Bible Commentaries

Isaiah 43:3 — 3.For I am Jehovah thy God. He confirms the preceding statement by the experience of the past; for the Lord had formerly assisted his people in such a manner that it was reasonable and proper that believers should safely rely on his grace. We must always

Isaiah 45:9 — 9.and10.Wo to him that striveth with his Maker! This passage is explained in various ways. Some think that it refers to King Belshazzar, who, as is evident from Daniel, haughtily defied God, when he profaned the vessels of the Temple. (Daniel 5:3.) But that is too forced an exposition. The second might appear to be more probable, that the Lord grants far more to his children than a man would grant to his sons, or an artisan to his work; for they suppose that a comparison of this kind is made.

Jeremiah 11:20 — zeal for God did eat up his heart, according to what is said in common of all the members of Christ, “Zeal for thine house hath eaten me, and the reproaches of those who upbraided thee have fallen on me.” (Psalms 69:9; John 2:17; Romans 15:3) The Prophet then had previously freed himself from all suspicion by saying that he was prepared for the slaughter, as though he were a lamb or a calf; but he now shews that he was, notwithstanding, not destitute of zeal for God. Here then he gives

Jeremiah 3:12 — gracious, that he reserves not wrath for ever, but that it is only for a time, we ought to entertain hope; and corresponding with this is what is said in the Psalms, “A moment is he in his wrath; and life is in his goodness and mercy,” (Psalms 30:5;) as though he had said, that God’s wrath soon passes away, provided we repent, but that he shews his mercy through all ages; for this is what is meant by the word “life.” He then goes on — (82) 12.Go and proclaim these

Jeremiah 49:1 — given by God to them. And this is confirmed by the Prophet Amos, when he says, “For three of the transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not be propitious to them, because they have cut off the mountain of Gilead.” (30) (Amos 1:13) He speaks there metaphorically, because God had fixed the limits between the tribe of Gad and the children of Ammon, so that both might be satisfied with their own inheritance. But the children of Ammon had broken through and expelled

Jeremiah 49:13 — What is particular is put for what is general; for he includes the whole nation under the name of this city. Nor does he simply declare that the Idumeans would be laid waste and destroyed, but he accumulates words: Bozrah, he says, shall be a waste; (39) secondly, a reproach; thirdly, a solitude, or desert; and fourthly, a curse What the Prophet said was no doubt a thing difficult to be believed; for God did not without reason bring forth his own name. For as he would have us to use it seriously

Jeremiah 7:24 — perverted heart. In rendering the last word “wickedness,“ Calvin has followed the Vulgate; and our version, “imagination,“ is the Targum. It is omitted in the Septuagint, and “desires” in Syriac. See note on Jeremiah 3:17. — Ed. (207) The words are, — And they were for behind, and not for before them; which seem to mean, that they were bent on turning back to their own ways rather than to go on in the ways of God. The version of theSeptuagint is, “They

Lamentations 1:8 — Virgil: — “Come is the great day and the unavoidable time Of Dardania: we Trojans have been; Ilium has been, And the great glory of the Teuerians: cruel Jupiter has to Argos Transferred all things: the Danai rule in the burnt city.” (130) He also repeats the same sentiment in other words: — “O country! O Ilium, the house of the gods! and the famous for war, The camp of the Dardanidans! cruel Jupiter has to Argos Transferred all things.” (131) He thus mourns the

Ezekiel 1:13 — difference means; as when God appeared to Moses, if there had been nothing wonderful in it, Moses would not have thought that he was called by God, but he acknowledged God in the bush, because he saw that the bush was on fire and yet not consumed. (Exodus 3:2.) Then he began to be aroused, and to reflect within himself, that a divine vision was presented to him. The same is to be diligently observed in this place. And hence we gather, how humanely, nay, how indulgently, God deals with us. For, as on his

Ezekiel 3:20 — righteous shall turn aside, he indeed shall die, but his blood will I require Here it may be asked, how can the just turn aside, since there is no righteousness without the spirit of regeneration But the seed of the Spirit is incorruptible, (1 Peter 1:23,) nor can it ever happen that his grace is utterly extinguished; for the Spirit, is the earnest and seal of our adoption, for God’s adoption is without repentance, as Paul says. (Romans 11:29.) Hence it may seem absurd to say, that the just recedes

