Bible Commentaries

Proverbs 13:3 — Verse Proverbs 13:3. He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life — How often have the foolish, headstrong, and wicked, forfeited their lives by the treasonable or blasphemous words they have spoken! The government of the tongue is a rare but useful talent.But he

Proverbs 3:17 — Verse Proverbs 3:17. Her ways are ways of pleasantness — These blessings of true religion require little comment. They are well expressed by the poet in the following elegant verses: - "Wisdom Divine! Who tells the price Of Wisdom's costly merchandise? Wisdom

Ecclesiastes 8:2 — — You have sworn obedience to him; keep your oath, for the engagement was made in the presence of God. It appears that the Jewish princes and chiefs took an oath of fidelity to their kings. This appears to have been done to David, 2 Samuel 5:1-3; to Joash, 2 Kings 11:17; and to Solomon, 1 Chronicles 29:24.

Isaiah 40:5 — equivalent to this addition, from the Septuagint.This omission in the Hebrew text is ancient, being prior to the Chaldee, Syriac, and Vulgate Versions: but the words stand in all the copies of the Septuagint, and they are acknowledged by Luke, Luke 3:6. The whole of this verse is wanting in one of my oldest MSS.

Jeremiah 29:20 — the prophet to the captives in Babylon, and that the first ends with this verse. That having heard, on the return of the embassy (Elasah and Gemariah, whom Zedekiah had sent to Babylon, and to whom the prophet entrusted the above letter, Jeremiah 29:3,) that the captives had not received his advises favourably, because they were deceived by false prophets among them, who promised them a speedier deliverance, he therefore wrote a second letter, beginning with the fifteenth verse, and going on with

Jeremiah 44:4 — his bowels moved with compassion, to repent, to be angry, c. Here he is represented as tenderly expostulating: O, do not or, I entreat you, do not that abominable thing which I hate.1. Do it not: your God commands.2. O, do it not: your Father entreats.3. It is an abominable thing, and should not be done.4. I hate it, and on that account ye should abstain from it.

Ezekiel 21:14 — Verse Ezekiel 21:14. Let the sword be doubled the third time — The sword has been doubled, and it shall come the third time. Nebuchadnezzar came against Judea THRICE.1. Against Jehoiakim.2. Against Jeconiah.3. Against Zedekiah.The sword had already been doubled; it is to come now the third time, i.e., against Zedekiah.The sword of the slain — חרב חללים chereb chalalim, "the sword of the soldiers," of the Chaldeans. So in the next clause, היא חרב חלל

Ezekiel 24:3 — Verse Ezekiel 24:3. Set on a pot — The pot was Jerusalem; the flesh, the inhabitants in general; every good piece, the thigh and the shoulder, King Zedekiah and his family; the bones, the soldiers; and the setting on the pot, the commencement of the siege. The prophet

Ezekiel 3:16 — Verse Ezekiel 3:16. I came to them of the captivity — Because the hand of the Lord was strong upon him and supported him, he soon reached the place.Tel-abib — תל אביב "a heap of corn." So the Vulgate: acervum novarum frugum, "a heap of new fruits." [Syriac]

Ezekiel 4:3 — Verse Ezekiel 4:3. Take thou unto thee an iron pan — מחבת machabath, a flat plate or slice, as the margin properly renders it: such as are used in some countries to bake bread on, called a griddle or girdle, being suspended above the fire, and kept in a proper

Daniel 12:3 — Verse Daniel 12:3. And they that be wise — Those who are thoroughly instructed in Christ's word and doctrine, shall shine - shall be eminently distinguished in the Christian Church by the holiness of their lives, and the purity of their creed.And they that turn

Hosea 1:2 — wife of whoredoms — That is, says Newcome, a wife from among the Israelites, who were remarkable for spiritual fornication, or idolatry. God calls himself the husband of Israel; and this chosen nation owed him the fidelity of a wife. See Exodus 34:15; Deuteronomy 31:16; Judges 2:17; Isaiah 54:5; Jeremiah 3:14; Jeremiah 31:32; Ezekiel 16:17; Ezekiel 23:5; Ezekiel 23:27; Hosea 2:5; Revelation 17:1-2. He therefore says, with indignation, Go join thyself in marriage to one of those who have committed

Joel 3:21 — Verse Joel 3:21. For I will cleanse their blood — נקיתי nikkeythi, I will avenge the slaughter and martyrdom of my people, which I have not yet avenged. Persecuting nations and persecuting Churches shall all come, sooner or later, under the stroke of vindictive

Amos 4:3 — Verse Amos 4:3. And ye shall go out at the breaches — Probably the metaphor is here kept up. They shall be caught by the hooks, or by the nets; and though they may make breaches in the latter by their flouncing when caught, they shall be taken out at these very

Jonah 3:5 — Verse Jonah 3:5. The people of Nineveh believed God — They had no doubt that the threatening would be fulfilled, unless their speedy conversion prevented it; but, though not expressed, they knew that the threatening was conditional. "The promises and threatenings

Micah 2:6 — sobbing. Literally, "Do not cause it to rain; they will cause it to rain; they cannot make it rain sooner than this; confusion shall not depart from us." To rain, often means to preach, to prophesy; Ezekiel 20:46; Ezekiel 21:2; Amos 7:16; Deuteronomy 32:2; Job 29:22; Proverbs 5:3, c.The last line Bp. Newcome translates, "For he shall not remove from himself reproaches" and paraphrases, "The true prophet will subject himself to public disgrace by exercising his office."

Micah 6:3 — Verse Micah 6:3. O my people, what have I done unto thee? — They are called to show why God should not pronounce sentence upon them. This condescension is truly astonishing! God appears to humble himself to his creatures. You have acted basely, treacherously,

Nahum 3:18 — Verse Nahum 3:18. Thy shepherds slumber — That is, the rulers and tributary princes, who, as Herodotus informs us, deserted Nineveh in the day of her distress, and came not forward to her succour.Diodorus Siculus says, lib. ii., when the enemy shut up the king

Zephaniah 2:1 — CHAPTER II The prophet, having declared the judgments which were ready to fall on his people, earnestly exhorts them to repentance, that these judgments may be averted, 1-3. He then foretells the fate of other neighbouring and hostile nations: the Philistines, 4-7; Moabites and Ammonites, 8-11; Ethiopians, 12; and Assyrians, 13. In the close of the chapter we have a prophecy against Nineveh. These predictions were accomplished

Zechariah 3:5 — Verse Zechariah 3:5. A fair mitre upon his head — To signify that he had renewed to him the office of the high priesthood, which had been defiled and profaned before. The mitre was the bonnet which the high priest put on his head when he entered into the sanctuary,