# Malachi 4.6 **Book:** [Malachi](/codex/malachi/) · ASV ## Immediate context (±2 verses) **ASV** ([ASV](/codex/asv/)) > 4. Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances. 5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come. > > **6. 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.** (Malachi 4:4-6, ASV) **WEB** ([WEB](/codex/web/)) > 4. “Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances. 5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. > > **6. 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 4:4-6, WEB) **KJV** ([KJV](/codex/kjv/)) > 4. Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. 5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: > > **6. 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.** (Malachi 4:4-6, KJV) **YLT** ([YLT](/codex/ylt/)) > 4. Remember ye the law of Moses My servant, That I did command him in Horeb, For all Israel, statutes and judgments. 5. Lo, I am sending to you Elijah the prophet, Before the coming of the day of Jehovah, The great and the fearful. > > **6. And he hath turned back the heart of fathers to sons, And the heart of sons to their fathers, Before I come and have utterly smitten the land!** (Malachi 4:4-6, YLT) ## Setting - **Speaker:** YHWH through Malachi, closing the prophetic-canon - **Audience:** post-exilic Judah; canonically, all who hear the prophetic-word at the threshold of the four-hundred-year inter-testamental silence - **Location:** post-exilic Judah (Persian-period Yehud) - **Time period:** mid-5th century BC (c. 430s BC), contemporary with Ezra-Nehemiah's reform-work ## Theological reading The verse is the **last word of the Hebrew prophetic-canon**. (In the Hebrew canonical order, Malachi is the last of the Twelve, with the prophets followed only by the Writings; Christian Bibles preserve Malachi as the final OT book, making this verse the OT's closing word.) Two features are theologically-decisive. (1) **The closing-word is a [*charam*](/codex/h2763-charam/) warning**: the verb-cognate *cherem* (the noun-form) is rendered *"curse"* in the ASV/KJV/most English versions. The construction *pen avo ve-hikkeiti et-ha'aretz cherem* names the eschatological-threat in *cherem*-vocabulary, the inter-generational-covenantal-breakdown unrepaired triggers the *cherem*-judgment on the Land at YHWH's *"great and terrible day."* The OT closes on the same *cherem*-frame it opened in the conquest-narrative; the canonical-symmetry is structural. (2) **Inter-generational-reconciliation as the lever**: the trigger-condition for averting the *cherem* is the prophetic-figure ("Elijah", eschatological-Elijah) turning *"the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers."* The covenantal-restoration is intergenerational, the failure-mode that prompts the *cherem* is inter-generational-discontinuity. The NT-canonical identification of John the Baptist as the Elijah-figure (Mt 11:14; 17:10-13; Mk 9:11-13; Lk 1:17, *"to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children"*) directly cites this verse as fulfilled in John's prophetic-restoration ministry preparing the way for Christ. The eschatological-*charam* threatened here is then absorbed at the cross, Christ becomes *anathema* (Gal 3:13) bearing what would otherwise smite the earth with *cherem*. The verse anchors the OT-NT transition: the prophetic-word closes with a *cherem*-warning that the gospel answers with the cross-bearing of the *cherem* by Christ Himself. ## Key words - [H2763 - charam](/codex/h2763-charam/), *cherem* (cognate-noun construction with the verb), *"lest I come and smite the earth with a curse"*; the OT's closing-*cherem*-warning. - [H2764 - cherem](/codex/h2764-cherem/), the noun-form at the verse. ## See also - [H2763 - charam](/codex/h2763-charam/), lexical entry treating the verse - [H2764 - cherem](/codex/h2764-cherem/), the noun-counterpart - Compare: Lk 1:17 (Gabriel applying this verse to John the Baptist's ministry); Mt 11:14; 17:10-13; Mk 9:11-13 (NT Elijah-John identification) - Gal 3:13, Christ becoming *anathema* (the NT-typological-absorption of the *cherem*) - [Jeremiah 25.9](/codex/jeremiah-25-9/); [Isaiah 34.2-5](/codex/isaiah-34-2-5/), the prophetic-stream the closing-warning culminates - Malachi in full, the prophetic-canon's closing book ## Quoted in **People:** - [Elisha](/codex/elisha/), via [Malachi 4.5-6](/codex/malachi-4-5-6/) **Lexicon:** - [H7065 - qana](/codex/h7065-qana/), via [Malachi 4.5-6](/codex/malachi-4-5-6/) **Passages:** - [Jeremiah 25.9](/codex/jeremiah-25-9/) ## 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](/codex/asv/)** (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition. - **[WEB](/codex/web/)** (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English. - **[KJV](/codex/kjv/)** (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base. - **[YLT](/codex/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](/codex/bibles/) for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.