Daniel 11:30 — angel here predicts. Every one who wishes to read these prophecies with profit, must make himself familiar with these books, and must try to remember the whole history. Onias the elder was a holy man; his son has been previously mentioned. (2 Maccabees 3:1.) For, with the view of escaping from snares, he set out for Egypt and built a temple, as Josephus informs us, and pretended to fulfill that passage in Isaiah which says, There shall be an altar to God in Egypt. But Onias the elder, who discharged

Hosea 7:1 — they cannot bear any admonition. As soon then as God begins to do the office of a physician, men then discover their diseases. And this is the reason why the world so much shun the light of heavenly doctrine; for he who does evil hates the light, (John 3:20.) We may also observe the same as to chastisements. When God indulges the wicked, they then with the mouth at least bless him; but when he begins to punish their sins they clamour against him and are angry, and at length show how much fury was before

Habakkuk 1:3 — Hiphil, a causative sense. The context, as Calvin says, seems certainly to favor this meaning; and we might suppose that Habakkuk used it in a sense different from others, were it not that he uses it at least twice in this very chapter, verses 5 and 13, simply in the sense of seeing or beholding. In these two verses there is no need of continuing the interrogatory form throughout, nor is this justified by the original. A strictly literal rendering, such as the following, would be the most appropriate:

Habakkuk 2:18 — the general subject. (46) Rightly to understand this verse, it is necessary to remember that the graven and the molten image was the same; it was first graven and then covered with some metal, either of gold or of silver. See Note on Micah 1:7, vol. 3, p. 167. This verse, as given in our version and in that of Newcome, presents hardly a meaning; and Henderson is not justified in the peculiar sense he gives to the particle [כי ], taking it as a relative pronoun. The rendering of Calvin

Zechariah 13:5 — others render it man; and generally the word Adam means man in Scripture. But they who think that Zechariah speaks of the first man, adduce this reason, — that as this necessity of “eating his bread by the sweat of his face” (Genesis 3:9) was imposed on all mankind after the fall, so also all his posterity were thus taught by Adam their first parent; but this interpretation seems too far-fetched. I therefore take the word indefinitely; as though he had said, “I have not been

Zechariah 14:13 — living representation, by which we can see that the Church is never to be free or exempt from this evil — that it cannot drive away or put to flight domestic enemies. And we must also observe, that this tumult, as he says, would be from Jehovah (193) He means that whenever the Church is rent, and sects burst forth, and many hypocrites and ungodly men, who for a time pretend to be God’s true servants, furiously assail true religion — whenever these things arise, the Prophet means that

Zechariah 14:8 — what I have lately said, — that here is set forth the spiritual grace of God; nor is it a new thing to apply the word waters to the Spirit of God: “I will pour forth waters on the dry land and rivers on the thirsty land” (Isaiah 44:3;) and again, “I will give clean waters.” (Ezekiel 36:25.) There is a twofold reason why Scripture gives the name of waters to the Holy Spirit, — because he performs the two offices of cleansing and of watering: for we are like barren

Zechariah 7:12 — He then comes to the heart, They made, he says, their heart adamant, or the very hardest stone. Some render it steel, and others flint. It means sometimes a thorn; but in this place, as in Ezekiel 3:9, and in Jeremiah 17:1, it is to be taken for adamant, or the hardest stone. (75) We now see that the Prophet’s object was to show that the Jews had no excuse, as if they had fallen away through error or ignorance, but had ever wilfully and perversely

Zechariah 9:2 — 1.The burden of the word of Jehovah on the land of Hadrach; And Damascus shall be its resting-place, (For Jehovah has an eye to see men And all the tribes of Israel,) 2.And also Hamath, which borders on it, Tyre and Zidon also: for she is very wise; 3.And built hath Tyre a fortress for herself, And has heaped up silver as dust, And fine gold as the mire of the streets. 4.Behold, the Lord will disposess her, And smite in the sea her strength, And with fire shall she be devoured. As to “Tyre

Malachi 2:16 — nothing; for he says, that they sinned more grievously than if they had repudiated their wives. We indeed know that repudiation, properly speaking, had never been allowed by God; for though it was not punished under the law, yet it was not permitted. (236) It was the same as with a magistrate, who is constrained to bear many things which he does not approve; for we cannot so deal with mankind as to restrain all vices. It is indeed desirable, that no vice should be tolerated; but we must have a regard