Malachi 4:2

But for you who respect my name, the sun of vindication ¹  will rise with healing wings, ²  and you will skip about ³  like calves released from the stall.

Ru 2:12; 2Sa 23:4; Ps 67:1; Ps 84:11; Ps 85:9; Ps 92:12-14; Ps 103:3; Ps 147:3; Pr 4:18; Isa 9:2; Isa 30:26; Isa 49:6; Isa 49:9,10; Isa 50:10; Isa 53:5; Isa 55:12,13; Isa 57:18,19; Isa 60:1-3,19,20; Isa 66:1,2; Jer 17:14; Jer 31:9-14; Jer 33:6; Eze 47:12; Ho 6:1; Ho 6:3; Ho 14:4; Ho 14:5-7; Mal 3:16; Mt 4:15,16; Mt 11:5; Mt 23:37; Lu 1:50; Lu 1:78; Lu 2:32; Joh 1:4,8,14; Joh 8:12; Joh 9:4; Joh 12:35,36; Joh 12:40; Joh 15:2-5; Ac 13:26; Ac 13:47; Ac 26:18; Eph 5:8-14; 2Th 1:3; 2Pe 1:19; 2Pe 3:18; 1Jo 2:8; Re 2:28; Re 11:18; Re 22:2; Re 22:16

¹ tn Here the Hebrew word צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah), usually translated “righteousness” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT; cf. NAB “justice”), has been rendered as “vindication” because it is the vindication of God’s people that is in view in the context. Cf. BDB 842 s.v. צְדָקָה 6; “righteousness as vindicated, justification, salvation, etc.”

sn The expression the sun of vindication will rise is a metaphorical way of describing the day of the Lord as a time of restoration when God vindicates his people (see 2 Sam 23:4; Isa 30:26; 60:1, 3). Their vindication and restoration will be as obvious and undeniable as the bright light of the rising sun.

² sn The point of the metaphor of healing wings is unclear. The sun seems to be compared to a bird. Perhaps the sun’s “wings” are its warm rays. “Healing” may refer to a reversal of the injury done by evildoers (see Mal 3:5).

³ tn Heb “you will go out and skip about.”