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King James Version

Malachi 4:2

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Blessing;   Fear of God;   Jesus Continued;   Malachi;   Righteous;   Righteousness;   Salvation;   Sun;   Scofield Reference Index - Day (of Jehovah);   Thompson Chain Reference - Dawn, Spiritual;   Light-Darkness;   Names;   Spiritual;   Sun, the;   Titles and Names;   Wings, God's;   The Topic Concordance - Day of the Lord;   Fear;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Calf, the;   Righteousness;   Saints, Compared to;   Sun, the;   Titles and Names of Christ;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Food;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Day of the lord;   Malachi;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Amos, Theology of;   Hell;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Hutchinsonians;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Dayspring;   Light;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Candlestick;   Cyrus;   John the Baptist;   Sun;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Faith;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Manger;   Righteousness;   Sun;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Christ in Art;   Dayspring;   Justification (2);   Metaphor;   Star (2);   Walk (2);   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Dew;   Star, the Morning;   1910 New Catholic Dictionary - names of our lord;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Christ;   Light;   Sun;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Names titles and offices of christ;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Sun;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Calf;   Christ;   Israel;   Sun;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Jesus of Nazareth;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Astronomy;   Calf;   Dayspring;   Eschatology of the Old Testament (with Apocryphal and Apocalyptic Writings);   Healing;   Malachi;   Stall;   Wings;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Food;   Optimism and Pessimism;   Sun;   Teḥina, Abba;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for July 29;   Faith's Checkbook - Devotion for February 2;  

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
"But, for my followers, goodness will shine on you like the rising sun. And it will bring healing power like the sun's rays. You will be free and happy, like calves freed from their stalls.
New American Standard Bible
"But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and frolic like calves from the stall.
New Century Version
"But for you who honor me, goodness will shine on you like the sun, with healing in its rays. You will jump around, like well-fed calves.
Update Bible Version
But to you that fear my name the sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in its wings; and you shall go forth, and leap as calves of the stall.
Webster's Bible Translation
But to you that fear my name, shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
Amplified Bible
"But for you who fear My name [with awe-filled reverence] the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go forward and leap [joyfully] like calves [released] from the stall.
English Standard Version
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.
World English Bible
But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And to you dredynge my name the sunne of riytwisnesse schal rise, and heelthe in pennys of hym; and ye schulen go out, and schulen skippe, as a calf of the droue.
English Revised Version
But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and gambol as calves of the stall.
Berean Standard Bible
"But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall.
Contemporary English Version
But for you that honor my name, victory will shine like the sun with healing in its rays, and you will jump around like calves at play.
American Standard Version
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.
Bible in Basic English
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.
Darby Translation
And unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and leap like fatted calves.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
[3:20] 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.
King James Version (1611)
But vnto you that feare my Name, shall the Sunne of righteousnesse arise with healing in his wings, and shall goe foorth and grow vp as calues of the staule.
New Living Translation
"But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture.
New Life Bible
But for you who fear My name, the sun of what is right and good will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and dance like calves from the cattle-house.
New Revised Standard
But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
Geneva Bible (1587)
But vnto you that feare my Name, shall the sunne of righteousnesse arise, and health shall be vnder his wings, and ye shall goe forth, & growe vp as fat calues.
George Lamsa Translation
But for you who revere my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing upon his lips; and you shall go forth and leap for joy like the calves of the herd.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So shall the sun of righteousness, arise to you who revere my Name, with healing in his wings, - and ye shall come forth and leap for joy like calves let loose from the stall;
Douay-Rheims Bible
But unto you that fear my name, the Sun of justice shall arise, and health in his wings: and you shall go forth, and shall leap like calves of the herd.
Revised Standard Version
But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go forth leaping like calves from the stall.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
But to you that feare my name shall that sunne of righteousnesse aryse, and health shalbe vnder his winges: and ye shall go foorth and skippe lyke fatte calues.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But to you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise, and healing shall be in his wings: and ye shall go forth, and bound as young calves let loose from bonds.
Good News Translation
But for you who obey me, my saving power will rise on you like the sun and bring healing like the sun's rays. You will be as free and happy as calves let out of a stall.
Christian Standard Bible®
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and playfully jump like calves from the stall.
Hebrew Names Version
But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall.
Lexham English Bible
But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise, with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like fattened calves.
Literal Translation
But to you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness shall rise up, and healing will be on His wings. And you shall go out and frisk like calves of the stall.
Young's Literal Translation
And risen to you, ye who fear My name, Hath the sun of righteousness -- and healing in its wings, And ye have gone forth, and have increased as calves of a stall.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But vnto you that feare my name, shall the Sone of rightuousnesse aryse, & health shalbe vnder his winges. Ye shal go forth, & multiplie as ye fat calues.
New English Translation
But for you who respect my name, the sun of vindication will rise with healing wings, and you will skip about like calves released from the stall.
New King James Version
But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.
Legacy Standard Bible
"But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.

