Bible Commentaries

Job 1:16 — we may, that miseries many times stay not for a mannerly succession to each other, but, in a rude importunity, throng ill at once: Fluctus fluctum trudit, one deep calleth to another; and as one shower is unburdened, another is brewed, Ecclesiastes 12:2 . It must not seem strange, but be joyous, to saints when they fall, or be precipitated, plunged, into divers temptations, James 1:2 . For crosses seldom come single, Aliud ex alio malum (Terent.), πονος πονω

Job 11:19 — shall make suit unto thee. Thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid — Thou shalt walk about the world like a conqueror, being ever under a double guard, the peace of God within thee, Philippians 4:7 , and the power of God without thee, 1 Peter 1:5 , neither shall any enemy come upon thee in the night to fright and to disturb thee, which is a great mercy. It is not long since we of this nation did eat the bread of our souls in peril of our lives, neither could we rest in our beds for

Job 15:35 — in the triumphs of their own wits, when they hear it but mentioned, as at a master stratagem (Spec. Europ.). These heathens (so they are called, Revelation 6:2 ) consider not, that while they thus tumultuate they do but imagine a vain thing, Psalms 2:1 , and that the child’s name is vanity, as here. And their belly prepareth deceit — Not their head, but their belly, prepareth (accurately and strongly prepareth, so the word signifieth) deceit, self deceit (so some sense it), or rather to

Job 19:22 — Dρυος πεσουσης ανηρ πας ξυλευεται . But God’s people should love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, 1 Peter 3:8 ; and of some have compassion, making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, Judges 1:22-23 . Thus it should be; but as of old, in Egypt, one Hebrew smote another; blows enough were not dealt by the common adversary,

Job 19:29 — sword: for wrath [bringeth] the punishments of the sword, that ye may know [there is] a judgment. Be ye afraid of the sword — Heb. Be ye afraid for yourselves, from the face of the sword; God’s sore, and great, and strong sword, Isaiah 27:1 , that hangeth over your heads, as it were, by a twined thread. Oh tremble at God’s judgments, while they hang in the threatenings. He that trembleth not in hearing shall be cut to pieces in feeling, as that martyr said: God’s sword contemneth

Job 3:25 — thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me — Heb. I feared a fear, and it came upon me. Had Job been wicked, this had been no wonder, Proverbs 10:24 Job 15:21 . Or had his fear been sinful, it had been less pity, Proverbs 29:25 John 11:48 ; for why should he, by a painful preconceit, suffer before he needed, and send for his crosses before they came? A good man should be careful (and so consequently

Job 31:17 — the harder, as Dives; whom, to upbraid, Lazarus was laid in the bosom of liberal Abraham, of whom it is recorded, that he sat in the door of his tent in the heat of the day (the usual time of repose and repast) purposely to invite passengers, Genesis 18:1 . He pursued hospitality, as the apostle’s expression is, Romans 12:13 , and a very hearty householder he was. Think the same of Job, whose cup overflowed into other men’s lesser vessels, as Psalms 23:5 , neither did anything he eat do

Job 31:7 — his feet, his eyes, and his hands too; binding them all to the good behaviour: witness the next words. And mine heart walked after mine eyes — As it doth too often, to coveting other men’s goods; which St John calleth the lust of the eyes, 1 John 2:16 . Alexander the Great called the Persian maids Dolores oculorum, the griefs of the eyes. The wedge of gold and Babylonish garment proved to be so to covetous Achan, Joshua 7:21 , and Naboth’s vineyard to that no good Ahab, 1 Kings 21:2

Job 33:26 — is little trust to them. Not so between God and men; witness Peter, of whom Christ thought no whit the worse for his threefold denial of him, when once he wept bitterly, and prayed for pardon. Go, tell the disciples and Peter, that I am risen, Mark 16:7 . If any man want wisdom, or any other good thing else, let him ask it of God, who giveth unto all men liberally, and hitteth no man in the teeth, either with his present weaknesses or by past wickednesses, James 2:5 . Imo plus est propemodum a vitiis

Job 5:5 — up their substance. Whose harvest the hungry eateth up — This is another root of the wicked one, his estate, against which God raiseth up a rout of needy wretches to pillage him. These are as a sweeping rain, that leaveth no food, Proverbs 28:1 . These, as lean lice, bite hardest, and, as sparrow hawks, are extremly greedy: Malesuada fames putteth them upon it. These harpies seize upon his very harvest ad maiorem cruciatum et miseriam, to the more crude and wretched, pulling the meat out of

