Bible Commentaries

Psalms 67:4 — Verse Psalms 67:4. Glad and sing for joy — They shall be made happy in thy salvation. Even their political state shall be greatly meliorated; for God will be acknowledged the supreme Judge; their laws shall be founded on his word; and the nations of the earth shall

Psalms 77:17 — Verse Psalms 77:17. The clouds poured out water — It appears from this that there was a violent tempest at the time of the passage of the Red Sea. There was a violent storm of thunder, lightning, and rain. These three things are distinctly marked here.1. "The skies sent out a sound:" the THUNDER.2. "Thine arrows went abroad:" the LIGHTNING.3. "The clouds poured out water:" the RAIN. In the next verse we have,4. An EARTHQUAKE: "The earth trembled and shook," Psalms 77:18.

Proverbs 29:4 — Verse Proverbs 29:4. He that receiveth gifts — This was notoriously the case in this kingdom, before the passing of the Magna Charta, or great charter of liberties. Hence that article in it, Nulli vendemus justitiam; "We will not sell justice to any." I have met with cases in our ancient records where, in order to get his right, a man was obliged almost to ruin himself in presents to the king, queen, and their favourites, to get the case decided in his favour.

Proverbs 4:8 — Verse Proverbs 4:8. She shall bring thee to honour — There is nothing, a strict life of piety and benevolence excepted, that has such a direct tendency to reflect honour upon a man, as the careful cultivation of his mind. One of Bacon's aphorisms was, Knowledge

Ecclesiastes 5:6 — Verse Ecclesiastes 5:6. Neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error — Nor think of saying "before the cruel angel, who shall exercise authority over thee in the judgment of the great day, that thou didst it through ignorance." - Chaldee. I believe by the angel nothing else is intended than the priest, whose business it was to take cognizance of vows and offerings. See Leviticus 5:4-5. In Malachi 2:7, the priest is called the "angel of the Lord of hosts."

Isaiah 32:14 — Verse Isaiah 32:14. The palaces shall be forsaken — The house of the sanctuary (the temple) shall be destroyed. - Targum.The forts - "Ophel"] It was a part of Mount Zion, rising higher than the rest, at the eastern extremity, near to the temple, a little to the south of it; called by Micah, Micah 4:8, "Ophel of the daughter of Zion." It was naturally strong by its situation; and had a wall of its own, by which it was separated from the rest of Zion.

Isaiah 40:4 — Verse Isaiah 40:4. Crooked — The word עקב akob is very generally rendered crooked: but this sense of the word seems not to be supported by any good authority. Ludolphus, Comment. ad Hist. AEthiop. p. 206, says "that in the Ethiopia language it signifies clivus,

Jeremiah 18:4 — Verse Jeremiah 18:4. The vessel - was marred in the hands of the potter — It did not stand in the working; it got out of shape; or some gravel or small stone having been incorporated with the mass of clay, made a breach in that part where it was found, so that the potter was obliged to knead up the clay afresh, place it on the wheel, and form it anew; and then it was such a vessel as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Jeremiah 4:3 — Verse Jeremiah 4:3. Break up your fallow ground — Fallow ground is either that which, having been once tilled, has lain long uncultivated; or, ground slightly ploughed, in order to be ploughed again previously to its being sown. Ye have been long uncultivated in righteousness; let true repentance break up your fruitless and hardened hearts; and when the seed of the word of life is sown in them, take heed that worldly cares and concerns do not arise, and, like thorns, choke the good seed.

Lamentations 4:20 — Verse Lamentations 4:20. The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord — That is, Zedekiah the king, who was as the life of the city, was taken in his flight by the Chaldeans, and his eyes were put out; so that he was wholly unfit to perform any function of government; though they had fondly hoped that if they surrendered and should be led captives, yet they should be permitted to live under their own laws and king in the land of their bondage.

