1 For see, the day is coming, it is burning like an oven; all the men of pride and all who do evil will be dry stems of grass: and in the day which is coming they will be burned up, says the Lord of armies, till they have not a root or a 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 to you who give worship to my name, the sun of righteousness will come up with new life in its wings; and you will go out, playing like young oxen full of food.
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 the evil-doers will be crushed under you, they will be dust under your feet, in the day when I do my work, says the Lord of armies.
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 Keep in mind the law of Moses, my servant, which I gave him in Horeb for all Israel, even the rules and the decisions.
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 See, I am sending you Elijah the prophet before the day of the Lord comes, that great day, greatly to be feared.
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 by him the hearts of fathers will be turned to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers; for fear that I may come and put the earth under 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.