Bible Commentaries

Genesis 4:20 — Verse Genesis 4:20. Jabal - was the father — The inventor or teacher, for so the word is understood, 1 Samuel 10:12. He was the first who invented tent-making, and the breeding and managing of cattle; or he was, in these respects, the most eminent in that time. Though Abel was a shepherd, it is not likely he was such on an extensive scale.

Psalms 96:4 — Versículo Salmo 96:4 . Él debe ser temido sobre todos los dioses.  Creo que las dos cláusulas de este versículo deben leerse así: - Jehová es grande, y muy digno de alabanza. Elohim es de ser temido sobre todo. Dudo que la palabra אלהים Elohim sea alguna vez, por construcción justa, aplicada a falsos dioses o ídolos. La forma contraída en el siguiente versículo parece tener este significado.

Ezekiel 10:4 — Verse Ezekiel 10:4. The glory of the Lord went up — This is repeated from Ezekiel 9:3.The house was filled with the cloud — This is a fact similar to what occurred frequently at the tabernacle in the wilderness, and in the dedication of the temple by Solomon. What is mentioned here was the Divine shechinah, the symbolical representation of the majesty of God.

Ezekiel 15:4 — Verse Ezekiel 15:4. The fire devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. — Judea is like a vine branch thrown into the fire, which seizes on both the ends, and scorches the middle: so both the extremities of the land is wasted; and the middle, Jerusalem, is now threatened with a siege, and by and by will be totally destroyed.

Ezekiel 17:4 — Verse Ezekiel 17:4. The top of his young twigs — The princes of Judah.A land of traffic — Chaldea.A city of merchants — Babylon; for which this city was the most celebrated of all the cities of the east. Its situation procured it innumerable advantages; its two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, and the Persian Gulf, gave it communication with the richest and the most distant nations.

Ezekiel 19:9 — Verse Ezekiel 19:9. That his voice should no more be heard — He continued in prison many years, till the reign of Evil-merodach, who set him at liberty, but never suffered him to return to the mountains of Israel. "The unhappy fate of these princes, mentioned Ezekiel 19:4; Ezekiel 19:8-9 Ezekiel 19:8-9, is a just subject of lamentation." - Newcome.

Hosea 4:16 — Verse Hosea 4:16. Israel slideth back — They are untractable, like an unbroken heifer or steer, that pulls back, rather than draw in the yoke.Will feed them as a lamb in a large place. — A species of irony. Ye shall go to Assyria, and be scattered among the nations; ye may sport yourselves in the extensive empire, wither ye shall be carried captives.

Micah 4:6 — Verse Micah 4:6. Will I assemble her that halteth - driven out - afflicted — Under these epithets, the state of the Jews, who were to be gathered into the Christian Church, is pointed out. They halted between the true God and idols; they were driven out into captivity, because of this idolatry; and they were variously afflicted, because they would not return unto the Lord that bought them.

Zephaniah 2:4 — Verse 4. Gaza shall be forsaken — This prophecy is against the Philistines. They had been greatly harassed by the kings of Egypt; but were completely ruined by Nebuchadnezzar, who took all Phoenicia from the Egyptians; and about the time of his taking Tyre, devastated all the seignories of the Philistines. This ruin we have seen foretold by the other prophets, and have already remarked its exact fulfilment.

Zechariah 1:18 — Verse 18. And behold four horns. — Denoting four powers by which the Jews had been oppressed; the Assyrians, Persians, Chaldeans, and Egyptians. Or these enemies may be termed four, in reference to the four cardinal points of the heavens, whence they came: -1. NORTH. The Assyrians and Babylonians.2. EAST. The Moabites and Ammonites.3. SOUTH. The Egyptians.4. WEST. The Philistines. See Martin.

Zechariah 9:7 — Verse Zechariah 9:7. I will take away his blood out of his mouth — The Philistines, when incorporated with the Israelites, shall abstain from blood, and every thing that is abominable.And Ekron as a Jebusite. — As an inhabitant of Jerusalem. Many of the Philistines became proselytes to Judiasm; and particularly the cities of Gaza, and Ashdod. See Joseph. Antiq. lib. xlii., c. 15, s. 4.

Matthew 11:4 — Verse Matthew 11:4. Go and show John the things - ye do hear and see — Christ would have men to judge only of him and of others by their works. This is the only safe way of judging. A man is not to be credited because he professes to know such and such things; but because he demonstrates by his conduct that his pretensions are not vain.

Luke 11:4 — Verse Luke 11:4. Lead us not into temptation, c.] Dr. Lightfoot believes that this petition is intended against the visible apparitions of the devil, and his actual obsessions he thinks that the meaning is too much softened by our translation. Deliver us from evil, is certainly a very inadequate rendering of ῥυσαι ἡμας απο του πονηρου; literally, Deliver us from the wicked one.

John 17:4 — Verse John 17:4. I have glorified thee — Our Lord, considering himself as already sacrificed for the sin of the world, speaks of having completed the work which God had given him to do: and he looks forward to that time when, through the preaching of his Gospel, his sacrifice should be acknowledged, and the true God should be known and worshipped by the whole world.

Acts 26:4 — Verse Acts 26:4. My manner of life, c.] The apostle means to state that, though born in Tarsus, he had a regular Jewish education, having been sent up to Jerusalem for that purpose but at what age does not appear; probably about twelve, for at this age the male children were probably brought to the annual solemnities. Luke 2:41; Luke 2:41.

Ephesians 3:4 — Verse Ephesians 3:4. Whereby, when ye read — When ye refer back to them.Ye may understand my knowledge — Ye may see what God has given me to know concerning what has been hitherto a mystery-the calling of the Gentiles, and the breaking down the middle wall between them and the Jews, so as to make both one spiritual body, and on the same conditions.

1 John 2:4 — Verse 1 John 2:4. He that saith, I know him — This is a severe blow against those false teachers, and against all pretenders to religious knowledge, who live under the power of their sins; and against all Antinomians, and false boasters in the righteousness of Christ as a covering for their personal unholiness. They are all liars, and no truth of God is in them.

Revelation 2:4 — Verse Revelation 2:4. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee — The clause should be read, according to the Greek, thus: But I have against thee that thou hast left thy first love. They did not retain that strong and ardent affection for God and sacred things which they had when first brought to the knowledge of the truth, and justified by faith in Christ.

Revelation 7:4 — Verse Revelation 7:4. I heard the number of them which were sealed — In the number of 144,000 are included all the Jews converted to Christianity; 12,000 out of each of the twelve tribes: but this must be only a certain for an uncertain number; for it is not to be supposed that just 12,000 were converted out of each of the twelve tribes.

Revelation 9:4 — Verse Revelation 9:4. They should not hurt the grass — Neither the common people, the men of middling condition, nor the nobles. However, this appears rather to refer to the prudent counsels of a military chief, not to destroy the crops and herbage of which they might have need in their campaigns.Which have not the seal of God — All false, hypocritical, and heterodox Christians.