Ezekiel 13:11 — Verse Ezekiel 13:11. There shall be an overflowing shower — That shall wash off this bad mortar; sweep away the ground on which the wall stands, and level it with the earth. In the eastern countries, where the walls are built with unbaked bricks, desolations of this kind are often occasioned by tempestuous rains. Of this sort of materials were the walls of ancient cities made, and hence the reason why no vestige of them remains. Witness Babylon, which was thus built. Ezekiel 4:1.

Ezekiel 13:4 — Verse Ezekiel 13:4. Thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. — The cunning of the fox in obtaining his prey has been long proverbial. These false prophets are represented as the foxes who, having got their prey by great subtlety, run to the desert to hide both themselves and it. So the false prophets, when the event did not answer to their prediction, got out of the way, that they might not be overwhelmed with the reproaches and indignation of the people.

Ezekiel 5:10 — fathers shall eat the sons — Though we have not this fact so particularly stated in history, yet we cannot doubt of it, considering the extremities to which they were reduced during the siege. The same is referred to by Jeremiah, Lamentations 4:10. Even the women, who were remarkable for kindness and humanity, boiled their own children, and ate them during the siege.Will I scatter into all the winds. — Disperse you, by captivity, among all the nations of the earth.

Ezekiel 5:17 — Verse Ezekiel 5:17. So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee — Wild beasts always multiply in depopulated countries. In England, wolves abounded when the country was thinly peopled, it is now full of inhabitants, and there is not one wolf in the land. Nebuchadnezzar and his Chaldeans may be called here evil beasts. He is often compared to a lion, Jeremiah 4:7; Daniel 7:14; on account of the ravages made by him and his Chaldean armies.

Daniel 12:9 — Verse Daniel 12:9. The words are closed up — The prophecy shall not be understood, but in its accomplishment; and then the depth of the wisdom and providence of God will be clearly seen in these matters. See on Daniel 12:4. We must wait "till the time of the end;" and this, it appears from the following calculations, will not arrive before the TWENTIETH CENTURY. We here see the reason why these prophecies are at present so imperfectly understood. God has sealed them.

Daniel 4:10 — Verse Daniel 4:10. I saw - a tree — This vision Nebuchadnezzar says made him afraid. What a mercy it is that God has hidden futurity from us! Were he to show every man the lot that is before him, the misery of the human race would be complete.Great men and princes are often represented, in the language of the prophets, under the similitude of trees; see Ezekiel 17:5-6; Dan 31:3, c. Jeremiah 22:15; Psalms 1:3; Psalms 37:35.

Hosea 9:4 — Verse Hosea 9:4. As the bread of mourners — By the law, a dead body, and every thing that related to it, the house where it lay, and the persons who touched it, were all polluted and unclean, and whatever they touched was considered as defiled. See Deuteronomy 26:14; Numbers 19:11; Numbers 19:13-14.For their bread for their soul — The bread for the common support of life shall not be sanctified to them by having the first-fruits presented at the temple.

Amos 1:4 — Verse Amos 1:4. Ben-hadad. — He was son and successor of Hazael. See the cruelties which they exercised upon the Israelites, 2 Kings 10:32; 2 Kings 13:7, c., and see especially 2 Kings 8:12, where these cruelties are predicted.The fire threatened here is the war so successfully carried on against the Syrians by Jeroboam II., in which he took Damascus and Hamath, and reconquered all the ancient possessions of Israel. See 2 Kings 14:25-26; 2 Kings 14:28.

Amos 2:4 — Verse Amos 2:4. For three transgressions of Judah — We may take the three and four here to any latitude; for this people lived in continual hostility to their God, from the days of David to the time of Uzziah, under whom Amos prophesied. Their iniquities are summed up under three general heads:1. They despised, or rejected the law of the Lord.2. They kept not his statutes.3. They followed lies, were idolaters, and followed false prophets rather than those sent by Jehovah.

Nahum 3:4 — Verse 4. Because of the multitude of the whoredoms — Above, the Ninevites were represented under the emblem of a lion tearing all to pieces; here they are represented under the emblem of a beautiful harlot or public prostitute, enticing all men to her,