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Also, if I am spiritualizing the text, so does Malachi in Mal 4:2, NKJV.

"But to you who fear my name The SUN of righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings;"
But, he is writting Scripture under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit using Hebrew. What does the "phrase" mean in Hebrew? I see that Jeff answered this below, so I will only add;

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The sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings: There are several translation questions in this clause. The phrase sun of righteousness occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament, so its meaning has been the subject of debate. In Christian tradition going back to early times, this phrase has been interpreted as relating to the coming of the Messiah. While there may be truth in this interpretation from a Christian perspective, it seems unlikely that this was the prophet’s main intention, and translators should avoid building such an interpretation into their translation. A number of English versions (mft, Beck, njb, nlt, nkjv) follow kjv in spelling “Sun” with a capital “S.” This spelling does suggest a reference to the Messiah, and translators should not follow it. The same versions (with the addition of neb) translate “his wings/rays” rather than its wings, and this further strengthens the suggestion. (Beck and nkjv even spell “His” with a capital “H.”) It is interesting to note that the Hebrew word for sun, which is usually masculine, is in this sentence feminine, so a literal translation would be “her wings,” but only Hill translates like that. This is a warning to translators not to read more into a text than the original writer intended. If translators wish to point out the tradition of interpreting this verse in relation to the Messiah, they should do so in a footnote (as jb does), not in the text.

Clark, David J., and Howard Hatton. A Handbook on Malachi. UBS handbook series, Page 462. New York: United Bible Societies, 2002.


Reformed and Always Reforming,