Bible Commentaries

Jeremiah 2:5 — by one man? said Themistocles to his ungrateful countrymen. And have walked after vanity. — An idol is nothing at all, but only in the vain opinion of the idolater. And are become vain, — scil., " In their imaginations"; Romans 1:21 as vain as their very idols. Psalms 115:8

Jeremiah 20:1 — Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who [was] also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. Now Pashur the son of Immer, — i.e., One of the posterity of Immer, after many generations. See 1 Chronicles 24:14 . Who was also chief governor. — Not high priest, as some have said, but a principal priest, haply the head of the sixteenth course; or, as Junius and others think, the high priest’s vicar, or second. Such as was Eleazar

Jeremiah 25:15 — "cup" is oft put for "affliction," and wine for extreme confusion and wrath. Poison in wine works more furiously than in water. Psalms 75:8 And cause all the nations. — According to that power which I have put into thine hands. Jeremiah 1:10 Vengeance is still in readiness for the disobedient, 2 Corinthians 10:6 as ready every whit in God’s hand, as in the minister’s mouth, who threateneth it.

Jeremiah 3:5 — Will he reserve [his anger] for ever? will he keep [it] to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest. Will he reserve his anyer for ever? — Will he not? Nahum 1:2 and is there not good reason he should do so, so long as you speak and do evil things as you can, obstinately persisting in thy sinful practices? He that repenteth with a contradiction, saith Tertullian, God will pardon him with a contradiction. Thou

Jeremiah 39:14 — court of the prison, and committed him unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home: so he dwelt among the people. They sent and took Jeremiah. — But why did they not also loose him from his bonds? Jeremiah 40:1 And committed him unto Gedaliah. — Who being a chieftain among the Jews, fell to the Chaldees (as it may seem) before the city was taken, according to Jeremiah’s counsel, and is now set over the land, and hath the prophet Jeremiah committed

Jeremiah 4:10 — Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul. Surely thou hast greatly deceived this people, — sc., By those false prophets. Jeremiah 4:9 Compare 1 Kings 18:22-29 Ezekiel 14:9 . This God doth as a just judge, punishing sin with sin. The words may be rendered as a question, "Hast thou indeed thus deceived this people?" Is it possible that thou shouldst have an active, or so much as a permissive,

Jeremiah 47:5 — is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off [with] the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself? Baldness is come upon Gaza, — i.e., Extreme grief, which might have been prevented, had she profited by her former calamity. Jeremiah 47:1 But till God come in with sanctifying grace, afflictions, those hammers of his, do but beat upon cold iron. Leviticus 19:27-28 Jeremiah 16:6 Ashkelon is cut off. — Or, Is silenced; which was wont to be full of singing, dancing, and loud luring.

Lamentations 5:19 — righteous ordering of all things, utut nobis quaedam confusiuscule currere videantur, though some things may seem to us to be somewhat confusedly carried, and even to run on wheels, yet it shall one day appear that there was a wheel within a wheel, Ezekiel 1:15-16 that is, an overruling and all disposing Providence.

Ezekiel 1:5 — likeness of four living creatures. And this [was] their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. Also out of the midst thereof, — i.e., From God’s glorious presence. Came the likeness of four living creatures, — i.e., Angels; Ezekiel 10:8 ; Ezekiel 10:14-15 ; Ezekiel 10:20 Intelligentias animales, Cicero Quest. Acad., lib. iv. calleth them. See like visions, Daniel 7:9 Revelation 4:6-7 . These are said to be four, because God by his angels diffuseth his power through the four quarters

Ezekiel 16:3 — And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity [is] of the land of Canaan; thy father [was] an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite. Thy birth. — Heb., Thy cutting out. Compare Isaiah 51:1 . And thy nativity. — Vide insignem genealogiam, vide γενεθλοιν pudendum. Mutato heroine de te fabula narratur. Cicero De Nat. Deor. saith the old Britons were as barbarous as the Scythians. Thy

Ezekiel 21:3 — sometimes wrapped up with the wicked in a common calamity. The husbandman cutteth down his corn and weeds together, but for a different end and purpose. If the righteous also be judged of the Lord, it is that they may not be condemned with the world. 1 Corinthians 11:31

Ezekiel 29:15 — kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. It shall be the basest of the kingdoms. — And worthily, for their worshipping the basest creatures, see Romans 1:23-24 but especiailly for their faithlessness to God’s Israel. For I will diminish them. — As God hath likewise done the Persians at this day - who have undone their confederates, the Egyptians and Georgians Turkish History. - and the Grecians

Ezekiel 3:4 — there is bitterness. It is necessary to go but not to live, as he once said. And speak with my words unto them. — But see they be mine, and then I will bear thee out; then also they will the sooner take impression. Speak as the oracles of God. 1 Peter 4:11

Ezekiel 36:4 — that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that [are] round about; Therefore thus saith the Lord God to the mountains. — For men there were hardly any left, or not very fit to be dealt with. See Ezekiel 36:1 . Which became a prey. — To those man eaters, Ezekiel 36:3 qui diruerunt et devoraverunt, who did eat up God’s people as they ate bread, Psalms 14:4 making themselves merry with their misery.

Ezekiel 45:17 — offerings, to make reconciliation for the house of Israel. He shall prepare the sin offering. — Or, He shall offer, so some render it, and apply it to Christ. so Ezekiel 45:22 This prince then is in addition a priest of the tribe of Judah. See Psalms 110:4 Hebrews 7:11-28 ; Hebrews 8:1-6 . Non mirum quod hic haereant Iudaei; Oecolamp. here the Jews are puzzled.

Daniel 10:7 — Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. And I Daniel alone saw the vision. — Holy prophets alone are capable of holy visions. 2 Peter 1:19 For the men that were with me saw not. — Sensible they were of some alteration upon the waters, and somewhat wrought upon; not for their information, but separation from Daniel, that he might more freely undergo the heavenly rapture. See the

Amos 3:13 — Septuagint add, O ye priests, whose lips were to preserve knowledge, and to present it to the people. All that were thereunto commissioned by the Lord God, the God of hosts, are here straitly charged to hear and to charge, testify, or contest, 2 Timothy 4:1 and what they have received of the Lord to deliver the same to the whole house of Jacob: not stealing away the word from them, Jeremiah 23:30 , or shunning to declare unto them his whole counsel, Acts 20:27 , but faithfully handling the law, Jeremiah

Zechariah 9:17 — succulent and vigorous, full of sap and good humours, provided, that first they content not themselves with the natural use of the creature, but taste how good the Lord is, and next, that they put this promise into suit by their prayers, as Zechariah 10:1 .

Matthew 13:36 — settlement from his lips, who both must preserve, and present knowledge to the people. Junius was converted by conference with a countryman of his not far from Florence, Galeacius Caraeciolus, by a similitude of Peter Martyr’s in his public lectures on 1 Corinth., seconded and set on by private discourse. David was more affected by Nathan’s "Thou art the man," than by all the lectures of the law, for twelve months before.

Matthew 15:16 — Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand? — What! not at these years, and after so long standing? Will ye stand till ye wax sour again, and not give yourselves wholly to these things, that your profiting may appear to all? 1 Timothy 4:15 . ’ Ακμην adhuc pro κατα ακμην , at these years; now that you are at full stature, and in your full vigour? Is it not a shame to have no more wit at sixty years old