Contextual Overview

1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. 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.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

that fear: Malachi 3:16, Psalms 85:9, Isaiah 50:10, Isaiah 66:1, Isaiah 66:2, Luke 1:50, Acts 13:26, Revelation 11:18

the Sun: 2 Samuel 23:4, Psalms 67:1, Psalms 84:11, Proverbs 4:18, Isaiah 9:2, Isaiah 30:26, Isaiah 49:6, Isaiah 60:1-3, Isaiah 60:19, Isaiah 60:20, Hosea 6:3, Matthew 4:15, Matthew 4:16, Luke 1:78, Luke 2:32, John 1:4, John 1:8, John 1:14, John 8:12, John 9:4, John 12:35, John 12:36, John 12:40, Acts 13:47, Acts 26:18, Ephesians 5:8-14, 2 Peter 1:19, 1 John 2:8, Revelation 2:28, Revelation 22:16

healing: Psalms 103:3, Psalms 147:3, Isaiah 53:5, Isaiah 57:18, Isaiah 57:19, Jeremiah 17:14, Jeremiah 33:6, Ezekiel 47:12, Hosea 6:1, Hosea 14:4, Matthew 11:5, Revelation 22:2

wings: Ruth 2:12, Matthew 23:37

ye shall: Psalms 92:12-14, Isaiah 49:9, Isaiah 49:10, Isaiah 55:12, Isaiah 55:13, Jeremiah 31:9-14, Hosea 14:5-7, John 15:2-5, 2 Thessalonians 1:3, 2 Peter 3:18

Reciprocal: Genesis 22:12 - now Genesis 32:31 - rose upon Deuteronomy 32:22 - For a fire Deuteronomy 33:14 - the precious 2 Samuel 22:29 - lighten 2 Kings 4:1 - thy servant did fear Job 11:17 - age Job 22:28 - the light Psalms 19:4 - In them Psalms 27:1 - light Psalms 36:9 - in thy Psalms 67:7 - fear Psalms 72:7 - In his days Psalms 103:13 - them Psalms 112:4 - there ariseth Psalms 115:13 - He will bless Psalms 118:27 - showed Psalms 139:9 - the wings Proverbs 14:26 - fear Proverbs 15:4 - A wholesome Proverbs 19:23 - fear Ecclesiastes 2:13 - I saw Ecclesiastes 7:18 - for Song of Solomon 4:6 - day Song of Solomon 6:10 - clear Isaiah 1:6 - they have Isaiah 8:20 - light Isaiah 30:23 - thy cattle Isaiah 58:8 - thy light Jeremiah 30:15 - thy sorrow Jeremiah 30:17 - For I Jeremiah 44:10 - neither Ezekiel 21:27 - until Daniel 11:32 - shall be Micah 7:8 - the Lord Zephaniah 2:2 - before the fierce Matthew 11:3 - Art Matthew 13:15 - and I Luke 4:18 - and Luke 7:19 - Art Luke 8:44 - immediately Luke 12:56 - that Luke 16:29 - have Luke 17:24 - in Luke 24:27 - and all Luke 24:44 - in the prophets John 1:31 - but John 7:17 - General John 8:32 - ye shall John 9:5 - long John 12:46 - am Acts 10:43 - him Acts 13:32 - how Acts 26:6 - the promise Ephesians 4:15 - may 1 Peter 2:2 - grow 1 Peter 2:24 - healed Revelation 1:16 - and his Revelation 7:2 - And I Revelation 12:1 - clothed

