Malachi 3:1

3:1 “I am about to send my messenger, ¹  who will clear the way before me. Indeed, the Lord ²  you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger ³  of the covenant, whom you long for, is certainly coming,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Matthew 11:10

11:10 This is the one about whom it is written:

‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, ⁴ 

who will prepare your way before you.’ ⁵ 

Luke 1:15-17

1:15 for he will be great in the sight of ⁶  the Lord. He ⁷  must never drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. ⁸  1:16 He ⁹  will turn ¹⁰  many of the people ¹¹  of Israel to the Lord their God. 1:17 And he will go as forerunner before the Lord ¹²  in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, ¹³  to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.”

Luke 1:76

1:76 And you, child, ¹⁴  will be called the prophet ¹⁵  of the Most High. ¹⁶ 

For you will go before ¹⁷  the Lord to prepare his ways, ¹⁸ 

Luke 7:27-28

7:27 This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, ¹⁹  who will prepare your way before you.’ ²⁰  7:28 I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater ²¹  than John. ²²  Yet the one who is least ²³  in the kingdom of God ²⁴  is greater than he is.”

[3:1]  ¹ 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).

[3:1]  ² 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.

[3:1]  ³ 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.

[11:10]  ⁴ tn Grk “before your face” (an idiom).

[11:10]  ⁵ sn The quotation is primarily from Mal 3:1 with pronouns from Exod 23:20. Here is the forerunner who points the way to the arrival of God’s salvation. His job is to prepare and guide the people, as the cloud did for Israel in the desert.

[1:15]  ⁶ tn Grk “before.”

[1:15]  ⁷ tn Grk “and he”; because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun in the translation.

[1:15]  ⁸ tn Grk “even from his mother’s womb.” While this idiom may be understood to refer to the point of birth (“even from his birth”), Luke 1:41 suggests that here it should be understood to refer to a time before birth.

[1:16]  ⁹ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[1:16]  ¹⁰ sn The word translated will turn is a good summary term for repentance and denotes John’s call to a change of direction (Luke 3:1-14).

[1:16]  ¹¹ tn Grk “sons”; but clearly this is a generic reference to people of both genders.

[1:17]  ¹² tn Grk “before him”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:17]  ¹³ sn These two lines cover all relationships: Turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children points to horizontal relationships, while (turn) the disobedient to the wisdom of the just shows what God gives from above in a vertical manner.

[1:76]  ¹⁴ sn Now Zechariah describes his son John (you, child) through v. 77.

[1:76]  ¹⁵ tn Or “a prophet”; but since Greek nouns can be definite without the article, and since in context this is a reference to the eschatological forerunner of the Messiah (cf. John 1:17), the concept is better conveyed to the English reader by the use of the definite article “the.”

[1:76]  ¹⁶ sn In other words, John is a prophet of God; see 1:32 and 7:22-23, 28.

[1:76]  ¹⁷ tc Most mss, especially the later ones (A C D L Θ Ψ 0130 Ë^1,13 33 Ï sy), have πρὸ προσώπου κυρίου (pro proswpou kuriou, “before the face of the Lord”), but the translation follows the reading ἐνώπιον κυρίου (enwpion kuriou, “before the Lord”), which has earlier and better ms support (Ì⁴ א B W 0177 pc) and is thus more likely to be authentic.

[1:76]  ¹⁸ tn This term is often translated in the singular, looking specifically to the forerunner role, but the plural suggests the many elements in that salvation.

[7:27]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “before your face” (an idiom).

[7:27]  ²⁰ sn The quotation is primarily from Mal 3:1 with pronouns from Exod 23:20. Here is the forerunner who points the way to the arrival of God’s salvation. His job is to prepare and guide the people, as the cloud did for Israel in the desert.

[7:28]  ²¹ sn In the Greek text greater is at the beginning of the clause in the emphatic position. John the Baptist was the greatest man of the old era.

[7:28]  ²² tc The earliest and best mss read simply ᾿Ιωάννου (Iwannou, “John”) here (Ì⁷⁵ א B L W Ξ Ë¹ 579 pc). Others turn this into “John the Baptist” (K 33 565 al it), “the prophet John the Baptist” (A [D] Θ Ë¹³ Ï lat), or “the prophet John” (Ψ 700 [892 1241] pc). “It appears that προφήτης was inserted by pedantic copyists who wished thereby to exclude Christ from the comparison, while others added τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ, assimilating the text to Mt 11.11” (TCGNT 119).

[7:28]  ²³ sn After John comes a shift of eras. The new era is so great that the lowest member of it (the one who is least in the kingdom of God) is greater than the greatest one of the previous era.

[7:28]  ²⁴ sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus’ proclamation. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21. It is not strictly future, though its full manifestation is yet to come. That is why membership in it starts right after John the Baptist.