You shall tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make,” says Yahweh of Armies.
Parallel Translations
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You shall tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make,” says Yahweh of Armies.
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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.
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(3-21) And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I do make, saith the LORD of hosts.
Cross-references (18)
Passages linked to Malachi 4:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 40:12 Look at everyone who is proud, and humble him. Crush the wicked in their place.
- Romans 16:20 And the God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
- Micah 7:10 Then my enemy will see it, and shame will cover her who said to me, where is Yahweh your God? Then my enemy will see me and will cover her shame. Now she will be trodden down like the mire of the streets.
- Zechariah 10:5 They shall be as mighty men, treading down muddy streets in the battle; and they shall fight, because Yahweh is with them; and the riders on horses will be confounded.
- Joshua 10:24-25 When they brought those kings out to Joshua, Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the men of war who went with him, “Come near. Put your feet on the necks of these kings.” They came near, and put their feet on their necks. Joshua said to them, “Don’t be afraid, nor be dismayed. Be strong and courageous, for Yahweh will do this to all your enemies against whom you fight.”
- Psalms 91:13 You will tread on the lion and cobra. You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot.
- Micah 5:8 The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, among many peoples, like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is no one to deliver.
- Malachi 3:17 They shall be mine,” says Yahweh of Armies, “my own possession in the day that I make, and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.
- Genesis 3:15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”
- Isaiah 25:10 For Yahweh’s hand will rest in this mountain. Moab will be trodden down in his place, even like straw is trodden down in the water of the dunghill.
- Isaiah 26:6 The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy.”
- Daniel 7:18 But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.’
- Revelation 11:15 The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!”
- 2 Samuel 22:43 Then I beat them as small as the dust of the earth. I crushed them as the mire of the streets, and spread them abroad.
- Isaiah 63:3-6 “I have trodden the wine press alone. Of the peoples, no one was with me. Yes, I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath. Their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I have stained all my clothing. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come. I looked, and there was no one to help; and I wondered that there was no one to uphold. Therefore my own arm brought salvation to me. My own wrath upheld me. I trod down the peoples in my anger and made them drunk in my wrath. I poured their lifeblood out on the earth.”
- Ezekiel 28:18 By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your commerce, you have profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought out a fire from the middle of you. It has devoured you. I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all those who see you.
- Daniel 7:27 The kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole sky, will be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions will serve and obey him.’
- Revelation 14:20 The wine press was trodden outside of the city, and blood came out of the wine press, even to the bridles of the horses, as far as one thousand six hundred stadia.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain When God promises redemption to his Church, he usually…
When God promises redemption to his Church, he usually mentions what is of an opposite character, even the destruction and ruin of his enemies, and he does this on purpose lest envy should annoy or harass the faithful, while seeing the ungodly prosperous and happy. So also in this place Malachi says, that the ungodly would be trodden under foot by the faithful like the dust; and he says this lest the elect, while lying prostrate under the feet of their enemies and proudly trampled upon by them, should succumb under their troubles; but they were to look for what the Prophet declares here, for they were not only to be raised up by the hand of God, but were also to be superior to their enemies, and be enabled in their turn to suppress their pride: in short, he means that they were to be raised above all the height of the world.
At the same time, God does not allow his children cruelly to seek vengeance, for he would have them to be endued with meekness, so as not to cease to do good to the wicked and to pray for them, though they may have been unjustly treated by them. But, as I have already said, he meant here to obviate an evil which is natural to us all, for we are apt to despond when our enemies exult over us, and rage against us. Lest then their temporary success and prosperity should deject our minds, God brings a remedy, and strengthens our patience by this consideration, — that the state of things will shortly be changed, so that we shall triumph over the ungodly, who thought us to have been undone a hundred times; God will indeed visit them with extreme shame, because they not only fatuitously boast of their unjust deeds, but also raise up their horns against him.
