CHAPTER 4 Dec. 31 
The Day of the Lord is Coming 
For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up, says Yahweh of Armies, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2But to you who fear My name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his rays. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall. 3You 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.  4Remember the law of Moses My servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances. 5Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. 6He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.

Commentary

4:2 The sun- A prophecy of Christ’s return. He will be like the dawn, chasing away the darkness which is now on the earth.
4:5 It seems that ‘Elijah’ will come to convert some in Israel to Christ before His second coming. John the Baptist was an Elijah prophet (Mt. 11:14); this prophecy of ‘Elijah’ may therefore not necessarily require literal Elijah to appear on earth, but the work of converting some in Israel could be fulfilled by others.