Bible Commentaries

2 Chronicles 34:4 — Verse 2 Chronicles 34:4. The altars of Baalim — How often have these been broken down, and how soon set up again! We see that the religion of a land is as the religion of its king. If the king were idolatrous, up went the altars, on them were placed the statues, and

Ezra 6:4 — Verse Ezra 6:4. Three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber — We have noticed this kind of building before, three courses of stones, and then a course of strong balk; and this continued to the square of the building.And let the expenses be given —

Ezra 9:4 — Verse Ezra 9:4. Those that had been carried away — Those that had returned long before with Zerubbabel; see Ezra 9:1.Until the evening sacrifice. — The morning sacrifice was the first of all the offerings of the day, the evening sacrifice the last. As

Esther 1:4 — Verse Esther 1:4. The riches of his glorious kingdom — Luxury was the characteristic of the Eastern monarchs, and particularly of the Persians. In their feasts, which were superb and of long continuance, they made a general exhibition of their wealth, grandeur,

Job 18:4 — Verse Job 18:4. He teareth himself in his anger — Literally, Rending his own soul in his anger; as if he had said, Thou art a madman: thy fury has such a sway over thee that thou eatest thy own flesh. While thou treatest us as beasts, we see thee to be a furious

Job 21:18 — burn with unquenchable fire. Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, but shall be like the chaff which the wind driveth away." Were not this a common thought, I should have supposed that the author of this book borrowed it from Psalms 1:4. The original signifies that they shall be carried away by a furious storm; and borne off as booty is by the swift-riding robbers of the desert, who make a sudden irruption, and then set off at full speed with their prey.

Job 38:40 — Verse Job 38:40. When they couch in their dens — Before they are capable of trusting themselves abroad.Abide in the covert — Before they are able to hunt down the prey by running. It is a fact that the young lions, before they have acquired sufficient

Job 4:2 — Verse Job 4:2. If we assay to commune with thee — As if he had said, Should I and my friends endeavour to reason with thee ever so mildly, because we shall have many things to say by way of reprehension, thou wilt be grieved and faint; and this we may reasonably

Psalms 119:10 — Verse Psalms 119:10. With my whole heart have I sought thee —4. He must seek God; make earnest prayer and supplication to him for Divine light, for a tender conscience, and for strength to walk uprightly.5. His whole heart; all his affections must be engaged here, or he cannot succeed. If he keep any affection

Psalms 121:4 — Verse Psalms 121:4. He that keepeth Israel — The Divine Being represents himself as a watchman, who takes care of the city and its inhabitants during the night-watches; and who is never overtaken with slumbering or sleepiness. There is a thought in the Antigone

Psalms 137:4 — Verse Psalms 137:4. How shall we sing the Lord's song — איך נשיר eich! nashir; O, we sing! Who does not hear the deep sigh in the strongly guttural sound of the original איך eich! wrung, as it were, from the bottom of the heart? Can WE, in this state of slavery,

Psalms 18:4 — Verse Psalms 18:4. The sorrows of death compassed me — חבלי מות chebley maveth, the cables or cords of death. He was almost taken in those nets or stratagems by which, if he had been entangled, he would have lost his life. The stratagems to which he refers were

Psalms 7:4 — Verse Psalms 7:4. Yea, I have delivered him — When, in the course of thy providence, thou didst put his life in my hand in the cave, I contented myself with cutting off his skirt, merely to show him the danger he had been in, and the spirit of the man whom he

Psalms 85:4 — Verse Psalms 85:4. Turn us, O God of our salvation — Thou hast turned our captivity; now convert our souls. And they find a reason for their prayer in an attribute of their God; the God of their salvation. And as his work was to save, they beg that his anger towards

Proverbs 3:5 — Verse Proverbs 3:5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart — This is a most important precept:1. God is the Fountain of all good.2. He has made his intelligent creatures dependent upon himself.3. He requires them to be conscious of that dependence.4. He has promised to communicate what they need.5. He commands them to believe his promise, and look for its fulfilment.6. And to do this without doubt, fear, or distrust; "with their whole heart."Lean not unto thine own understanding — אל תשען

Isaiah 23:4 — Verse Isaiah 23:4. Be thou ashamed, O Zidon — Tyre is called Isaiah 23:12, the daughter of Sidon. "The Sidonians," says Justin, xviii. 3, "when their city was taken by the king of Ascalon, betook themselves to their ships, and landed, and built by Tyre." Sidon,

Isaiah 4:2 — Verse Isaiah 4:2. The branch of the Lord - "the branch of JEHOVAH"] The Messiah of JEHOVAH, says the Chaldee. And Kimchi says, The Messiah, the Son of David. The branch is an appropriate title of the Messiah; and the fruit of the land means the great Person to spring

Jeremiah 39:4 — Verse Jeremiah 39:4. Went forth out of the city by night — Probably there was a private passage under ground, leading without the walls, by which Zedekiah and his followers might escape unperceived, till they had got some way from the city.The way of the plain. —

Jeremiah 4:19 — Verse Jeremiah 4:19. My bowels — From this to the twenty-ninth verse the prophet describes the ruin of Jerusalem and the desolation of Judea by the Chaldeans in language and imagery scarcely paralleled in the whole Bible. At the sight of misery the bowels are

Jeremiah 4:30 — Verse Jeremiah 4:30. Though thou rentest thy face with painting — This probably refers to the custom of introducing stibium, a preparation of antimony, between the eye and the lids, in order to produce a fine lustre, which occasions a distension of the eye-lid