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Let us proceed; he says, In the day in which I make He again restrains their desires, that they might not with too much haste look forward, but wait for the day prefixed by the Lord. We indeed know how great is the importunity of men as to their wishes, and how ardently they seek their accomplishment unless God checks them. Whenever then we speak of the destruction of our enemies, let us remember that we ought to regard the day of the Lord, in which he purposes to execute his judgement. Some, as I have said, give a different version, but the one I have given is the most probable, and is also more generally approved. It now follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Mal 4:3 And ye shall tread down the wicked;…
Mal 4:3 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.
Ver. 3. And ye shall tread down the wicked] Christ, the champion of his Church, hath already won the field, and will shortly set his people’s feet upon the necks of all their enemies. The broken horns of Satan himself shall be the trumpets of their triumph and the cornets of their joy, Rom 16:20. See what honour all the saints have in this respect, Psa 149:7-9; see what comfort, Joh 16:33; see what conquests, Rom 8:37. How much more at the last day, when the thrones shall be set, &c., Mat 19:28. Rabbi David Kimchi understands this text to be temporal victories only. And no wonder, as being a Jew, and minding earthly things, he ascends no higher. Such grasshoppers, if at any time they leap above the earth, they soon fall down to it again; and as they are of the earth, so they speak of the earth, and the earth hears them. Petrus a Figniero writing upon those words in the former chapter, Mal 3:12 "For ye shall be a delightsome land," Nota modum loquendi, saith he: mark that expression, He saith not your land shall be a delightsome land, but "ye shall be," &c. Forte enim tacite Iudaeos percellit terrain eos vocando. It may be the Lord hereby, closely meets with them for their earthly mindedness; as those that by promise of earthly blessings were soonest prevailed with to serve God, when as these should have been but as steps or stirrups to mount their hearts up to a desire of the things above. Victory in their sense is doubtless a special mercy; and is so promised to the obedient, Deu 28:13 "The Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and not beneath," &c. Hence the Israelites, delivered from the Egyptians at the Red Sea, sang, "The Lord is a man of war," Exo 15:3; the Chaldee there hath it, The Lord and victor of wars. The Grecians delivered from the Persians (vanquished and driven out by Themistocles), called their Jupiter thereupon, Eλευθεριος, the deliverer. It was the thankful acknowledgment of generals, captains, and soldiers at Edge Hill fight, that the Lord was seen in the mount, never less of man in such a business, never more of God. But what shall it profit a man to conquer countries, and yet be vanquished of vices? to tread upon his enemies, and yet be taken captive by the devil at his pleasure? 2Ti 2:26, to command the whole world, as those Persian kings, and yet were commanded by their concubines, so by their base lusts, by yielding whereunto they give place unto the very devil, and receive them into their very bosoms, Eph 4:27, who there hence leads them away naked and barefoot, as the Assyrians did the Egyptians, Isa 20:2. How much better Valentinian the emperor, who said upon his death-bed that among all his victories over his enemies this one only comforted him, viz. that by the grace and power of Christ Jesus he that got the better of his corruptions, and was now more than a conqueror, even a triumpher.
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For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet] Even the ashes of that stubble burnt in Christ’s oven, Mal 4:1. This shows their utter and ignominious destruction. And the like is foretold of mystical Babylon, Rev 18:17-19. Tota eris in cineres quasi nunquam Roma fuisses, sang Sibylla of old. Fiat, Fiat. Our corruptions also shall one day be incinerated (they are already buried, Rom 6:4 Col 2:12), the fiery spirit of Christ will do with the body of sin, as the King of Moab did with the King of Edom, Amo 2:1, burn its bones into lime.
In the day that I shall do this] sc. Partly here, but perfectly at the last day. Meanwhile sin may rebel in God’s people, but it cannot reign. Satan may nibble at their heel, but he cannot come at their head; the world may kill them, but cannot hurt them. "Be of good cheer," saith Christ, "I have overcome the world," Joh 16:33. All evils and enemies shall co-operate for their good, Rom 8:28.
Saith the Lord of hosts] Who hath also said, "Heaven and earth shall pass, but not one jot or tittle of my word," &c.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain And ye: see Mal 4:2.
And ye: see Mal 4:2.