Cross-References

Genesis 3:23
Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
Genesis 4:25
And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.
Genesis 4:26
And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord .
Genesis 9:20
And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
Genesis 37:13
And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.
Genesis 47:3
And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers.
Exodus 3:1
Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
Psalms 127:3
Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord : and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
Amos 7:15
And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.
Luke 11:51
From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But unto you that fear my name,.... The few that were of this character among that wicked nation; :-:

shall the Sun of righteousness arise; not the Holy Ghost, who enlightens sinners, convinces of righteousness, and gives joy, peace, and comfort to the saints, but Christ: and thus it is interpreted of him by the ancient Jews, in one of their Midrashes or expositions a; they say, Moses says not they shall be for ever pledged, that is, the clothes of a neighbour, but until the sun comes, until the Messiah comes, as it is said, "unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise", c. and Philo the Jew b not only observes, that God, figuratively speaking, is the sun; but the divine "Logos" or Word of God, the image of the heavenly Being, is called the sun; who, coming to our earthly system, helps the kindred and followers of virtue, and affords ample refuge and salvation to them; referring, as it seems; to this passage: indeed, they generally interpret it of the sun, literally taken, which they suppose, at the end of the world, will have different effects on good and bad men; they say c,

"in the world to come, God will bring the sun out of its sheath, and burn the wicked; they will be judged by it, and the righteous will be healed by it:''

for the proof of the former, they produce the words in the first verse of this chapter, "behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven"; and of the latter these words, "but unto you that fear my name c." and a very ridiculous notion they have, that Abraham their father had a precious stone or pearl hanging about his neck, and every sick person that saw it was healed by it immediately; and, when he departed out of the world, God took it, and fixed it to the orb of the sun; hence the proverb, the sun rises, and sickness decreases d; and as it is elsewhere quoted e, this passage is added to confirm it, as it is said, "to you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings": unless this fable should be intended to mean, as Abarbinel f interprets it, that Abraham, while he lived, clearly proved the unity of God and his perfections; and that, after his death, the same truth was taught by the wonderful motion of the sun: but, be this as it will, those are undoubtedly in the right who understand these words figuratively of the Messiah; who is compared to the "sun", because, as the sun is a luminous body, the light of the whole world, so is Christ of the world of men, and of the world of saints; particularly of the Gentiles, often called the world; and of the New Jerusalem church state, and of the world to come: and as the sun is the fountain of light, so is Christ the fountain of natural and moral light, as well as of the light of grace, and of the light of glory: as the sun communicates light to all the celestial bodies, so Christ to the moon, the church; to the stars, the ministers of the word; to the morning stars, the angels: as the sun dispels the darkness of the night, and makes the day, so Christ dispelled the darkness of the ceremonial law, and made the Gospel day; and he dispels the darkness of ignorance and unbelief, and makes the day of grace; and will dispel the darkness of imperfection, and will make the day of glory; as the sun is a pure, clear, and lucid body, so is Christ, without the least spot of sin; and so are his people, as they are clothed with his righteousness: as the sun is a glorious body, so is Christ both his natures, divine and human; in his office as Mediator; and will be in his second coming: as the sun is superior to all the celestial bodies, so is Christ to angels and saints: as the sun is but one, so there is but one Son of God; one Mediator between God and man; one Saviour and Redeemer; one Lord and Head of the church: its properties and effects are many; it lays things open and manifest, which before were hid; communicates heat as well as light; make the earth fruitful; is very exhilarating; has its risings and settings, and of great duration: so Christ declares the mind and will of his Father, the hidden mysteries of grace; lays open the thoughts of men's hearts in conversion; and will at the last day bring to light the hidden things of darkness: he warms the hearts of his people with his love, and causes them to burn within them, while they hear his Gospel, and he makes them fervent in spirit while they serve the Lord; he fills them with the fruits of righteousness, and with joy unspeakable, and full of glory; but he is not always seen, is sometimes under a cloud, and withdraws himself; yet his name is as the sun before the Lord, and wilt abide for ever. He is called "the sun of righteousness", because of the glory of his essential righteousness as God; and because of the purity and perfection of his righteousness as man, which appeared in all his actions, and in the administration of all his offices; and because of the display of the righteousness of God in him, in his sufferings and death, in atonement, pardon, and justification by him; and because he is the author and bringer in of righteousness to his people, the glory of which outshines all others, is pure and spotless like the sun, and is everlasting; those who have it are said to be clothed with the sun, and on such he shines in his beams of divine love, grace, and mercy, which righteousness sometimes signifies; and his rays of grace transform men into righteousness and true holiness. The "arising" of this sun may denote the appearance of Christ in our nature; under the former dispensation this sun was not risen, it was then night with the world; John the Baptist was the morning star, the forerunner of it: Christ the sun is now risen; the dayspring from on high hath visited mankind, and has spread its light and heat, its benign influences, by the ministration of the Gospel, the grace of God, which has appeared and shone out, both in Judea, and in the Gentile world: it may be accommodated to his spiritual appearance: this sun is sometimes under a cloud, or seems to be set, which occasions trouble, and is for wise ends, but will and does arise again to them that fear the Lord. The manner is,

