Bible Commentaries

Isaiah 42:8 — from all others.That is my name - That is the name which I have chosen by which to distinguish myself from all idols, and which I regard as appropriately expressive of my existence and perfections. Thus it is used in Psalms 83:18 (compare Psalms 96:5). “And my glory.” The glory, honor, or praise that is due to me.Will I not give - I will not allow it to ascribed to another; I will not allow another to assume or receive the honor which is due to me.To another - To any other; whether it be man, or

Isaiah 57:19 — the fruit of the lips - The Chaldee and Syriac render this, ‘The words of the lips.’ The ‘fruit’ of the lips is that which the lips produce, that is, words; and the reference here is doubtless to offerings of praise and thanksgiving. See Hebrews 13:15; where the phrase, ‘fruit of the lips’ (καρπὸς χειλέων karpos cheileōn), is explained to mean praise. Compare Hosea 14:2, where the expression, ‘we will render the calves of the lips,’ means that they would offer praise. The sense here is, that God

Isaiah 66:16 — For by fire and by his sword - The sword is an instrument by which punishment is executed (see the notes at Isaiah 34:5; compare Romans 13:4).Will he plead with all flesh - Or rather, he will judge (נשׁפט nı̂shephaṭ), that is, he will execute his purposes of vengeance on all the human race. Of course, only that part is intended who ought to be subject to punishment;

Ezekiel 16:1 — idolatry and moral corruption. Israel itself was like a child born in a polluted land, abandoned from its birth, left by its parents in the most utter neglect to the chance regard of any passer-by. Such was the state of the people in Egypt Ezekiel 16:3-5. On such a child the Lord looked with pity, tended, and adopted it. Under His care it grew up to be comely and beautiful, and the Lord joined it to Himself in that close union, which is figured by the bonds of wedlock. The covenants made under Moses

Daniel 7:15 — troubled; or my heart was made heavy and sad. This was probably in part because he did not fully understand the meaning of the vision, and partly on account of the fearful and momentous nature of what was indicated by it. So the apostle John Revelation 5:4 says, “And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book.”In the midst of my body - Margin, as in the Chaldee, sheath. The body is undoubtedly referred to, and is so called as the envelope of the mind - or as that in which

Hosea 12:2 — evil-speaking; “Whosoever of you is angry without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire” Matthew 5:22. : “The justice of God falls more severely on those who degenerate from a holy parent, than on those who have no incitement to good from the piety of their home.” To amplify this , “The prophet explains what good things Jacob received, to show both

Hosea 2:1 — have believed, “Be ye also His people.” Despair of the salvation of none, but, with brotherly love, call them to repentance and salvation.”This verse closes what went before, as God’s reversal of His own sentence, and anticipates what is to come (Hosea 5:14 ff). God commands the prophets and all those who love Him, to appeal to those who forget Him, holding out to them the mercy in store for them also, if they will return to Him. He bids them not to despise those yet alien from Him, “but to treat as

Joel 1:12 — read, “Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the forwardness of the wicked Proverbs 2:14. Of the second, “They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ” Job 21:12. Of the third, “Let the saints be joyful in glory” Psalms 149:5. Of the fourth, “Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house; they will be still praising Thee” Psalms 84:4. The joy of charity and the joy of felicity “wither from the sons of men,” when the virtues aforesaid failing, there being neither knowledge of

Joel 3:12 — awakened” from the sleep of death. Another word is used of “awakening” . On the destruction of antichrist it is thought that the general Judgment will follow, and “all who are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of Man and shall come forth” John 5:27-29 : They are bidden to “come up” into the valley of Jehoshaphat , “for to come into the presence of the most High God, may well be called “a coming up.” For there will I sit to judge all the pagan round about,” (again literally “from round about,)

Amos 3:1 — Apostles, He said also to the Church, and to single souls, “What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch” Mark 13:37.Hear ye this word - With that solemn threefold call, so frequent in the Old Testament, he summons them thrice Amos 3:1; Amos 4:1; Amos 5:1, as in the Name of the Holy Trinity, to hear God’s words. : “The prophet, at the outset of the chapter, rouses the hearers to anxious consideration. For the words of the most High God are to be heard, not with a superficial, unawed, wandering mind,

