Bible Commentaries

Isaiah 65:9 — Verse Isaiah 65:9. An inheritor of my mountains - "An inheritor of my mountain"] הרי hari, in the singular number; so the Septuagint and Syriac; that is, of Mount Sion. See Isaiah 65:11 and Isaiah 56:7, to which Sion, the pronoun feminine singular, added to the verb in the next line, refers; ירשוה yereshuah, "shall inherit her." - L.

Jeremiah 10:3 — Verse Jeremiah 10:3. The customs of the people are vain — חקות chukkoth; the statutes and principles of the science are vain, empty, and illusory. They are founded in nonsense, ignorance, idolatry, and folly.One cutteth a tree out of the forest — Isaiah 40:19, and "Isaiah 44:9", &c., which are all parallel places and where this conduct is strongly ridiculed.

Jeremiah 50:9 — Verse Jeremiah 50:9. An assembly of great nations — The army of Cyrus was composed of Medes, Persians, Armenians, Caducians, Sacae, c. Though all these did not come from the north yet they were arranged under the Medes, who did come from the north, in reference to Babylon.Their arrows — They are such expert archers, that they shall never miss their mark.

Jeremiah 6:9 — Verse Jeremiah 6:9. They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand — The Chaldeans are here exhorted to turn back and glean up the remnant of the inhabitants that were left after the capture of Jerusalem; for even that remnant did not profit by the Divine judgments that fell on the inhabitants at large.

Jeremiah 9:11 — Verse Jeremiah 9:11. A den of dragons — תנים tannim is supposed to mean here jackals; the chakal is a beast frequent in the east, an attendant on the lion, the refuse of whose prey he devours. It is an animal that seems to have been bred originally between the wolf and the dog. The original is sometimes interpreted, dragons, whales, &c.

Ezekiel 2:9 — Verse Ezekiel 2:9. A hand was sent — Here the hand signifies not only the instrument of conveyance, but an emblem of the Divine power, which the hand of God always signifies.A roll of a book — מגלת שפר megillath sepher. All ancient books were written so as to be rolled up; hence volumen, a volume, from volvo, I roll.

Ezekiel 27:9 — Verse Ezekiel 27:9. The ancients of Gebal — This was a city of Phoenicia, near Mount Libanus, Joshua 13:5. It was called Biblos by the Greeks.Thy calkers — Those who repaired their vessels; paying, as it is termed, pitched hemp into the seams, to prevent the water from oozing through.To occupy thy merchandise. — That is, to be thy agents or factors.

Daniel 2:8 — Verse Daniel 2:8. That ye would gain the time — The king means either that they wished to prolong the time that he might recollect it, or get indifferent about it; or that they might invent something in the place of it; or make their escape to save their lives, after having packed up their valuables. See Daniel 2:9.

Daniel 9:2 — Verse Daniel 9:2. I Daniel understood by books — The prophecy referred to here is found Jeremiah 25:12; Jeremiah 29:10. The people must have been satisfied of the Divine inspiration of Jeremiah, or his prophecies would not have been so speedily collected nor so carefully preserved. It appears that there was a copy of them then in Daniel's hands.

Daniel 9:21 — Verse Daniel 9:21. The man Gabriel — Or the angel Gabriel, who had appeared to me as a man. איש ish is the same here as person - the person Gabriel.Being caused to fly swiftly — God hears with delight such earnest, humble, urgent prayers; and sends the speediest answer. Gabriel himself was ordered on this occasion to make more than usual speed.

Mark 12:9 — Verse Mark 12:9. And will give the vineyard unto others. — The vineyard must not perish with the husbandmen; it is still capable of producing much fruit, if it be properly cultivated. I will give it into the care of new vine-dressers, the evangelists and apostles. - And under their ministry, multitudes were brought to God before the destruction of Jerusalem.

Mark 3:9 — Verse Mark 3:9. A small ship — πλοιαριον. The lytil boot, Old English MS. It was doubtless something of the boat kind, which probably belonged to some of the disciples. Our Lord was at this time teaching by the sea of Galilee. The word ship is utterly improper in many places of our translation, and tends to mislead the people.

Luke 1:9 — Verse Luke 1:9. His lot was, &c.] We are informed in the Talmud, that it was the custom of the priests to divide the different functions of the sacerdotal office among themselves by lot: and, in this case, the decision of the lot was, that Zacharias should at that time burn the incense before the Lord, in the holy place.

John 9:13 — Verse John 9:13. They brought to the Pharisees — These had the chief rule, and determined all controversies among the people; in every case of religion, their judgment was final: the people, now fully convinced that the man had been cured, brought him to the Pharisees, that they might determine how this was done, and whether it had been done legally.

John 9:14 — Verse John 9:14. It was the Sabbath — Some of the ancient rabbins taught, and they have been followed by some moderns, not much better skilled in physic than themselves, that the saliva is a cure for several disorders of the eyes; but the former held this to be contrary to the law, if applied on the Sabbath. See LIGHTFOOT'S Hor. Talm.

Acts 17:9 — Verse Acts 17:9. Taken security — λαβοντες το ικανον, Having taken what was sufficient, or satisfactory. Sufficient for the present, to prove that the apostles were upright, peaceable, and loyal men; and that Jason and his friends were the like, and would be, at any time, forthcoming to answer for their conduct. Perhaps this is the sense of the phrase in the text.

Acts 2:14 — Verse Acts 2:14. Peter, standing up with the eleven — They probably spoke by turns, not altogether; but Peter began the discourse.All ye that dwell at Jerusalem — οι κατοικουντες would be better translated by the word sojourn, because these were not inhabitants of Judea, but the strangers mentioned in Acts 2:9-11, who had come up to the feast.

Romans 9:31 — Verse Romans 9:31. But Israel, which followed after — But the Jews, who have hitherto been the people of God, though they have been industrious in observing a rule by which they supposed they could secure the blessings of God's peculiar kingdom, yet have not come up to the true and only rule by which those blessings can be secured.

1 Corinthians 9:15 — Verse 1 Corinthians 9:15. Neither have I written, c.] Though I might plead the authority of God in the law, of Christ in the Gospel, the common consent of our own doctors, and the usages of civil society, yet I have not availed myself of my privileges nor do I now write with the intention to lay in my claims.

2 Timothy 4:9 — Verse 9. Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me — He appears to have wished Timothy to be present at his death, that he might have his faith confirmed by seeing how a Christian could die; and, as he had but a short time to live, he begs Timothy to hasten his visit, and particularly so as he had scarcely now any companions.