Malachi 4:3

3 Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the LORD Almighty.

Malachi 4:3 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
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.
English Standard Version (ESV)
3 And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts.
New Living Translation (NLT)
3 On the day when I act, you will tread upon the wicked as if they were dust under your feet,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
The Message Bible (MSG)
3 And you'll tromp on the wicked. They'll be nothing but ashes under your feet on that Day." God-of-the-Angel-Armies says so.
American Standard Version (ASV)
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.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
3 You will trample on wicked people, because on the day I act they will be ashes under the soles of your feet," says the LORD of Armies.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
3 You will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing," says the Lord of Hosts.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
3 "Then you will stomp on sinful people. They will be like ashes under your feet. That will happen on the day I act," says the Lord.

Malachi 4:3 Meaning and Commentary

Malachi 4:3

And ye shall tread down the wicked
As grapes in the winepress, as Christ did before them, ( Isaiah 63:2 Isaiah 63:3 ) and they by virtue of him; who makes them more than conquerors through himself, over all their enemies, spiritual and temporal: for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet;
this refers to the burning of them, ( Malachi 4:1 ) and may be literally understood of their being burnt with the city and temple; when afterwards, as Grotius observes, the city of Jerusalem being in some measure rebuilt, and called Aelia, there was a Christian church in it, governed by bishops, who were converted Jews; and so might be literally said to trample upon the ashes of the wicked, who had persecuted them in times past, they being upon the very spot where these men were destroyed by fire: in the day that I shall do [this], saith the Lord of hosts:
or "in the day which I make" F13; that is, by the rising of the sun of righteousness, the Gospel day. The Talmud F14 interprets this verse of the bodies of the wicked in hell, which after twelve months will be consumed, and the wind will scatter them under the soles of the feet of the righteous.


FOOTNOTES:

F13 (hve yna rva Mwyb) "eo die, quem ego facio", Cocceius.
F14 T. Bab. Roshhashanah, fol. 17. 1.

Malachi 4:3 In-Context

1 “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the LORD Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them.
2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.
3 Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the LORD Almighty.
4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.
5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.

Cross References 2

  • 1. S Job 40:12; Psalms 18:40-42
  • 2. Ezekiel 28:18
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