Bible Commentaries

Job 10:19 — I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. I should have been as though I had not been — Here he sings the same song as Job 3:1-26 Job 4:1-21 . It is hard to say how oft a child of God may discover the same infirmity. Our lives are fuller of sins than the firmament is of stars or the furnace of sparks. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave — He makes mention of

Job 15:13 — proceedings, therefore I conclude that thou art not perfect and entire, all is not right. Why doth thy spirit swell against God (so the Vulgate rendereth it)? "Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him," that is certain, Habakkuk 2:4 , Quid tumet contra Deum Spiritus tuus. And lettest such words go out of thy mouth? — Contumelious and blasphemous words, not fit to be named. Bona verba, quaeso Eliphaz. True it is, Job had spoken some things more freely than was fitting, and

Job 16:17 — Not for [any] injustice in mine hands: also my prayer [is] pure. Not for any injustice (Heb. Violence or wrong doing) in my hands — Job could wash his hands of that rapine and bribery wherewith they had injuriously charged him, Job 15:34 , and safely say of it, as afterwards Father Latimer did of sedition (3 Serm. before K. Edw.), As for that sin, for aught that I know, methinks I should not need Christ, if I might so say. Some failings there might be in him in doing justice, but no

Job 27:11 — God, συν Yεω , or concerning the hand of God, what is in the hand of the Lord (so the Septuagint), what things he is wont to do by his power, and what are his usual proceedings, his actual and efficacious providence, Acts 4:28 . Deo iuvante et subministrante facultates (Vat.). That which is with the Almighty I will not conceal — Neque celabo, ut res divinae comparatae sint, so the Tigurines translate. Envious masters use to hide from their scholars the best and chiefest

Job 29:7 — wounds, Isaiah 3:7 , vid. Pisc. in loc.; but those whom the same prophet calleth healers, or binders up of wounds, Isaiah 3:7 , Here αναξ from ακος , Medela; and Hosea, shields, as Junius translateth, Hosea 4:8 ; and another prophet, heirs or possessors of restraint, Judges 18:7 . It appeareth also that he did justice in his own person; so did David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat, Augustus Caesar, more vigorously than any young man, and more prudent than any old

Job 30:29 — — I give forth rude and confused cries, as if I howled with owls, or grunted with ostriches. We use to say of such, that they roar like bears and bellow like bulls, filling the air with their outcries. Young ostriches cast off by their dams, Job 39:14 Lamentations 4:3 , make a pitiful moan; so do the young ravens for like cause, Psalms 147:9 . Job cried out more like a beast than a man, in his pain and misery. This the Stoics censured as effeminate, and would not allow a wise or valiant man to sigh,

Job 32:18 — arrogantly and from the flesh, or from the spirit, I determine not, saith Brentius here. But sure it is, that such words as these, howsoever they may seem arrogant and carnal, possunt tamen esse spiritualissima, yet they may be very spiritual, as Jeremiah 4:1-31 Jeremiah 20:1-18 . And as sure it is, that we should be in company like full clouds or paps, that pain themselves with fulness till eased of their milk. The spirit within me constraineth me — Heb. The spirit of my belly; that is, God’s

Job 33:17 — That he may withdraw man [from his] purpose, and hide pride from man. That he may withdraw man from his purpose — Or, rather, practice. Heb. work, that is, evil work, called a man’s own work, Hebrews 4:10 ; for when we do evil we work de nostro, et secundum hominem, 1 Corinthians 3:3 , as when the devil speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own, John 8:44 . Now from such bad work God taketb men off, by dreams sometimes, as he did Abimelech, Genesis 20:3

Job 40:13 — sentenced him, Esther 7:8 ; See Trapp on " Esther 7:8 " Or rather, as dead men’s faces use to be bound up and covered; for we like not to look on death’s face. Abraham was desirous to bury his dead out of his sight, Genesis 23:4 , though she had once been the desire of his eyes, Ezekiel 24:16 . Lazarus came out of his grave with his face bound about with a napkin, John 11:44 . See the like done to our Saviour, John 20:6-7 , though there was as little need to have done it as

Psalms 10:17 — wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear: Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble — The whole life of a good Christian is a holy desire, saith Austin. And the desires of the righteous shall be satisfied, Proverbs 10:24 , because they are framed by the Holy Spirit, according to the will of God, Romans 8:27 , and they bare the mind of Christ, 1 Corinthians 2:16 , who knoweth the mind of the Spirit, Romans 8:27 , though their desires be not uttered, Romans 8:26 . Thou

