ris3n's Apologetics Codex
Malachi 4.1
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Passage

Malachi 4.1

Book: Malachi · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

1. For, behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace; and all the proud, and all that work wickedness, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith Jehovah of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

  1. But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings; and ye shall go forth, and gambol as calves of the stall. 3. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make, saith Jehovah of hosts. (Malachi 4:1-3, ASV)
WEB

1. “For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

  1. But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall. 3. You shall tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make,” says Yahweh of Armies. (Malachi 4:1-3, WEB)
KJV

1. For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

  1. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. 3. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 4:1-3, KJV)
YLT

1. For, lo, the day hath come, burning as a furnace, And all the proud, and every wicked doer, have been stubble, And burnt them hath the day that came, Said Jehovah of Hosts, That there is not left to them root or branch,

  1. And risen to you, ye who fear My name, Hath the sun of righteousness, and healing in its wings, And ye have gone forth, and have increased as calves of a stall. 3. And ye have trodden down the wicked, For they are ashes under the soles of your feet, In the day that I am appointing, Said Jehovah of Hosts. (Malachi 4:1-3, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: YHWH, whose word comes "by Malachi" (1:1, literally "by the hand of Malachi") ("saith Jehovah of hosts").
  • Audience: The returned community of Judah, among whom some have said "we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are built up" (3:15).
  • Location: Jerusalem and its temple, in Yehud (Judah), a province of the Persian Empire. The "governor" of 1:8 bears the Persian-era title also given to Zerubbabel (Haggai 1:1) and to Nehemiah (Nehemiah 5:14).
  • Time period: The Persian period, commonly dated to the mid-fifth century BC (c. 460-430 BC). The book carries no dated heading, but the temple is standing and its sacrifices are running, so it follows the rebuilding completed in the sixth year of Darius (Ezra 6:15, c. 516 BC). The abuses it confronts, a careless priesthood, withheld tithes, and marriages to worshippers of foreign gods, are the ones Nehemiah deals with (Nehemiah 13:10-12, 23-29). This verse is 3:19 in the Hebrew numbering.

Theological reading

The answer to "we call the proud happy." In 3:15 the disillusioned said that the proud prosper and evildoers are "built up." This verse names the same two groups, "all the proud, and all that work wickedness," and announces their end.

The day as a furnace. "The day cometh, it burneth as a furnace." The day of YHWH has been approaching through the book: "who can abide the day of his coming?" (3:2), and "the great and terrible day of Jehovah" (4:5). The same fire that refines the sons of Levi (3:3) consumes the wicked as stubble. Obadiah uses the stubble image of Edom (Obadiah 18).

Neither root nor branch. The judgment is total, a tree with nothing left above or below the ground. The next verse gives the other side of the same day: for those who fear YHWH's name, "the sun of righteousness" will rise (4:2).

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.