Psalms 19:4 — gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Their line is gone out through all the earth — Or, their rule, or direction, or delineation, or Scripture, confer Isaiah 28:13 Quod in coelis tanquam in volumine omnibus conspicuo descripta sit Dei gloria, because that in the heavens, as in an open book, is written down the glory of the Creator. The like is done also in other less considerable creatures; every of which do

Psalms 3:7 — thou hast smitten all mine enemies [upon] the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. Arise, O Lord, … — If the Lord do but arise only his enemies shall be scattered; those also that hate him shall flee before him, Psalms 68:1 . And God will arise and harness when his people put his promises in suit by their faithful prayers. This Moses knew, and therefore appointed the priests, whensoever the ark removed, to say, "Rise up, Lord," …, Numbers 10:35 . Commanders

Psalms 68:22 — from the depths of the sea: The Lord said — That is assurance good enough. I will bring again from Bashan — Og the giant’s country, where Israel was in no small distress and danger till that monster was taken out of the way, Numbers 21:33 Deuteronomy 3:1-2: q.d. I will, if need require, and as occasion serveth, do as much for mine again as I did once at Bashan, and at the Red Sea. Some interpret this and the following verses of the calling of the Jews. The glorious things (saith one)

Proverbs 14:13 — the breast. It is but ‘a cold armful,’ ψυχρον παραγκαλισμα . - Lyc. as Lycophron saith of an evil wife. As they repent in the face, Matthew 6:16 so they rejoice in the face, not in the heart. 2 Corinthians 5:12 Rident et ringuntur. They laugh and snare. There is a snare or a cord in the sin of the wicked - that is, to strangle their joy with; but the righteous sing and are merry; Proverbs 29:6

Proverbs 15:15 — and makes them very grievous. Nihil est miserius quam animus hominis conscius, Plautus. said the heathen. Such an affliction may well be called, as Amos 6:6 , shebharim, ‘a breaking to shivers,’ for then God is a terror to man, Jeremiah 17:17 and runs "upon the thick bosses of his bucklers." Job 15:25 Himself is also a magor-missabib to himself; so that he is for the time in the very suburbs of hell, and ready to become his own deathsman, as Judas. Hence Anselm; Mullem, purus

Proverbs 28:2 — blood-royal slain. Daniel’s History, 249. And all this is said to be "for the transgression of a land," thus chastised by the Lord. Elihu tells Job that the hypocrite is set to reign for the people’s sin; Job 34:30 Leviticus 26:17 it is threatened as a heavy curse: "If ye still trespass against me, I will set princes over you that shall hate you"; mischievous, odious princes, odious to God, malignant to the people. And, Isaiah 3:4 "I will give children to be their

Proverbs 8:17 — that love me. — The philosopher could say, that if moral virtue could be seen with mortal eyes, she would stir up wonderful loves of herself in the hearts of the beholders. How much more, then, would the "wisdom of God in a mystery!," 1 Corinthians 2:7 that essential wisdom of God especially, the Lord Jesus, who is totus desiderabilis, "altogether lovely," Song of Solomon 5:16 "the desire of all nations," Haggai 2:7 whom whosoever loveth not deserves to be doubly

Ecclesiastes 7:21 — Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee: Also take no heed. — But be "as a deaf man that heareth not, and as a dumb man, in whose mouth there is no reproof." Psalms 38:13 If thou answer anything, say as he in Tacitus did to one that railed at him, Tu linguae, ego vero aurium dominus, Thou mayest say what thou wilt, but I will hear as I wish; or as once a certain steward did to his passionate lord, when he called him

Song of Solomon 5:11 — most fine gold. — Here she begins her particular praise of his various parts; and here she may seem to speak with the tongues of men and of angels, performing, as lovers used to do, that for him which he had done for her before, Song of Solomon 4:1-4 , … though all she could say falleth far short of him; and well she might say after all, as Nazianzen sometime said of Basil, ‘There wants but his own tongue to commend him with’; Loquimur de Deo non quantum debemus, sed quantum

Song of Solomon 6:5 — Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair [is] as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead. Turn away thine eyes from me. — Or, Turn thine eyes right upon me; so Song of Solomon 6:13 he calls, "Return, return, O Shulamite"; and then the sense is, Look up unto me by faith. "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." Isaiah 45:22 ; Isaiah 31:1 ; Isaiah 42:18 But to keep to our translation. Christ