Bible Commentaries

Job 15:5 — sophistical arguments to defend thyself. Thou resemblest those cunning persons, ערומים arumim, who derive their skill and dexterity from the old serpent, "the nachash, who was ערום arum, subtle, or crafty, beyond all the beasts of the field;" Genesis 3:1. Thy wisdom is not from above, but from beneath.

Job 19:3 — Verse Job 19:3. These ten times — The exact arithmetical number is not to be regarded; ten times being put for many times, as we have already seen. See particularly Clarke's note on "Genesis 31:7".Ye make yourselves strange to me. — When I was in affluence

Job 3:18 — Verse Job 3:18. The prisoners rest together — Those who were slaves, feeling all the troubles, and scarcely tasting any of the pleasures of life, are quiet in the grave together; and the voice of the oppressor, the hard, unrelenting task-master, which was more terrible than death, is heard no more. They are free from his exactions, and his mouth is silent in the dust. This may be a reference to the Egyptian bondage. The children of Israel cried by reason of their oppressors or task-masters.

Job 3:25 — Verse Job 3:25. For the thing which I greatly reared — Literally, the fear that I feared; or, l feared a fear, as in the margin. While I was in prosperity I thought adversity might come, and I had a dread of it. I feared the loss of my family and my property; and both have occurred. I was not lifted up: I knew that what I possessed I had from Divine Providence, and that he who gave might take away. I am not stripped of my all as a punishment for my self-confidence.

Psalms 107:11 — subjection to his authority, acted as if they were independent of heaven and earth, and broke out into open rebellion against him.2. He counselled and exhorted them to return to him: but they contemned his advice, and turned his counsel into ridicule.3. As lenient means were ineffectual, he visited them in judgment: hence it is added,

Psalms 137:3 — Verse Psalms 137:3. They that carried us away captive required of us a song — This was as unreasonable as it was insulting. How could they who had reduced us to slavery, and dragged us in chains from our own beautiful land and privileges, expect us to sing a sacred ode to please them, who were enemies both to us and to our God? And how could those who wasted us expect mirth from people in captivity, deprived of all their possessions, and in the most abject state of poverty and oppression?

Psalms 149:3 — Verse Psalms 149:3. Let them praise his name in the dance — במחול bemachol, with the pipe, or some kind of wind music, classed here with תף toph, the tabor or drum, and כנור kinnor, the harp. " מחול machol," says Parkhurst, "some fistular wind-instrument of music, with holes, as a flute, pipe, or fife, from חל chal, to make a hole or opening." I know no place in the Bible where מחול machol and מחלת machalath mean dance of any kind; they constantly signify some kind of pipe.

Psalms 51:9 — Verse Psalms 51:9. Hide thy face from my sins — The sentiment here is nearly the same as that in Psalms 51:3: His sin was ever before his own face; and he knew that the eye of God was constantly upon him, and that his purity and justice must be highly incensed on the account. He therefore, with a just horror of his transgressions, begs God to turn away his face from them, and to blot them out, so that they may never more be seen. Psalms 51:1.

Psalms 58:3 — Verse Psalms 58:3. The wicked are estranged from the womb — "This," says Dr. Kennicott, "and the next two verses, I take to be the answer of Jehovah to the question in the two first verses, as the Psalms 58:6, Psalms 58:7, and Psalms 58:8, are the answer of the

Psalms 62:3 — Verse Psalms 62:3. How long will ye imagine mischief — The original word, תהותתו tehothethu, has been translated variously; rush upon, rage against, stir yourselves up, thrust against: the root is התת hathath or התה hathah, to rush violently upon, to assault. It

Psalms 7:3 — Verse Psalms 7:3. If I have done this — David was accused by Saul of affecting the kingdom; and of waiting for an opportunity to take away the life of his king, his patron, and his friend. In his application to God he refers to these charges; meets them with indignation; and clears himself of them by a strong appeal to his Judge; and an imprecation that, if he had meditated or designed any such thing, he might meet with nothing but curse and calamity either from God or man.

Psalms 91:3 — Verse Psalms 91:3. Surely he shall deliver thee — If thou wilt act thus, then the God in whom thou trustest will deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, from all the devices of Satan, and from all dangerous maladies. As the original word, דבר dabar, signifies

Psalms 99:3 — Verse Psalms 99:3. Let them praise thy great and terrible name — Let them confess thee to be great and terrible: let them tremble before thee.For it is holy. — קדוש הוא kadosh hu. As this not only ends this verse but the fifth also, and in effect the ninth, it seems to be a species of chorus which was sung in a very solemn manner at the conclusion of each of these parts. His holiness-the immaculate purity of his nature, was the reason why he should be exalted, praised, and worshipped.

Proverbs 15:3 — Verse Proverbs 15:3. The eyes of the Lord are in every place — He not only sees all things, by his omnipresence, but his providence is everywhere. And if the consideration that his eye is in every place, have a tendency to appal those whose hearts are not right before

Proverbs 3:35 — Verse Proverbs 3:35. The wise — The person who follows the dictates of wisdom, as mentioned above, shall inherit glory; because, being one of the heavenly family, a child of God, he has thereby heaven for his inheritance; but fools, such as those mentioned Proverbs

Proverbs 30:3 — Verse Proverbs 30:3. I neither learned wisdom — I have never been a scholar in any of those schools of the wise men, nor have the knowledge of the holy, קדשים kedoshim, of the saints or holy persons.The Septuagint give this a different turn: θεος δεδιδαχε με σοφιαν

Ecclesiastes 3:2 — Verse Ecclesiastes 3:2. A time to be born, and a time to die - plant — "As in its mother's womb the embryo lies A space determined; to full growth arrived, From its dark prison bursts, and sees the light; So is the period fix'd when man shall drop Into the grave. - A time there is to plant, And sow; another time to pluck and reap. Even nations have their destined rise and fall: Awhile they thrive; and for destruction ripe, When grown, are rooted up like wither'd plants."

Ecclesiastes 3:9 — Verse Ecclesiastes 3:9. What profit hath he — What real good, what solid pleasure, is derived from all the labours of man? Necessity drives him to the principal part of his cares and toils; he labours that he may eat and drink; and he eats and drinks that he may be

Isaiah 14:3 — Verse Isaiah 14:3. In the day - "In that day"] ביום ההוא bayom hahu. The word ההוא hahu is added in two MSS. of Kennicott's, and was in the copies from which the Septuagint and Vulgate translated: εν τῃ ἡμερᾳ εκεινῃ, in die illa, (ᾑ αναπαυσει, MS. Pachom. adding

Isaiah 9:3 — Verse Isaiah 9:3. And not increased the joy - "Thou hast increased their joy"] Eleven MSS. of Kennicott's and six of De Rossi's, two ancient, read לו lo, it, according to the Masoretical correction, instead of לא lo, not. To the same purpose the Targum and Syriac.The