1 Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 2 And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. 3 If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.
This scripture is in ALL of our standard works!
OT: Originally in Malachi 4:5-6 : Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
NT: The angel Gabriel quoted this in Luke 1:16-17 when speaking about the yet to be born John (the Baptist). Luke 1:16-17 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias (GK for Elijah), 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.
BoM: Jesus himself quoted Malachi in 3 Nephi 25:5-6 : 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
D&C : section 2; also quoted in
D&C 110:13-16 : After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us; for Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and said: 14 Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi—testifying that he [Elijah] should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come—15 To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse
and D&C 128:17-18 (baptism for the dead): 17 And again, in connection with this quotation I will give you a quotation from one of the prophets, who had his eye fixed on the restoration of the priesthood, the glories to be revealed in the last days, and in an especial manner this most glorious of all subjects belonging to the everlasting gospel, namely, the baptism for the dead; for Malachi says, last chapter, verses 5th and 6th: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
P0fGP: JS History 1:38-39: 38 And again, he [Moroni] quoted the fifth verse [of Malachi] thus: Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 39 He also quoted the next verse differently: And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.
I got thinking about Elijah turning people’s hearts.: anything mentioned that often must be important. So, if Elijah is going to return to earth [remember, Elijah was taken into heaven in a chariot of fire] to “turn hearts,” did he do that during his mortal life? When did he "turn hearts"?
Remember the contest between Elijah and the priests of Baal on Mt Carmel, testing to see if Baal or Jehovah was God? Well, notice how the contest ends:
Elijah's Prayer : 1 Kings 18:36-39
36 And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD [Yahweh or Jehovah]God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.
37 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.
38 Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
In Hebrew, to turn is often shuv: to turn, return, repent. When fire consumed the altar and the offering and the stones, dust and water, the Israelite people REPENTED, returned to the worship of Jehovah.
When Elijah “turned hearts”, he was calling people to repentance.
As our hearts are turned to our ancestors in doing genealogy, we hope that they have been taught the gospel in the spirit word [D&C 138] , that they have “turned their hearts” in repentance, and that they will welcome the temple ordinances that we do in their behalf.
BTW, the word translated as ‘fathers’ [abot] would be better translated as ‘parents.’ AB is the Hebrew for ‘father,’ but –OT is the feminine plural ending. So it’s AB+OT, father+mother, = parents.
Interestingly, Satan also wants to ‘turn our hearts’!
D&C 78:10 Otherwise Satan seeketh to turn their hearts away from the truth, that they become blinded and understand not the things which are prepared for them.
How do we safeguard our hearts? Repent and be baptized: bind ourselves to God in covenant.
11 Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, to prepare and organize yourselves by a bond or everlasting covenant that cannot be broken.
Rebecca Holt Stay : 24 January 2025