with healing in his wings; by which are meant its rays and beams, which are to the sun as wings to a bird, by which it swiftly spreads its light and heat; so we read of the wings of the morning, Psalms 139:9. Christ came as a physician, to heal the diseases of men; he healed the bodily diseases of the Jews, and he heals the soul diseases of his people, their sins; which healing he has procured by his blood and stripes: pardon of sin by the blood of Christ is meant by healing, which is universal, infallible, and free, Psalms 103:3 it may denote all that preservation, protection, prosperity, and happiness, inward and outward, which they that feared the Lord enjoyed through Christ, when the unbelieving Jews were destroyed; and which is further expressed by what follows:

and ye shall go forth; not out of the world, or out of their graves, as some think; but either out of Jerusalem, as the Christians did a little before its destruction, being warned so to do g, whereby they were preserved from that calamity; or it intends a going forth with liberty in the exercise of grace and duty, in the exercise of faith on Christ, love to him, hope in him, repentance, humility, self-denial, c. and in a cheerful obedience to his will; or else walking on in his ways; having health and strength, with great pleasure and comfort; and, as Aben Ezra says, by the light of this sun.

And grow up as calves of the stall; such as are fat, being put up there for that purpose; see Amos 6:4. Bochart h has proved, from many passages out of the Talmud i, that the word which the Targum here makes use of, and answers to that in the Hebrew text, which is rendered "stall", signifies a yoke or collar, with which oxen or heifers were bound together, while they were threshing or treading out of corn; so that the calves or heifers here referred to were such as were not put up in a stall, but were yoked together, and employed in treading out the corn; now as there was a law that such should not be muzzled while they were thus employed, but might eat of the corn on the floor freely and plentifully, Deuteronomy 25:4 these usually grew fat, and so were the choicest and most desirable, to which the allusion may be here, and in Jeremiah 46:21 Amos 6:4 and are a fit emblem of saints joined together in holy fellowship, walking together in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord; where they get spiritual food for their souls, and are in thriving circumstances; where they meet with the corn of heaven, with that corn which makes the young men cheerful, and that bread which nourishes up to everlasting life. The apostle alludes to the custom of oxen yoked together, either in ploughing, or in treading out the corn, when he says, speaking of church fellowship and communion in the ordinances of the Gospel, "be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers", 2 Corinthians 6:14 for this hinders spiritual edification, as well as the promotion of the glory of God; but where they are equally yoked, and go hand in hand together in the work and ways of the Lord, they grow and flourish; they are comfortable in their souls, and lively in the exercise of grace; and they are the most thriving Christians, generally speaking, who are in church communion, and most constantly attend the means of grace, and keep closest to the word and ordinances: for the metaphor here used is designed to express a spiritual increase in all grace, and in the knowledge of Christ, and a growing up into him in all things, through the use of means, the word and ordinances; whereby saints become fat and flourishing, being fed with the milk of the word, and the breasts of ordinances, and having fellowship with one another; and, above all, this spiritual growth is owing to the dews of the grace of God, the shining of the Sun of righteousness, and the comfortable gales of the south wind of the Spirit of God, which cause the spices to flow out. The Septuagint version, and those that follow it, render it, "ye shall leap" or "skip as calves loosed from bonds"; as such creatures well fed do when at liberty; and may denote the spiritual joy of the saints upon their being healed, or because of their secure, safe, and prosperous estate: and so the word is explained in the Talmud k, they shall delight themselves in it; and where the Rabbins interpret this and the preceding verse Malachi 4:1 of the natural sun in the firmament, which will be the hell l in the world to come, and which will burn the wicked, and heal the righteous.