Psalms 112:7 — so ballasteth his heart, that he floateth steadily; and blow what wind it will, he saileth safe to the port. Fides famem non formidat, Faith feareth no famine, nor anything else; when as a sound of fear is ever in the wicked man’s ears, Job 15:4 His heart is fixed — viz. Upon the promise of God; and hence he hath a spiritual security, a blessed sabbath of spirit; he is freed, if not from the common destruction, yet from the common distraction; for he knoweth whom he hath trusted. Praeclara

Psalms 14:7 — their dispersion among the Gentiles, their oppressors; and this a prayer for their restoration. For our sins, say they, which are many, the coming of the Messiah (that salvation of Israel) is deferred, the time of his coming is sealed up, Daniel 12:4 . Verum enimvero Dens nos dignabitur clarissima visione cum reducer Zionem; tunc intelligemus res ipsas prout sunt, saith Jachiades on that text; but God shall give us a clear sight of all things when he shall bring back Zion, … This is truth,

Psalms 34:10 — be had. Haec est sceleratorum imago, saith Beza. Lionlike wicked oppressors, rich cormorants, as the Septuagint render it, who live on the spoil of poor people, and are never satisfied, do yet perish with famine, as Eliphaz saith of the old lion, Job 4:11 ; and come oft to great poverty, so that they pine away and miserably perish, Donec misere tabescant (Beza.) But they that seek the Lord — That, content with his blessing alone, seek not their nourishment any other way but from his hand, and

Psalms 37:3 — signifieth. Kimchi readeth it, Pasce in veritate, Feed others with the truth; as the lips of the righteous feed many. Tremellius rendereth it, Pascere fide, feed on faith; that is, nourish thyself, and live by it, according to that of Habakkuk, Habakkuk 2:4 , "The just shall live by his faith." Some render it, Pasce fidem, feed faith, sc. by pondering the promises of God, which are, Pabulum fidei, the food of faith. Others, Pascere fideliter, get thy living faithfully and honestly by thy true

Psalms 39:1 — Musician, [even] to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David. » I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. I said, I will take heed — He resolved so, Psalms 38:13-14 , sc. to continue as one deaf and dumb, to use Isaac’s apology to scoffing Ishmael, viz. no apology, unless it be that which is real; for vivendo melius arguuntur obtrectatores, quam loquendo, slanderers and railers are best answered by silence.

Psalms 39:9 — mouth; because thou didst [it]. I was dumb, I opened not my mouth — Or better thus, I should have been dumb, and not have opened my mouth, according to my first resolution. I should not have reasoned, or rather wrangled, with thee, as Psalms 39:4 , but have kissed thy rod in a humble submission, and have known that the rod of Aaron and pot of manna must go together. Macrobius writeth that the image of Angeronia among the old Romans was placed on the altar of Volupia with the mouth closed and

Psalms 52:5 — thunderclaps. As thou hast destroyed the Lord’s priests and their whole city, razing and harassing it; so God will demolish and destroy thee utterly, as a house pulled down to the ground, so that one stone is not left upon another, Leviticus 14:45 . So shall God pull down Doeg from that high preferment which he by sycophancy hath got at court, Iudicium ipsum lethale describitur. He shall take thee away — As a coal of fire is taken with the tongs, Isaiah 30:4 , that it do no further mischief.

Psalms 62:10 — parta male dilabentur. If riches increase — Though by means lawful and laudable, though they come in at the street door, and not at a postern, Non minimum felieitatis argumentum Metello fuit bona malta bona mode invenisse (Policrat. lib. 8, c. 4), yet Set not your heart upon them — Place not your felicity in them, think not yourselves simply the better or the safer for them. Be not puffed up with outward things, as a bubble with a child s blast in a walnut shell, when he hath in it a

Psalms 9:1 — matter, the psalmist delivereth it in four parts. 1. The acknowledging of God in all. 2. A ciphering and summing up of special mercies (of ñôø seems to come Cipher). 3. An expression of spiritual joy in God, as well as in his gifts. 4. A dedication of our songs and selves to his name. Secondly, for the manner, he presseth, 1. Integrity for the subject and object, Psalms 9:12 . Sincerity for affection and end, Psalms 9:2 .

Proverbs 3:34 — Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly. Surely he scorneth the scorners. — Those proud haughty scorners Proverbs 21:24 1 Peter 5:5 who jeer at this doctrine, and at those who believe it. Surely God scorneth these scorners, for he loves to retaliate; he that sitteth in heaven laughs a good [ Sic. ] at them; Psalms 2:4 he makes them also, in his just judgment, a derision