translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: MAL

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “so that it” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons a new sentence was begun here in the translation.


text: 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.” sn The expression the sun of vindication will rise is a metaphorical way of describing the day of the Lord as a time of restoration when God vindicates his people (see 2 Sam 23:4 ; Isa 30:26; 60:1, 3 ). Their vindication and restoration will be as obvious and undeniable as the bright light of the rising sun.


text: Heb “you will go out and skip about.”


text: Heb “which I commanded him in Horeb concerning all Israel, statutes and ordinances.”


text: Heb “he will turn the heart[s] of [the] fathers to [the] sons, and the heart[s] of [the] sons to their fathers.” This may mean that the messenger will encourage reconciliation of conflicts within Jewish families in the postexilic community (see Mal 2:10 ; this interpretation is followed by most English versions). Another option is to translate, “he will turn the hearts of the fathers together with those of the children [to me], and the hearts of the children together with those of their fathers [to me].” In this case the prophet encourages both the younger and older generations of sinful society to repent and return to the Lord (cf. Mal 3:7 ). This option is preferred in the present translation; see Beth Glazier-McDonald, Malachi (SBLDS), 256.


text: Heb “[the] ban” ( חֵרֶם , kherem ). God’s prophetic messenger seeks to bring about salvation and restoration, thus avoiding the imposition of the covenant curse, that is, the divine ban that the hopelessly unrepentant must expect (see Deut 7:2; 20:17 ; Judg 1:21 ; Zech 14:11 ). If the wicked repent, the purifying judgment threatened in 4:1-3 will be unnecessary.