Malachi 4:6
in Malachi 4And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
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.
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.
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This verse in Malachi 4
Commentary
9 notes on this verseAnd 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 executed upon them.
This site's exposition
turn the hearts of the fathers to their children
Elijah will "turn the hearts of the fathers to their children," or the LORD will "strike the land with a curse". English Bibles end the Old Testament on that word, and Matthew opens the New with a genealogy of fathers and children from Abraham and David.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Ver. 5, 6.) Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord comes: 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. LXX: Behold, I will send you Elijah the Tishbite, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes: he will turn the heart of the father to the son, and the heart of man to his neighbor; lest I come and strike the earth completely.
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
With a curse - Which ends in utter destruction; leaving Jerusalem a desolate heap, and a perpetual monument of God's displeasure. Some observe, that the last word of the Old Testament is a curse: whereas the New Testament ends with a blessing, yea, the choicest of blessings, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all!
When he shall be sent--before the appearing of the Messiah, which, because it was the judgment of this world, and introduced the ruin of the Jewish church and nation, is here called the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
The whole world shall then burn as an oven, and all the children of this world, that set their hearts upon it and choose their portion in it, shall take their ruin with it, and the fire then kindled shall never be quenched. In both Christ is a rejoicing light to those who serve him faithfully, to those who fear his name and give him the glory due to it (
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And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
For if God spare not the natural branches, the Jews, much less will He spare unbelieving professors of the Gentiles (Ro 11:20, 21). It is deeply suggestive that the last utterance from heaven for four hundred years before Messiah was the awful word "curse." Messiah's first word on the mount was "Blessed" (Mt 5:3). The law speaks wrath; the Gospel, blessing.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And 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, through a common selfishness, though that selfishness is the parent of general discord, of fraud, violence, and other misdeeds. Nay, conversion of children or parents becomes rather a source of discord, embittering the unconverted. Whence our Lord says, “Think not, that I Mat 10:34-36. am come to send peace on the earth. I came not to send peace on earth, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: and a man’s foes shall be they of his own household;” a prophecy fulfilled continually in the early persecutions, even to the extent of those other words of our Lord Mat 10:21, “the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child; and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.” It is fulfilled also in the intense hatred of the Jews at this day, to any who are converted to Christ; a hatred which seems to have no parallel in the world. Nor do the words seem to mean that fathers and children should be united in one common conversion to God, as one says Ibn Ezra. The Jews, although mostly agreed, that Elijah will come, are disagreed as to the end of his coming. By some he is spoken of as a Redeemer. Tanchuma (f. 31. […]
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהֵשִׁ֤יב | veheshiv | and he will turn back | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| לֵב־ | lev- | [the] heart of | H3820 → | 595 times |
| אָבוֹת֙ | ʾavot | fathers | H1 → | 1212 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | to | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| בָּנִ֔ים | banim | sons | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| וְלֵ֥ב | velev | and [the] heart of | H3820 → | 595 times |
| בָּנִ֖ים | banim | sons | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | to | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| אֲבוֹתָ֑ם | ʾavotam | fathers their | H1 → | 1212 times |
| פֶּן־ | pen- | lest | H6435 → | |
| אָב֕וֹא | ʾavo' | I should come | H935 → | 2568 times |
| וְהִכֵּיתִ֥י | vehikeiti | and I will strike | H5221 → | |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הָאָ֖רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | |
| חֵֽרֶם׃ | cherem | total destruction | H2764 → |
וְהֵשִׁ֤יבand he will turn back
veheshivH7725 →1056 times
לֵב־[the] heart of
lev-H3820 →595 times
אָבוֹת֙fathers
ʾavotH1 →1212 times
עַל־to
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
בָּנִ֔יםsons
banimH1121 →4930 times
וְלֵ֥בand [the] heart of
velevH3820 →595 times
בָּנִ֖יםsons
banimH1121 →4930 times
עַל־to
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
אֲבוֹתָ֑םfathers their
ʾavotamH1 →1212 times
פֶּן־lest
pen-H6435 →
אָב֕וֹאI should come
ʾavo'H935 →2568 times
וְהִכֵּיתִ֥יand I will strike
vehikeitiH5221 →
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הָאָ֖רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →
חֵֽרֶם׃total destruction
cheremH2764 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 11:4but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the…
it leads to
- Revelation 19:15
And from His mouth proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath…
- 2 Thessalonians 2:8
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth and annihilate by the majesty of His arrival.
- Proverbs 31:8–9
Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed.
- Job 4:9
By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
- Matthew 5:5
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
- Revelation 19:15
Through
Daniel 9:11All Israel has transgressed Your law and turned away, refusing to obey Your voice; so the oath and the curse written in the Law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 8:5–10
Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return.
- Isaiah 1:4–6
Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children of depravity! They have forsaken the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on…
- Deuteronomy 28:15–68
If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
- Jeremiah 8:5–10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Malachi
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Malachi; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.