Shall tread down the wicked: now the ungodly, proud, and atheistical despisers of God, providence, and future judgments. do tread down those that fear God and are godly, but it shall not be so always; that word, Psa 58:10,11, and that, Isa 66:24, and that, Rev 18:20, shall be fulfilled in the overthrow of the bad, and in the triumphs of the good. But, more particularly, this treading seems to be intended of those who, after the sacking and burning of Jerusalem, should return either to view the ruins. or to dwell there, and so should, in going lip and down. tread upon the wicked, either buried in the ruins or consumed to ashes.
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For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet: by this it appears that these preserved ones did not barbarously tread upon the entire bodies of the wicked, but upon the ashes of those bodies, by the fire consumed and turned into ashes, and mixed with the ashes of their houses and goods.
In the day that I shall do this; burn Jerusalem and the temple, with the citizens and priests whose carcasses were slain by the sword, or their persons, surprised with the flames, shall be burnt up. And so both this and much of the first verse may be literally understood, and was so fulfilled by Titus and his soldiers, A.D. 73.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And ye shall tread down the wicked,.... As grapes…
And ye shall tread down the wicked,.... As grapes in the winepress, as Christ did before them, Isa 63:2 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, Mal 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:
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in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts: or "in the day which I make" (m); that is, by the rising of the sun of righteousness, the Gospel day. The Talmud (n) 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.
(m) "eo die, quem ego facio", Cocceius. (n) T. Bab. Roshhashanah, fol. 17. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Tread down the wicked - When believers by faith…
Tread down the wicked - When believers by faith overcome the world, when they suppress their corrupt appetites and passions, and when the God of peace bruises Satan under their feet, then they indeed tread down the wicked.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. Ye shall tread down] This may be…
Verse 3. Ye shall tread down] This may be the commission given to the Romans: Tread down the wicked people, tread down the wicked place; set it on fire, and let the ashes be trodden down under your feet.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Mal 4:3. And ye shall tread down the wicked…
Mal 4:3. And ye shall tread down the wicked — “Ye shall know that they are wholly subdued.” — Newcome. Houbigant thinks this “refers to the miracles of the rising church, by which the wicked were compelled to yield, and submit themselves; for there is no other dominion under which they could be held by Christians.” There was a time when the wicked trode them down, and said to their souls, Bow down that we may go over; but the day will come that will make them victorious over all their enemies, and they, as it were, shall tread down the wicked; for, being made Christ’s footstool, Psa 110:1, they are also made theirs, and shall come and worship before the feet of the church, Rev 3:9. “When believers, by faith, overcome the world; when they suppress their corrupt appetites and passions; and when the God of peace bruises Satan under their feet, then they indeed tread down the wicked.” — Henry. For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet — The meaning of this is thought by some to be, that when these believing ones, who through their faith should escape the destruction in which the unbelievers were involved, should return to the place where the city stood, they would there tread upon the ashes of the wicked, who were destroyed in the destruction of the city, and many of them burned to ashes in the flames by which it was consumed. According to Eusebius, a Christian Church was erected in a town called Ælia, built upon the ruins of Jerusalem, of which no less than thirteen persons of Jewish parentage were bishops. So that the faithful among the Jewish nation did literally tread the ashes of the wicked under the soles of their feet. But the general sense of the expression no doubt is, that the great, the unspeakable superiority of the righteous over the wicked, should be evident to themselves and all men, in the distinction which should be made in their favour, first, in the calamities which would come on the Jewish nation, and secondly, and especially, in that day when the righteous shall rise to everlasting life, and the wicked to shame and everlasting contempt.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain And ye shall tread down the wicked, for they…
And ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet. It shall be a great reversal. He that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he, that humbleth himself shall be exalted - Here the wicked often have the pre-eminence. This was the complaint of the murmurers among the Jews; in the morning of the Resurrection Psa 49:14, “the upright shall have dominion over them.” The wicked, he had said, shall be as stubble, and that day Psa 4:1, “shall burn them up;” here, then, they are as the ashes, the only remnant of the stubble, as the dust under the feet. “The elect shall rejoice, that they have, in mercy, escaped such misery. Therefore they shall be kindled inconceivably with the divine love, and shall from their inmost heart give thanks unto God.” And being thus of one mind with God, and seeing all things as He seeth, they will rejoice in His judgments, because they are His. For they cannot have one slightest velleity, other than the all-perfect Will of God. So Isaiah closes his prophecy Isa 66:24, “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men, that have transgressed against Me, for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring to all flesh. So Psa 58:10. The righteous shall rejoice, when he seeth the vengeance;” and another Psalmist Psa 107:42, “The righteous shall see and rejoice; and all wickedness shall stop her mouth; and Job Job 22:19. The righteous see and are glad, and the innocent laugh them to scorn.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Ashes, burnt in Jerusalem. (Haydock) --- Christians rejoiced in…
Ashes, burnt in Jerusalem. (Haydock) --- Christians rejoiced in the execution of divine justice. The Jews were not allowed to approach the new city, Elia. (St. Jerome)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Solving the difficulty (Mal 3:15) that the wicked often…
Solving the difficulty (Mal 3:15) that the wicked often now prosper. Their prosperity and the adversity of the godly shall soon be reversed. Yea, the righteous shall be the army attending Christ in His final destruction of the ungodly (Sa2 22:43; Psa 49:14; Psa 47:3; Mic 7:10; Zac 10:5; Co1 6:2; Rev 2:26-27; Rev 19:14-15).
