Bible Commentaries

Isaiah 48:14 — all. But because unbelieving and irreligious men have no ears, on this account he does not invite them to “hear.” We know that the Jews enjoyed this privilege above other nations, that God revealed himself to them. (Psalms 147:19; Romans 3:2.) “God is known in Judea,” says the Psalmist,: his name is great in Israel.” (Psalms 126:1.) So much the less excusable was either their slothfulness or their obstinacy, in paying scarcely any regard to their own prosperity. Whence

Isaiah 51:9 — among my friends.” (Psalms 87:4.) In like manner Ezekiel calls the king of Egypt “a Dragon.” “Behold, I am against thee,O Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great dragon, who dwellest in the midst of thy rivers.” (Ezekiel 29:3.) It is sufficiently evident, and is universally admitted, that the Prophet here calls to remembrance the miraculous deliverance of the people from Egypt. “If at that time the pride of Egypt was tamed and subdued, if the dragon was put to flight,

Isaiah 54:9 — destroyed, which happened when the people were carried away into Babylon. For although Antiochus and other tyrants brought upon it dreadful calamities, although afterwards there also happened those apostasies which Paul foretold, (2 Thessalonians 2:3; 1 Timothy 4:1,) and everything was defiled by innumerable superstitions, so that the Christian name was nearly buried; yet still there remained some form of a Church, however disfigured, and the building was not in so ruinous a condition that there

Isaiah 58:4 — chapter 12:15­21) (120) “Luther and other early writers understand the last clause as a prohibition of noisy quarrels, ‘to make the voice heard on high,’ being taken as equivalent to letting it be heard in the street. (Isaiah 42:3) Vitringa and the later writers give it a meaning altogether different, by taking מרום (marom) in the sense of heaven, (Isaiah 57:15,) and the whole clause as a declaration that such fasting would not have the desired effect

Isaiah 60:21 — that this is a description of the whole reign of Christ, not such as it shall be at any one moment, but in its perfection. Christ began to do this at his coming, when he purged the Church. Hence also he calls the Church “a sieve,” (Matthew 3:12) because by means of it the chaff is separated from the wheat; but he goes on from day to day in purifying it, and will go on till the day of harvest. Yet there must be much rubbish mixed with the wheat, which shall at length be removed on that day.

Isaiah 63:3 — 3.Alone have I pressed the wine-press. The Prophet now explains the vision, and the reason why the Lord was stained with blood. It is because he will take vengeance on the Edomites and other enemies who treated his people cruelly. It would be absurd to

Jeremiah 10:3 — — (4) This is not correct, the verb is plural, and there is no different reading. The Vulgate has led Calvin and our translators astray here. The other versions never changed the form of the sentence. The verse may be thus rendered, — 3.Verily, the customs of the nations are very vanity; For a tree from the forest they cut down, — The work of the hands of the worker with the ax! Then verbs in the plural number follow in the next verse, — 4.With silver and with gold they

Jeremiah 23:11 — found in the very Temple, that is, in the very sacred office itself; for not only was their life wicked, but they also impiously and perfidiously corrupted the doctrine of God and subverted his worship. (90) This verb is used three times in Jeremiah 3:1, and 9, and in every instance in the sense of defiling the land with adultery, and in the two last verses, with spiritual adultery — idolatry. It is rendered here passively by the Sept. and the Vulg., “have become defiled;” but it

Jeremiah 26:17 — opposed him on the ground of common justice. Jeremiah had said, that God would spare neither the holy city nor the Temple. This was intolerable, for it had been said of the Temple, “This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell.” (Psalms 132:14.) We hence see that Jeremiah was overwhelmed as it were by this one expression, while the priests and the false prophets objected and said, “Thou then makest void God’s promises; thou regardest as nothing the sanctity of the Temple.”

