Bible Commentaries

Isaiah 50:8 — Verse Isaiah 50:8. Who will contend with me — The Bodleian MS. and another add the word הוא hu; מי הוא יריב mi hu yarib, as in the like phrase in the next verse; and in the very same phrase Job 13:19, and so likewise in many other places, Job 17:3; Job 41:1. Sometimes on the like occasions it is מי זה mi zeh, and מי הוא זה mi hu zeh, "Who is this one?" The word has probably been lost out of the present text; and the reading of the MSS. above mentioned seems to be genuine.

Jeremiah 29:21 — uneasy and disaffected, and might excite them to rebellion. He therefore slew them; two of them, it appears, he burnt alive, viz., Ahab and Zedekiah, who are supposed by the rabbins to be the two elders who endeavoured to seduce Susanna, see Jeremiah 29:23. Burning alive was a Chaldean punishment, Daniel 3:6, and Amos 2:1. From them other nations borrowed it.

Jeremiah 3:18 — Verse Jeremiah 3:18. The house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel — That is, in those days in which the Jews shall be brought in with the fulness of the Gentiles.Out of the land of the north — From Chaldea. This prophecy has two aspects: one refers

Jeremiah 45:3 — Verse Jeremiah 45:3. Thou didst say, Wo is me now! — All that were the enemies of Jeremiah became his enemies too; and he needed these promises of support.The Lord hath added grief to my sorrow — He had mourned for the desolations that were coming on his country,

Jeremiah 9:3 — Verse Jeremiah 9:3. They bend their tongues like their bow for lies — And their lies are such that they as fully take away life as the keenest arrow shot from the best strung bow. The false prophets told the people that there was no desolation at hand: the people

Daniel 3:6 — Verse Daniel 3:6. Shall the same hour — This is the first place in the Old Testament where we find the division of time into hours. The Greeks say that Anaximander was the inventor. He had it probably from the Chaldeans, among whom this division was in use long

Hosea 4:13 — Verse Hosea 4:13. Under oaks — אלון allon, from אלל alal, he was strong. Hence, the oak, in Latin, is called robur; which word means also, strength, the oak being the strongest of all the trees of the forest.The shadow thereof is good — Their "daughters

Obadiah 1:3 — Verse Obadiah 1:3. The pride of thine heart — St. Jerome observes that all the southern part of Palestine, from Eleutheropolis to Petra and Aialath, was full of caverns hewn out of the rocks, and that the people had subterranean dwellings similar to ovens. Here

Habakkuk 2:3 — Verse Habakkuk 2:3. The vision is yet for an appointed time — The Chaldeans, who are to ruin Judea, shall afterwards be ruined themselves: but they must do this work before they receive their wages; therefore the vision is for an appointed time. But at the end it

Zephaniah 3:13 — Verse Zephaniah 3:13. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity — O what a change! And then, how different shall they be from their present selves! Iniquity, lying, and deceit shall not be found among them! A Jew once said to me, "Tere are shome of you Christians

Zephaniah 3:2 — Verse Zephaniah 3:2. She obeyed not the voice — Of conscience, of God, and of his prophets.She received not correction — Did not profit by his chastisements; was uneasy and ill-tempered under her afflictions, and derived no manner of good from these chastisements.She

Malachi 2:1 — CHAPTER II The priests reproved for their unfaithfulness in their office, for which they are threatened to be deprived of their share of the sacrifice, (the shoulder,) and rewarded only with ignominy and ordure, 1-3. The degeneracy of the order is then complained of, and they are again threatened, 4-9. The rest of the chapter reproves the people for marrying strange and idolatrous women; and multiplying divorces, with all their consequent distress, in order to

Malachi 3:6 — Verse Malachi 3:6. I am the Lord, I change not] The new dispensation of grace and goodness, which is now about to be introduced, is not the effect of any change in my counsels; it is, on the contrary, the fulfilment of my everlasting purposes; as is also the throwing

Mark 1:8 — Verse Mark 1:8. I indeed have baptized you with water — As if he had said: This baptism is not to be rested in; it is only an emblem of that which you must receive from him who is mightier than I. It is he only who can communicate the Holy Spirit; and water baptism is nothing, but as it points out, and leads to, the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The subject of these two verses is not found in Matthew nor John; but is mentioned with some varying circumstances by Luke, Luke 3:16.

Acts 17:3 — Verse Acts 17:3. Opening and alleging — παρατιθεμνος, Proving by citations. His method seems to have been this:1st. He collected the scriptures that spoke of the Messiah.2d. He applied these to Jesus Christ, showing that in him all these scriptures were fulfilled,

Acts 25:8 — — In this instance St. Luke gives only a general account, both of the accusations and of St. Paul's defense. But, from the words in this verse, the charges appear to have been threefold:1. That he had broken the law.2. That he had defiled the temple.3. That he dealt in treasonable practices: to all of which he no doubt answered particularly; though we have nothing farther here than this, Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing

Acts 26:21 — Verse Acts 26:21. For these causes the Jews - went about to kill me.] These causes may be reduced to four heads:-1. He had maintained the resurrection of the dead.2. The resurrection of Christ, whom they had crucified and slain.3. That this Jesus was the promised Messiah.4. He had offered salvation to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews. He does not mention the accusation of having defiled the temple, nor of disloyalty to the Roman government; probably, because his adversaries

1 Corinthians 14:3 — Verse 1 Corinthians 14:3. But he that prophesieth — The person who has the gift of teaching is much more useful to the Church than he is who has only the gift of tongues, because he speaks to the profit of men: viz. to their edification, by the Scriptures he expounds;

Galatians 3:8 — Verse 8. The Scripture, foreseeing — See the notes on Romans 4:3-16. As God intended to justify the heathen through faith, he preached the Gospel that contains the grand display of the doctrine of salvation by faith, before, to Abraham, while he was in his heathen state; and thus he is called the father of believers:

Colossians 3:8 — Verse 8. But now ye also put on all these — Ephesians 4:22; Ephesians 4:22. Being now converted, sin had no more dominion over them.Anger, wrath, c.] They had not only lived in the evils mentioned Colossians 3:5, but also in those enumerated here and they had not only laid aside the former, but they had laid aside the latter also. They retained no bosom, no easily besetting, sin. They were risen with Christ, and they sought the things which were above.Blasphemy