And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.
Parallel translations
- WEB If you are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, who is to come.
- BSB And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.
- NKJV And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.
- NASB And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.
- NLT And if you are willing to accept what I say, he is Elijah, the one the prophets said would come.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus identifies John as the 'Elijah' Malachi promised would come. John fulfills that role for those willing to receive it.
Overview
Malachi 4:5-6 foretold Elijah's coming before the Lord's day; Jesus declares John fulfills this in spirit and power (cf. Luke 1:17), not as Elijah literally returned. The qualifier 'if you are willing to receive it' signals that recognizing John's role requires faith. To accept John is to be prepared to welcome the Christ he heralds.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Mal 4:5Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
- Mark 9:11–13And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come?
- Matt 17:10–13And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?
- Luke 1:17And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
- John 1:21–23And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.
- 1 Cor 3:2I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
- Ezek 2:5And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.
- John 16:12I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
- Ezek 3:10–11Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears.
- Rev 20:4And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 11:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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