Bible Commentaries

Jeremiah 27:19 — Verse Jeremiah 27:19. Concerning the pillars — Two brazen columns placed by Solomon in the pronaos or portico of the temple, eighteen cubits high, and twelve in circumference, 1 Kings 7:16-22; Jeremiah 52:11.The sea — The brazen sea, ten cubits in diameter,

Lamentations 5:7 — Verse 7. Our fathers have sinned, and are not — Nations, as such, cannot be punished in the other world; therefore national judgments are to be looked for only in this life. The punishment which the Jewish nation had been meriting for a series of years

Amos 7:12 — Verse Amos 7:12. O thou seer — He pretends kindness to the prophet, and counsels him to go into Judea, and prophesy there and be safe, even in the time that he had accused him of high treason against Jeroboam. Hireling priests of this kind have ever been the

Amos 7:4 — Verse Amos 7:4. The Lord God called to contend by fire — Permitted war, both civil and foreign, to harass the land, after the death of Jeroboam the second. These wars would have totally destroyed it, had not the prophet interceded.It devoured the great deep,

Jonah 1:7 — Verse 7. Come, and let us cast lots — This was a very ancient mode of endeavouring to find out the mind of Divine Providence; and in this case it proves that they supposed the storm to have arisen on account of some hidden crime of some person aboard.A

Micah 1:7 — Verse Micah 1:7. All the hires thereof shall be burned — Multitudes of women gave the money they gained by their public prostitution at the temples for the support of the priesthood, the ornamenting of the walls, altars, and images. So that these things, and

Habakkuk 3:7 — Verse 7. I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction — Cush is Arabia. The Arabians dwelt in tents, hence they were called Scenitae. When the Lord appeared on Mount Sinai, the Arabs of the Red Sea abandoned their tents, being terror-struck; and the Midianites

Zephaniah 1:15 — Verse Zephaniah 1:15. That day is a day of wrath — See the parallel passages in the margin (Isaiah 22:5; Jeremiah 30:7; Joel 2:2, Joel 2:11; Amos 5:18; Zephaniah 1:18), and the notes there. From the fourteenth to the sixteenth verse inclusive (Zephaniah 1:14-16) there is a most beautiful amplification of the disasters that were coming on Jerusalem; the invasion, incursion,

Zechariah 12:7 — Verse Zechariah 12:7. The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first — This, I suppose, refers to the same thing. The Gospel of Christ shall go from the least to the greatest. Eminent men are not the first that are called; the poor have the Gospel preached to them.

Matthew 11:17 — Verse Matthew 11:17. We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced — We have begun the music, which should have been followed by the dance, but ye have not attended to it.We have mourned - and ye have not lamented. — Ye have not smote the breast: ουκ εκοψασθε,

Matthew 15:7 — Verse Matthew 15:7. Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you — In every place where the proper names of the Old Testament occur, in the New, the same mode of orthography should be followed: I therefore write Isaiah with the Hebrew, not Esaias, with the Greek.

Matthew 7:16 — Verse Matthew 7:16. Ye shall know them by their fruits. — Fruits, in the Scripture and Jewish phraseology, are taken for works of any kind. "A man's works," says one, "are the tongue of his heart, and tell honestly whether he is inwardly corrupt or pure." By

Matthew 7:27 — Verse Matthew 7:27. And the rain descended, and the floods came, c. — A fine illustration of this may be seen in the case of the fishermen in Bengal, who, in the dry season, build their huts on the beds of sand from which the rivers had retired: but when the

Matthew 7:8 — Verse Matthew 7:8. For every one that asketh receiveth — Prayer is always heard after one manner or other. No soul can pray in vain that prays as directed above. The truth and faithfulness of the Lord Jesus are pledged for its success. - Ye SHALL receive - ye

Mark 6:11 — others, one Arabic, one Persic, Coptic, Armenian, Vulgate, and all the Itala but three. Mill and Beza approve of the omission, and Griesbach leaves it out of the text. It has probably been transferred here from Matthew 10:15. See this subject, from Mark 6:7-11, explained at large on Matthew 10:1-15.

Luke 12:7 — Verse Luke 12:7. Fear not therefore — Want of faith in the providence and goodness of God is the source of all human inquietudes and fears. He has undertaken to save and defend those to the uttermost who trust in him. His wisdom cannot be surprised, his power

Luke 19:2 — Verse Luke 19:2. Zaccheus — It is not unlikely that this person was a Jew by birth, see Luke 19:9; but because he had engaged in a business so infamous, in the eyes of the Jews, he was considered as a mere heathen, Luke 19:7.Chief among the publicans — Either a farmer-general of the taxes, who had subordinate collectors under him: or else the most respectable and honourable man among that class at Jericho.He was rich. — And therefore the more unlikely to pay

John 7:16 — Verse John 7:16. My doctrine is not mine — Our blessed Lord, in the character of Messiah, might as well say, My doctrine is not mine, as an ambassador might say, I speak not my own words, but his who sent me: and he speaks these words to draw the attention

John 7:21 — Verse John 7:21. I have done one work — That of curing the impotent man, already referred to. See John 5:9.And ye all marvel. — or, ye all marvel because of this. Some have δια τουτο, in connection with θαυμαζετε, which the common pointing makes the

John 9:31 — Verse 31. God heareth not sinners — I believe the word αμαρτωλων signifies heathens, or persons not proselyted to the Jewish religion; and therefore it is put in opposition to θεοσεβης, a worshipper of the true God. See the note on Luke 7:37. But in what sense may it be said, following our common version, that God heareth not sinners? When they regard iniquity in their heart-when they wish to be saved, and yet abide in their sins-when they will not separate themselves from the workers