Bible Commentaries

Psalms 150:4 — stretched over a broad hoop; perhaps something like the tambarine. Anglo-Saxon; [A.S.] the glad pipe. Taburne; Old Psalter.And dance — מחול machol, the pipe. The croude or crowthe: Old Psalter; a species of violin. It never means dance; Psalms 149:3. Crwth signifies a fiddle in Welsh.Stringed instruments — מנים minnim. This literally signifies strings put in order; perhaps a triangular kind of hollow instrument on which the strings were regularly placed, growing shorter and shorter till they

Proverbs 20:14 — CHEAP, and SELL DEAR." He was applauded; for every one felt it to be a description of his own heart, and was satisfied that all others were similar. "In quo dicto levissimi scenici omnes tamen conscientias invenerunt suas.'-DE TRINITATE, lib. xiii., c. 3; OPER. vol. vii., col. 930.

Proverbs 31:30 — Verse Proverbs 31:30. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain, c. —III. Here is the summing up of the character.1. Favour, חן chen, grace of manner may be deceitful, many a fair appearance of this kind is put on, assumed for certain secular or more unworthy purposes

Isaiah 10:28 — from Ai northward, to Nob westward of it; from which last place he might probably have a prospect of Mount Sion. Anathoth was within three Roman miles of Jerusalem, according to Eusebius, Jerome and Josephus. Onomast. Loc. Hebr. et Antiq. Jud. x. 7, 3. Nob was probably still nearer. And it should seem from this passage of Isaiah that Sennacherib's army was destroyed near the latter of these places. In coming out of Egypt he might perhaps join the rest of his army at Ashdod, after the taking of that

Isaiah 13:10 — Verse Isaiah 13:10. For the stars of heaven - "Yea, the stars of heaven"] The Hebrew poets, to express happiness, prosperity, the instauration and advancement of states, kingdoms, and potentates, make use of images taken from the most striking parts of nature, from

Isaiah 22:14 — matter were revealed in or to the ears of JEHOVAH: εν τοις ωσι Κυριου, in the ears of the Lord, Septuagint. Vitringa translates it, Revelatus est in auribus meis JEHOVAH, "JEHOVAH hath revealed it in mine ears," and refers to 1 Samuel 2:27; 1 Samuel 3:21: but the construction in those places is different, and there is no speech of God added; which here seems to want something more than the verb נגלה nigleh to introduce it. Compare Isaiah 5:9, where the text is still more imperfect.The Lord God of

Isaiah 35:10 — Verse Isaiah 35:10. The ransomed — פדויי peduyey, from פדה padah, "to redeem by paying a price." Those for whom a price was paid down to redeem them from bondage and death.Sighing shall flee away. — אנחה anachah. Never was a sorrowful accent better expressed

Isaiah 46:3 — Verse Isaiah 46:3. Which are borne by me from the belly - "Ye that have been borne by me from the birth"] The prophet very ingeniously, and with great force, contrasts the power of God, and his tender goodness effectually exerted towards his people, with the inability

Isaiah 9:9 — The Chaldee is the only one, as far as I can find, that expresses it otherwise. He renders the verb in this place by ואתרברבו veithrabrabu, "they exalt themselves, or carry themselves haughtily; the same word by which he renders גבהו gabehu, Isaiah 3:16. He seems, therefore, in this place to have read ויגבהו vaiyigbehu, which agrees perfectly well with what follows, and clears up the difficulty. Archbishop Secker conjectured וידברו vayedabberu, referring it to לאמר lemor, in the next verse, which

Ezekiel 2:3 — Verse Ezekiel 2:3. Son of man — This appellative, so often mentioned in this book, seems to have been given first to this prophet; afterwards to Daniel; and after that to the MAN Christ Jesus. Perhaps it was given to the two former to remind them of their frailty,

Ezekiel 3:20 — Verse Ezekiel 3:20. When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness — Which these words plainly state he may do, and commit iniquity, and die in his sin; and consequently die eternally, which is also here granted; if he have not been warned, though he die

Daniel 12:1 — CHAPTER XII The proper conclusion to the great revolutions predicted in this and the following chapters is the general resurrection, of which the beginning of this chapter (if to be literally understood) gives some intimation, 1-3. Daniel is then commanded to shut up the words and to seal the book to the time of the end, 4; and is informed of the three grand symbolical periods of a time, times, and a half, twelve hundred and ninety days and thirteen hundred and thirty-five days,

Daniel 12:13 — Verse Daniel 12:13. But go thou thy way till the end be] Here is proper advice for every man.1. Thou hast a way - a walk in life, which God has assigned thee; walk in that way, it is thy way.2. There will be an end to thee of all earthly things. Death is at the door,

Daniel 8:8 — title of kings; and Antigonus, one of them, being slain at the battle of Ipsus, they were reduced to four, as we have already seen.1. SELEUCUS, who had Syria and Babylon, from whom came the Seleucidae, famous in history.2. LYSIMACHUS, who had Asia Minor.3. PTOLEMY, son of Lagus, who had Egypt, from whom sprang the Lagidae. And,4. CASSANDER, who had Greece and the neighbouring countries. These held dominion towards the four winds of heaven.Cassander had the western parts, Lysimachus had the northern regions,

Hosea 9:1 — IX The prophet reproves the Israelites for their sacrifices and rejoicings on their corn-floors, by which they ascribed to idols, as the heathen did, the praise of all their plenty, 1. For which reason they are threatened with famine and exile, 2, 3, in a land where they should be polluted, and want the means of worshipping the God of their fathers, or observing the solemnities of his appointment, 4, 5. Nay more; they shall speedily fall before the destroyer, be buried in Egypt, and leave their

Jonah 1:3 — Verse Jonah 1:3. To flee unto Tarshish — Some say Tartessus, in Spain, near the straits of Gibralter, others, Tarsus, in Cilicia; and others, Taprobana, or the island of Ceylon, formerly called Taprobah; and Tabrobavagh in Sanscrit, to the present day.And went

Micah 2:1 — CHAPTER II Here the prophet denounces a wo against the plotters of wickedness, the covetous and the oppressor, 1, 2. God is represented as devising their ruin, 3. An Israelite is then introduced as a mourner, personating his people, and lamenting their fate, 4. Their total expulsion is now threatened on account of their very numerous offences, 5-10. Great infatuation of the people in favour of those pretenders

Micah 3:1 — foretells the destruction of Jerusalem as the consequence of their iniquity, 1-12. The last verse was fulfilled to a certain extent by Nebuchadnezzar; but most fully and literally by the Romans under Titus. See Josephus. NOTES ON CHAP. IIIVerse Micah 3:1. Hear - O heads of Jacob — The metaphor of the flock is still carried on. The chiefs of Jacob, and the princes of Israel, instead of taking care of the flocks, defending them, and finding them pasture, oppressed them in various ways. They are

Micah 5:3 — Verse Micah 5:3. Therefore will he give them up — Jesus Christ shall give up the disobedient and rebellious Jews into the hands of all the nations of the earth, till she who travaileth hath brought forth; that is, till the Christian Church, represented Revelation

Nahum 1:3 — Verse Nahum 1:3. The Lord is slow to anger — He exercises much longsuffering towards his enemies, that this may lead them to repentance. And it is because of this longsuffering that vengeance is not speedily executed on every evil work.Great in power —