Bible Commentaries

Psalms 109:24 — this effect of hunger. Thus Tryphioderus Il. Excid. ver 155: - Τειρομενου βαρυθειεν ατερπεΐ γουνατα λιμῳ. "Their knees might fail, by hunger's force subdued; And sink, unable to sustain their load." MERRICK. SO PLAUTUS, Curcul, act. ii., scen. 3: - Tenebrae oboriuntur, genua inedia succidunt. "My eyes grow dim; my knees are weak with hunger." And LUCRETIUS, lib. iv. ver. 950: - Brachia, palpebraeque cadunt, poplitesque procumbunt. "The arms, the eyelids fall; the knees give way." Both

Psalms 144:12 — That our sons may be as plants — God had promised to his people, being faithful, THREE descriptions of BLESSINGS, Deuteronomy 28:4.1. The fruit of the body - sons and daughters.2. The fruits of the ground - grass and corn in sufficient plenty.3. Fruit of the cattle - "the increase of kine, and flocks of sheep."These are the blessings to which the psalmist refers here, as those in which he might at present exult and triumph: blessings actually enjoyed by his people at large; proofs of his mild

Proverbs 13:24 — Verse Proverbs 13:24. He that spareth his rod hateth his son — That is, if he hated him, he could not do him a greater disservice than not to correct him when his obstinacy or disobedience requires it. We have met with this subject already, and it is a favourite

Proverbs 3:11 — Verse Proverbs 3:11. Despise not the chastening of the Lord — The word מוסר musar signifies correction, discipline, and instruction. Teaching is essentially necessary to show the man the way in which he is to go; discipline is necessary to render that teaching

Proverbs 3:14 — Verse Proverbs 3:14. For the merchandise — סחר sachar, the traffic, the trade that is carried on by going through countries and provinces with such articles as they could carry on the backs of camels, c. from סחר sachar, to go about, traverse. Chaffarynge; Old

Proverbs 3:15 — Verse Proverbs 3:15. She is more precious than rubies — מפנינים mippeninim. The word principally means pearls, but may be taken for precious stones in general. The root is פנה panah, he looked, beheld; and as it gives the idea of the eye always being turned towards

Proverbs 31:28 — Verse Proverbs 31:28. Her children arise up, and call her blessed —20. She considers a good education next to Divine influence; and she knows also that if she train up a child in the way he should go, when he is old he will not depart from it.1) Her children are

Ecclesiastes 6:10 — he not, in the lawe, get the victory of him that is mightier than he." - COVERDALE.ADAM is his name; and it at once points out,1. His dignity; he was made in the image of God.2. His fall; he sinned against his Maker and was cast out of Paradise. And3. His recovery by Christ; the second man (Adam) was the Lord from heaven, and a quickening Spirit.

Isaiah 23:3 — Verse Isaiah 23:3. The seed of Sihor - "The seed of the Nile"] The Nile is called here Shichor, as it is Jeremiah 2:18, and 1 Chronicles 13:5. It had this name from the blackness of its waters, charged with the mud which it brings down from Ethiopia when it overflows,

Isaiah 4:3 — Verse Isaiah 4:3. Written among the living — That is, whose name stands in the enrolment or register of the people; or every man living, who is a citizen of Jerusalem. See Ezekiel 13:9, where, "they shall not be written in the writing of the house of Israel,"

Jeremiah 23:30 — Verse Jeremiah 23:30. I am against the prophets — Three cases are mentioned here which excited God's disapprobation:1. The prophets who stole the word from their neighbour; who associated with the true prophets, got some intelligence from them, and then went and

Jeremiah 3:16 — Verse Jeremiah 3:16. The ark of the covenant of the Lord — This symbol of the Divine presence, given to the Jews as a token and pledge of God's dwelling among them, shall be no longer necessary, and shall no longer exist; for in the days of the Messiah, to which

Jeremiah 3:19 — Verse Jeremiah 3:19. How shalt I put thee among the children — As if he had said, How can ye be accounted a holy seed, who are polluted? How can ye be united to the people of God, who walk in the path of sinners? How can ye be taken to heaven, who are unholy within,

Lamentations 3:65 — Verse Lamentations 3:65. Give them sorrow of heart — They shall have a callous heart, covered with obstinacy, and thy execration. The former is their state, the latter their fate. This is the consequence of their hardening their hearts from thy fear. Blayney translates,

Lamentations 3:66 — Verse Lamentations 3:66. Persecute and destroy them — Thou wilt pursue them with destruction. These are all declaratory, not imprecatory.From under the heavens of the Lord. — This verse seems to allude to the Chaldaic prediction, in Jeremiah 10:11. By their

Daniel 3:25 — improper translation. What notion could this idolatrous king have of the Lord Jesus Christ? for so the place is understood by thousands. בר אלהין bar elahin signifies a son of the gods, that is, a Divine person or angel; and so the king calls him in Daniel 3:28: "God hath sent his ANGEL, and delivered his servants." And though even from this some still contend that it was the Angel of the covenant, yet the Babylonish king knew just as much of the one as he did of the other. No other ministration was necessary;

Daniel 8:9 — toward the south — The Romans made Egypt a province of their empire, and it continued such for some centuries.Toward the east — They conquered Syria, and made it a province.Toward the pleasant land.] Judea, so called Psalms 106:24; Jeremiah 3:19; Daniel 11:16; Daniel 11:41. It is well known that they took Judea, and made it a province; and afterwards burnt the city and the temple, and scattered the Jews over the face of the earth.

Joel 3:2 — Verse Joel 3:2. The valley of Jehoshaphat — There is no such valley in the land of Judea; and hence the word must be symbolical. It signifies the judgment of God, or Jehovah judgeth; and may mean some place (as Bp. Newcome imagines) where Nebuchadnezzar should

Amos 4:13 — Verse Amos 4:13. He that formeth the mountains — Here is a powerful description of the majesty of God. He formed the earth; he created the wind; he knows the inmost thoughts of the heart; he is the Creator of darkness and light; he steps from mountain to mountain,

Jonah 3:4 — Verse Jonah 3:4. Yet forty days — Both the Septuagint and Arabic read three days. Probably some early copyist of the Septuagint, from whom our modern editions are derived, mistook the Greek numerals μ forty for γ three; or put the three days' journey in preaching