Jeremiah 4:10 — and others, take this view, — that God had permitted or suffered the people to be deceived by the false prophets. It is said that this verb in Hiphil, as the case is here, has sometimes this meaning, and Lowth refers, as instances, to Isaiah 63:17, and also to Psalms 119:10; Proverbs 10:3. But the sentiment of the passage in this case would not be very suitable: for, according to this view, the cause of the Prophet’s grief is, that God had suffered the people to be deceived. “It

Jeremiah 50:38 — the sword here, means those who wielded it, the soldiers of Cyrus: they spoiled the treasures, they turned the streams of the rivers. — Ed. (75) That the Babylonians had large idols or images, which were of terrific size, is evident from Daniel 3:1 — Ed.

Jeremiah 51:27 — “commander” by Blayney. Parkhurst says that it is a Chaldee word, from טפס, to reduce to order, and סר, a ruler. Then it means a commanding officer, a caption, or a general. It occurs only here and in Nahum 3:17. — Ed

Jeremiah 8:7 — Prophet declares that they were more silly than cranes and swallows. Isaiah also exposes the same sort of madness, when he says that the ox knew his own master, and the ass his master’s crib, but that God was not known by his people. (Isaiah 1:3.) Now Isaiah made the Jews worse than oxen and asses, because these brute animals possess something like memory, so that they keep to their own manger and crib. So now Jeremiah, speaking of storks, etc., says, — Behold, the stork knows the time

Ezekiel 16:10 — while he slew the nations for them, and gave them quiet possession and dominion there: then he blessed the land, so that it nourished them abundantly, and made it testify that it was no vain promise that the land should flow with milk and honey. (Exodus 3:17; Exodus 13:21; Exodus 16:15; Exodus 17:6; Exodus 22:25; Numbers 20:11.) Ezekiel includes all these things under necklaces, bracelets, gold, silver, linen garments, broidered work, etc. As to the particular words I will not, accurately insist, unless

Ezekiel 16:6 — their life to the end. That celebrated sentence is well known — I have seen, I have seen, the affliction of my people. When he sent for Moses and commanded him to liberate the people, he prefaces it in this way, I have seen, I have seen. (Exodus 3:7) Hence he had long ago seen, though he seemed to despise them by shutting his eyes. There is no doubt that the doubling of the word here means that God always watched for the safety of this desperate people, although he did not assist them directly:

Ezekiel 4:16 — sufficiently plentiful supply exists, but those who eat are not satisfied. That this may appear more clearly, we muse assume the principle that men do not live by bread only, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God, (Deuteronomy 8:3,) for here God signifies that we are not nourished by virtue of the bread, properly speaking: for how can bread be life-giving when it wants both sense and vigor? We see then that there is no force in bread to nourish us which excludes the hidden grace

Zechariah 2:9 — would yet be safe; for they would be protected by the hand of God, and not only so, but that whatever their enemies would attempt to do would be in vain, for the Lord would degrade them, and render them a prey to the Jews themselves: for by servants (32) he doubtless means the Jews, who, for a time, had been oppressed by the tyranny of their enemies. It is certain that this prophecy was not fulfilled at the time when the Jews thought that they were in a flourishing state, and enjoying prosperity;

Matthew 14:3 — This narrative is at present omitted by Luke, because he had explained it on a former occasion; and for my own part, as I am unwilling to annoy my readers by writing the same thing twice, I shall handle this passage with greater brevity (354) The Evangelists relate that John was seized, because he had openly condemned Herod for carrying off Herodias, and for his incestuous marriage with her. Josephus assigns a different reason, namely, that Herod, dreading on his own account a change

Matthew 22:43 — 43.How then does David by the Spirit call him Lord. The assertion made by Christ, that David spoke by the Spirit, is emphatic; for he contrasts the prediction of a future event with the testimony of a present event. By this phrase he anticipates the sophistry

Luke 3:7 — As to the loud and open rebuke, which was administered to them in presence of all, it was for the sake of others; and that is the reason why Luke mentions, that it was addressed to multitudes, (Luke 3:7.) Though the persons whom John reproved were few in number, his design was to strike terror on all; as Paul enjoins us to regard it as the advantage of public rebukes, “ that others also may fear,” (1 Timothy 5:20.) He addresses directly