With this kind of offering in your hands, how can he be pleased with you?” asks the Lord who rules over all.

Malachi 3:1

3:1 “I am about to send my messenger, ¹⁷  who will clear the way before me. Indeed, the Lord ¹⁸  you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger ¹⁹  of the covenant, whom you long for, is certainly coming,” says the Lord who rules over all.

¹ tn Here the Hebrew word צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah), usually translated “righteousness” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT; cf. NAB “justice”), has been rendered as “vindication” because it is the vindication of God’s people that is in view in the context. Cf. BDB 842 s.v. צְדָקָה 6; “righteousness as vindicated, justification, salvation, etc.”

² sn The point of the metaphor of healing wings is unclear. The sun seems to be compared to a bird. Perhaps the sun’s “wings” are its warm rays. “Healing” may refer to a reversal of the injury done by evildoers (see Mal 3:5).

³ tn Heb “you will go out and skip about.”

⁴ tn Heb “What [is the] profit”; NIV “What did we gain.”

⁵ sn The people’s public display of self-effacing piety has gone unrewarded by the Lord. The reason, of course, is that it was blatantly hypocritical.

⁷ sn My name will be great among the nations. In what is clearly a strongly ironic shift of thought, the Lord contrasts the unbelief and virtual paganism of the postexilic community with the conversion and obedience of the nations that will one day worship the God of Israel.

¹⁰ tn Heb “built up” (so NASB); NIV, NRSV “prosper”; NLT “get rich.”

¹¹ tn Or “test”; NRSV, CEV “put God to the test.”

¹³ tn Heb “do not change.” This refers to God’s ongoing commitment to his covenant promises to Israel.

¹⁶ sn I will send you Elijah the prophet. In light of the ascension of Elijah to heaven without dying (2 Kgs 2:11), Judaism has always awaited his return as an aspect of the messianic age (see, e.g., John 1:19-28). Jesus identified John the Baptist as Elijah, because he came in the “spirit and power” of his prototype Elijah (Matt 11:14; 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36).

¹⁹ tc The phrase “discipline your children” is disputed. The LXX and Vulgate suppose זְרוֹעַ (zÿroa’, “arm”) for the MT זֶרַע (zera’, “seed”; hence, “children”). Then, for the MT גֹעֵר (go’er, “rebuking”) the same versions suggest גָּרַע (gara’, “take away”). The resulting translation is “I am about to take away your arm” (cf. NAB “deprive you of the shoulder”). However, this reading is unlikely. It is common for a curse (v. 2) to fall on offspring (see, e.g., Deut 28:18, 32, 41, 53, 55, 57), but a curse never takes the form of a broken or amputated arm. It is preferable to retain the reading of the MT here.

²⁰ tn The Hebrew term פֶרֶשׁ (feresh, “offal”) refers to the entrails as ripped out in preparing a sacrificial victim (BDB 831 s.v. פֶּרֶשׁ). This graphic term has been variously translated: “dung” (KJV, RSV, NRSV, NLT); “refuse” (NKJV, NASB); “offal” (NEB, NIV).

²¹ sn See Zech 3:3-4 for similar coarse imagery which reflects cultic disqualification.

²² tn Heb “from his mouth” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).

²⁵ tn Heb “seek the face of God.”

²⁶ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav conjunction indicates purpose (cf. NASB, NRSV).

²⁸ tn In Hebrew the phrase “my messenger” is מַלְאָכִי (mal’akhi), the same form as the prophet’s name (see note on the name “Malachi” in 1:1). However, here the messenger appears to be an eschatological figure who is about to appear, as the following context suggests. According to 4:5, this messenger is “Elijah the prophet,” whom the NT identifies as John the Baptist (Matt 11:10; Mark 1:2) because he came in the “spirit and power” of Elijah (Matt 11:14; 17:11-12; Lk 1:17).

²⁹ tn Here the Hebrew term הָאָדוֹן (ha’adon) is used, not יְהוָה (yÿhvah, typically rendered Lord). Thus the focus is not on the Lord as the covenant God, but on his role as master.

³⁰ sn This messenger of the covenant may be equated with my messenger (that is, Elijah) mentioned earlier in the verse, or with the Lord himself. In either case the messenger functions as an enforcer of the covenant. Note the following verses, which depict purifying judgment on a people that has violated the Lord’s covenant.