a Shemot Rabba, sect. 31. fol. 134. 2. b De Somniis, p. 578. c T. Bab. Nedarim, fol. 8. 2. Avoda Zara, fol. 3. 2. d T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 16. 2. e Apud Yalkut in loc. f Comment. in Mal. i. 11. g Euseb. Hist. l. 3. c. 5. h Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 31. col. 303. i T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 53. 1. Bava Metzia, fol. 30. 1. Pesachim, fol. 26. 1. Eruvin, fol. 17. 2. k T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 4. 1. Nedarim, fol. 8. 2. l A notion they elsewhere frequently inculcate, and is not improbable and which has been of late advanced and defended by a very learned man of our own country, Mr. Tobias Swinden, in a Treatise called "An Inquirer into the Nature and Place of Hell."

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But (And) unto you, who fear My Name, shall the Sun of Righteousness arise - It is said of God Psalms 84:11, “The Lord God is a sun and a shield, and Isaiah 60:19-20, The Lord shall be to thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory; thy sun shall no more go down, for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light;” and Zacharias, speaking of the office of John the Baptist in the words of Malachi, “thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His way, speaks of Luke 1:76, Luke 1:78-79. the tender mercy of our God, whereby the Dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness.” “He who is often called Lord and God, and Angel and Captain of the Lord’s host, and Christ and priest and Word and Wisdom of God and Image, is now called the Sun of Righteousness. He, the Father promises, will arise, not to all, but to those only who fear His Name, giving them the light of the Sun of Righteousness, as the reward of their fear toward Him. This is God the Word Who saith, ‘I am the Light of the world,’ Who was ‘the Light of every one who cometh into the world.”’ Primarily, Malachi speaks of our Lord’s second Coming, when Hebrews 9:28. “to them that look for Him shall He appear, a second time unto salvation.”

For as, in so many places (As Psalms 1:6; Psalms 2:12; Psalms 3:7-8; Psalms 5:10-12; Psalms 6:8-10; Psalms 7:16-17; Psalms 9:17-20; Psalms 10:16-18; Psalms 11:6-7; Psalms 17:13-15; Psalms 20:8; Psalms 26:9-12; Psalms 31:23; Psalms 32:10-11; Psalms 34:21-22; Psalms 35:26-28; Psalms 36:10-12; Psalms 37:38-40; Psalms 40:15-17; Psalms 50:22-23; Psalms 52:5-9; Psalms 55:22-23; Psalms 58:10-11; Psalms 63:10-11; Psalms 64:9-10; Psalms 73:27-28; Psalms 104:33-35; Psalms 112:9-10; Psalms 126:5; Psalms 149:9.) the Old Testament exhibits the opposite lots of the righteous and the wicked, so here the prophet speaks of the Day of Judgment, in reference to the two opposite classes, of which he had before spoken, the proud and evil doers, and the fearers of God. The title, “the Sun of Righteousness,” belongs to both comings , “in the first, lie diffused rays of righteousness, whereby He justified and daily justifies any sinners whatever, who will look to Him, i. e., believe in Him and obey Him, as the sun imparts light; joy and life to all who turn toward it.” In the second, the righteousness which He gave, lie will own and exhibit, cleared from all the misjudgment of the world, before men and Angels. Yet more, healing is, throughout Holy Scripture, used of the removal of sickness or curing of wounds, in the individual or state or Church, and, as to the individual, bodily or spiritual.