ashes--after having been burnt with the fire of judgment (Mal 4:1).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. ashes] to which the “stubble” has been reduced,…
3. ashes] to which the “stubble” has been reduced, Mal_4:1.
that I shall do this] Rather, when I do, or work. See note on Mal_3:17.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) Tread down.—Comp. Isa_26:5-6.
(3) Tread down.—Comp. Isa_26:5-6.
That I shall do this.—Better, which I am about to make. (Comp. Mal_3:17.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Ye shall tread down the wicked. (comp. Mic_4:13) They…
Ye shall tread down the wicked. (comp. Mic_4:13) They who were once oppressed and overborne by the powers of wickedness shall now rise superior to all hindrances, and themselves tread down the wicked as the ashes under their feet, to which the fire of judgment shall reduce them. In the day that I shall do this; rather, as in Mal_3:17, in the day which I am preparing.
The secret of triumph over wickedness.
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The figure of "treading ashes" is suggested by the previous figure of "burning." When the wicked are burned up in the fire of God, all their power to injure the good will be gone. They will but be as ashes of the oven, ashes spread abroad, ashes made a path to walk over. The tone of the prophet is not one of glorying over the fate of the wicked, but of rejoicing in the removal of the hindrance which the wicked ever put in the way of God"s faithful servants.
I THE ILL ESTATE OF THE GOOD WHEN THE WICKED, OR GODLESS TRIUMPH. This may be illustrated in every sphere.
1. The National. Illustrate from the times of Jeremiah, when a godless party held power in the state, and tried to force an Egyptian alliance. Or from the times of Malachi, when formalist and careless Levites were corrupting the religious sentiments of the people. Or from the state of the Jewish nation in the time of our Lord, when the fountains of religious and secular authority were corrupt, and the crucifixion of ideal virtue was a possibility. Show in what an evil case good people, who feared the Lord, were placed at such times. See the sufferings of Jeremiah and of our Divine Lord. So there are national times now when evil sentiment prevails, and the servants of God have to "keep silence," because it is an "evil time.
2. The intellectual. The deistic age of our grandfathers was an evil time for devout believers. This critical age of ours is a time of sore strain for those who would preserve the simplicity of faith. The same truth may be illustrated in the smaller spheres of family, or school, or business. Whenever self-indulgence, bad sentiments, or evil characters have power, those who would live godly, sober, and righteous lives are sorely put to it. Though for them this need be but culturing discipline, the treading on the camomile plant that makes it yield freely its fragrance.
II THE ILL ESTATE OF THE WICKED WHEN THE GOOD, OR GOD FEARING, TRIUMPH. This can be treated without any unworthy glorying over the disabilities of others. The point may be illustrated in every sphere, national, political, social, intellectual, or in the smaller spheres of the family, the school, the business, the Church. The point to dwell on is the distress of the wicked, not from personal suffering, hut from their inability to do mischief. We may rejoice that the wicked are made helpless by the triumph of goodness. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.