Amos 6:3 — they would put it off, if they could; as far as in them lay, they “assigned a distance to it, , although they could not remove the day itself. The “evil day” is that same “day of the Lord,” which the scoffers or misbelievers professed to long for Amos 5:18. The thought that the Lord has a Day, in which to judge man, frets or frightens the irreligious, and they use different ways to get rid of it. The strong harden themselves against it, distort the belief in it, or disbelieve it. The weak and voluptuous

Amos 7:12 — much patronizing language now, as to God or His revelation, His prophets or His Apostles, or His divine word. The words are measured: the meaning blasphemy. Perhaps, like the Scribes and Pharisees afterward, “he feared the people” Matthew 21:26; Acts 5:26. : “Seeing that there were many among the people who beard him gladly, he dared not do him any open wrong, lest he should offend them.”

Amos 7:14 — unto me;” inculcating that, what Amaziah forbade, God bade. All was of God. “He” had but obeyed. Jerome: “As then the Apostles, when the Scribes and Pharisees forbade them to teach in the Name of Jesus, answered, ‘We must obey God rather than man’ Acts 5:29, so Amos, when forbidden by the idol-priests to prophesy, not only prophesies, shewing that he feared God bidding, more than their forbidding, but he boldly and freely denounces the punishment of him who endeavored to forbid and hinder the word of

Amos 8:1-2 — end, and is cut down. So the harvest of Israel was come. The whole course of God’s providences, mercies, chastenings, visitations, instructions, warnings, in spirations, were completed. “What could have been done more to My vineyard, God asks Isaiah 5:4, that I have not done in it?” “To the works of sin, as of holiness, there is a beginning, progress, completion;” a “sowing of wild oats,” as people speak, and a ripening in wickedness; a maturity of people’s plans, as they deem; a maturity for destruction,

Jonah 4:3 — salvation of others?’ He grieved not, as some think, that the multitude of nations is saved, but that Israel perishes. Whence our Lord also wept over Jerusalem. The Apostles first preached to Israel. Paul wishes to become an anathema for his Romans 9:3-5. brethren who are Israelites, whose is the adoption and the glory and the covenant, and the giving of the law and the service of God, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came.” Jonah had discharged his

Micah 6:1 — bones and ashes upon them, with unuttered yet clear voice, spoke of the idolatry and guilt of the Jews, and so pronounced God’s charge and expostulation to be just. Ezekiel is bidden, in like way, to prophesy against “the mountains of Israel Ezekiel 6:2-5, “I will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places, and your altars shall be desolate.” : “Lifeless nature without voice tells the glory of God; without ears it hears what the Lord speaks.” Psalms 19:3; Luke 19:40.

Nahum 1:12 — be shorn and cut down themselves.Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more - o. Unless by new guilt thou compel Me. God always relieves us from trouble, as it were with the words, “sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee” John 5:14. In the end, afflictions shall be turned into joy, and “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be anymore paid” Revelation 21:4.

Habakkuk 3:5 — shall perish, Psalms 11:4, “at the breath of His mouth,” and all the ungodly on the Day of Judgment.And burning coals - rather, as English, “burning fever”, Deuteronomy 32:2. (where also it is singular, as only beside in רשׁף בני benēy resheph Job 5:7.) So A. E., “burning coals” is from Kimchi, Tanchum gives as different opinions “sparks” or “arrows” or “pestilence;” but the meanings “sparks, arrows,” are ascribed only to the plural. Psalms 76:4; 88:48; Song of Solomon 8:6. The central meaning

Zechariah 1:3 — with him” John 14:23.Osorius: “People are said to be converted, when leaving behind them deceitful goods, they give their whole mind to God, bestowing no less pains and zeal on divine things than before on the nothings of life.”Conc. Trid. Sess. vi. c. 5: “When it is said in Holy Scripture, “Turn unto Me and I will turn unto you,” we are admonished as to our own freedom; when we answer, “Turn us, Lord, unto Thee, and we shall be turned,” we confess that we are forecome by the grace of God.”

Matthew 2:4 — learned men; men skilled in the law, or the lawyers of the nation. They kept the records of the Courts of justice, the registers of the synagogues, wrote articles of contract and sale, bills of divorce, etc. They were also called lawyers, Matthew 22:35, and doctor’s of the law, Luke 5:17. They were called scribes. from the fact of their writing the public records. They were not, however, a religious sect, but might be either Pharisees or Sadducees. By the chief priests and scribes here mentioned is