So David thanks God, first for the forgiveness Psalms 103:3-5, “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities;” then for healing of his soul, “Who healeth all thy diseases;” then for salvation, “Who redeemeth thy life from destruction;” then for the crown laid up for him, “Who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies;” then, with the abiding sustenance and satisfying joy, “Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things.” Healing then primarily belongs to thin life, in which we are still encompassed with infirmities, and even His elect and His saints have still, whereof to be healed. The full then and complete healing of the soul, the integrity of all its powers will be in the life to come. There, will be “understanding without error, memory without forgetfulness, thought without distraction, love without simulation, sensation without offence, satisfying without satiety, universal health without sickness.” “For through Adam’s sin the soul was wounded in understanding, through obscurity and ignorance; in will, through the leaning to perishing goods; as concupiscent, through infirmity and manifold concupiscence. In heaven Christ will heal all these, giving to the understanding light and knowledge; to the will, constancy in good; to the desire, that it should desire nothing but what is right and good. Then too the healing of the seal will be the light of glory, the vision and fruition of God, and the glorious endowments consequent thereon, overstreaming all the powers of the soul and therefrom to the body.” “God has made the soul of a nature so mighty, that from its most full beatitude, which at the end of time is promised to the saints, there shall overflow to the inferior nature, the body, not bliss, which belongs to the soul as intelligent and capable of fruition, but the fullness of health that is, the vigorousness of incorruption.”

And ye shall go forth - , as from a prison-house, from the miseries of this lifeless life, and grow up, or perhaps more probably, bound as the animal, which has been confined, exults in its regained freedom, itself full of life and exuberance of delight. So the Psalmist Psalms 149:5, “The saints shall exult in glory.” And our Lord uses the like word , as to the way, with which they should greet persecution to the utmost, for His Name’s sake. Swiftness of motion is one of the endowments of the spiritual body, after the resurrection; as the angels, to whom the righteous shall be like, Luke 20:36, Ezekiel 1:14 ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Malachi 4:2. You that fear my name — The persons mentioned in the sixteenth verse of the preceding chapter, ye that look for redemption through the Messiah. Malachi 3:16

The Sun of righteousness — The Lord Jesus, the promised Messiah; the Hope of Israel.

With healing in his wings — As the sun, by the rays of light and heat, revives, cheers, and fructifies the whole creation, giving, through God, light and life everywhere; so Jesus Christ, by the influences of his grace and Spirit, shall quicken, awaken, enlighten, warm, invigorate, heal, purify, and refine every soul that believes in him, and, by his wings or rays, diffuse these blessings from one end of heaven to another; everywhere invigorating the seeds of righteousness, and withering and drying up the seeds of sin. The rays of this Sun are the truths of his Gospel, and the influences of his Spirit. And at present these are universally diffused.

And ye shall go forth — Ye who believe on his name shall go forth out of Jerusalem when the Romans shall come up against it. After Cestius Gallus had blockaded the city for some days, he suddenly raised the siege. The Christians who were then in it, knowing, by seeing Jerusalem encompassed with armies, that the day of its destruction was come, when their Lord commanded them to flee into the mountains, took this opportunity to escape from Jerusalem, and go to Pella, in Coelesyria; so that no Christian life fell in the siege and destruction of this city.

But these words are of more general application and meaning; "ye shall go forth" in all the occupations of life, but particularly in the means of grace; and -

Grow up as calves of the stall — Full of health, of life, and spirits; satisfied and happy.


 
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