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.
Pseudo-Clement · AD 400 So, brothers, having received no slight opportunity to repent, let us, when there is yet time, turn to God who called us, while we still have one who awaits us. For if we bid farewell to these pleasures and overcome our soul by refusing to carry out its evil desires, we shall share in the mercy of Jesus.
Jerome · AD 420 (Chapter 4, verse 1) Behold, for the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the proud and all the evildoers will be stubble; and the coming day will set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
2 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.
Valentinus · AD 180 When we begin to sing justice to the Lord, we shall bear away a reward for our work, because the Lord is merciful and just, compassionate and upright.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 2) But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. LXX: But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 In the allegorical sense, the sun signifies Christ. "The sun rises and the sun goes down." It rises in the nativity, it goes down in death; it orbits through noon in the ascension; it is inclined to the north in the judgment. Malachias refers to the first: "But for you who fear My name, there will arise the Sun of Justice with its healing rays."
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.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 3) And you shall trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. LXX: 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.
4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 4.) Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Likewise in the Septuagint. The just retribution in the future will be righteous, when the flame will devour and burn the root and offspring of the proud, and the sun of righteousness will rise for those who fear the Lord, with healing in its wings.
Theodore of Mopsuestia · AD 428 In addition to all that has been said I transmit this final command to you so that you may keep in mind my law that I gave to the whole of Israel through Moses, having clearly stated that they must observe it in detail. The first token of obedience you will provide, then, will be acceptance of the coming of Christ the Lord, who comes for the salvation of all people.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 After the prophecy, Malachi says, "Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel," and he makes a passing reference to "precepts and judgments." This emphasizes the declaration he had just made about the immense difference there is to be between the observers and the breakers of the law.
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come.
Tertullian · AD 220 I fully expect these heretics to seize upon the example of Elijah as reincarnated in John the Baptist, and thus they would have become our Lord espousing the doctrine of reincarnation.
Victorinus of Pettau · AD 304 "And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God" He speaks of Elias the prophet, who is the precursor of the times of Antichrist, for the restoration and establishment of the churches from the great and intolerable persecution.
Cosmas Indicopleustes · AD 550 And behold, I will send you Elijah the Tishbite before the great and notable 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.
Luke · AD 61 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.