Event · Exile and Return
Malachi: a messenger to prepare the way
Malachi: a messenger to prepare the wayMalachi 3:1–4Mid-5th century BCE (proposed)
Through Malachi the LORD challenges careless worship and promises to send a messenger before the great day of the LORD.
- Main passage Malachi 3:1–4Malachi 4:5–6
- Related Matthew 11:10–14Luke 1:16–17
- Place in the order
- Strongly supported relative order The order is well supported by the text, though not stated outright.
- Historical setting
- Mid-5th century BCE (proposed) Proposed chronology
Malachi gives no date. Its concerns match the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, so it is usually dated around then.
Read it
Malachi 3:1–4 WEB
1“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me! The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple. Behold, the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, is coming!” says the LORD of Armies. 2“But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderers’ soap; 3and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to the LORD offerings in righteousness. 4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the LORD as in the days of old and as in ancient years.
Malachi 4:5–6 WEB
5Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. 6He 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.”