Bible Commentaries

Genesis 1:1-31 — EXCURSUS B: ON THE NAMES ELOHIM AND JEHOVAH-ELOHIM. Throughout the first account of creation (Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:3) the Deity is simply called Elohim. This word is strictly a plural of Eloah, which is used as the name of God only in poetry, or

Genesis 2:1-3 — EXCURSUS B: ON THE NAMES ELOHIM AND JEHOVAH-ELOHIM. Throughout the first account of creation (Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:3) the Deity is simply called Elohim. This word is strictly a plural of Eloah, which is used as the name of God only in poetry, or

2 Kings 9:13 — (13) Then (and) they hasted.—LXX., “and they heard, and hasted.” This is probably original, the sense being that the moment they heard it, they hastily took up their outer garments, and laid them as a carpet for Jehu to walk upon. (Comp. Luke 19:36.)

Ezra overview — EZRA.GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO EZRA AND NEHEMIAH. Ezra. BYTHE REV. W. B. POPE, D.D. ALTHOUGH these two books have distinct authors, they describe consecutive periods of the same general stage of Jewish history, and in many respects are closely linked.

Ezekiel 1:28 — (28) As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud.—Comp. Revelation 4:3; Revelation 10:1. The addition, “in the day of rain,” is not merely a reference to the ordinary natural phenomenon, but distinctly connects this vision with the gracious promise

Habakkuk overview — HABAKKUK.Habakkuk. BYTHE REV. A. C. JENNINGS, M.A. INTRODUCTIONTOHABAKKUK I. The Author.—Habakkuk’s own words lead to the inference that he prophesied shortly before the battle of Carchemish, B.C. 605, and therefore in the reign of Jehoiakim (5 infra).

Matthew 16:14 — (14) And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist.—The passage is of the greatest possible interest as one of the very few that indicate the impressions shaped into beliefs that were floating among the people as to our Lord’s character and

Matthew 3:2 — (2) Repent.—Etymologically, the word “repent,” which has as its root-meaning the sense of pain, is hardly adequate as a rendering for the Greek word, which implies change of mind and purpose. In the Greek version of the Old Testament, the word is used

Matthew 6:9 — (9) After this manner.—Literally, thus. The word sanctions at once the use of the words themselves, and of other prayers—prescribed, or unpremeditated—after the same pattern and in the same spirit. In Luke 11:2 we have the more definite, “When ye pray,

Acts 15:20 — (20) But that we write unto them.—The grounds on which the measure thus defined was proposed are not far to seek. (1) It was of the nature of a compromise. The Gentiles could not complain that the burden imposed on them was anything very grievous. The

2 Thessalonians 1:8 — (8) In flaming fire.—Most critics agree to change the punctuation here, by omitting the comma after “angels” and inserting it after “fire.” The flaming fire here is not the instrument of the vengeance—i.e., hell-fire—but the common pictorial attribute

Hebrews 1:3 — (3) Who being the brightness . . .—Who being the effulgence of His glory and the exact image of His substance. The first figure is familiar to us in the words of the Nicene Creed (themselves derived from this verse and a commentary upon it), “God of

Hebrews 12:22 — (22) Unto mount Sion.—Literally (and in these difficult verses it is unusually important to follow the literal rendering of the Greek), Ye are come unto Zion (the) mountain and city of a Living God, a heavenly Jerusalem. The thought of a celestial city

Hebrews 12:28 — (28) Receiving a kingdom.—These words clearly contain a reference to Daniel 7:18, “The saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom.” Nor can it well be doubted that the closing verses of Haggai 2:0 are also before the writer’s mind; after Hebrews

Hebrews 6:2 — (2) Of the doctrine of baptisms.—The meaning of these words has been much controverted. The order of the Greek has been thought to require the rendering baptisms of doctrine (or, teaching); and it has been believed that the writer in this manner seeks

1 Peter 3:21 — (21) The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us.—There are two undoubted false readings in this sentence which must be cleared away before we can consider the meaning. First, the word “whereunto” is a mistake for the more difficult

Revelation 11:2 — (2) But the court . . .—Translate, And the court which is outside the Temple cast out, and measure not it; because it was given to the nations (Gentiles): and they shall tread down the holy city forty and two months. The outer court—meaning, perhaps,

Revelation 7:1 — VII. (1) And after these things . . Better, And after this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding fast the four winds of the earth, that there might not blow a wind upon the earth, nor upon the sea, nor upon any tree. In