Bible Commentaries

Isaiah 41:24 — Behold, ye [are] of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination [is he that] chooseth you. Behold, ye are of nothing. — Hence Paul took that assertion of his; 1 Corinthians 8:4 "we know that an idol is nothing in the world." For the matter of it, it is true, wood is wood, and stone is stone; but the relation and signification which is fastened thereunto, is nothing at all: all the being of an idol

Isaiah 42:4 — erit tristis nec turbulentus; so the Vulgate hath it. He shall be master of his passions, and keep an even state of his looks and motions, whatever befall, as they report of Socrates. He shall not knit his brows, or chide - which was Eli’s fault, 1 Samuel 3:13 but is Christ’s commendation - so Lud. de Dieu rendereth it. He shall not make to smoke (so Junius from Isaiah 42:3 ), nor shall he bruise any one. Until he have set judgment. — See on Isaiah 42:3 . And the isles shall wait for

Isaiah 46:1 — bowed down. — Jupiter Belus (as Pliny Lib. vi. cap. 26. calleth him), Babel’s chief God, is now become a prey to the Persians, and might be to them of as great worth as was Nebuchadnezzar’s solid gold image dedicated in Dura. Daniel 3:1-2 This great golden image some think to be the same that is here called Nebo or Nebuchadnezzar. Others think it to be Apollo Deus vaticinus. Tremellius rendereth it, the prophesying or oracular God. Jeremiah seemeth to call him Merodach. Jeremiah 51:2

Isaiah 51:6 — for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. Lift up your eyes to the heavens. — Man hath a muscle more than ordinary to draw up his eyes heavenward. And look upon the earth beneath. — How fast and firm it standeth. Ecclesiastes 1:4 Yet the whole engine shall be changed. 2 Peter 3:10 Shall die in like manner. — Or, Like a louse, as some render it. But my salvation shall be for ever. — The gospel, together with the spiritual benefits thereby, shall outlast heaven and

Isaiah 59:3 — God to his proofs, as their posterity also did, Jeremiah 2:35 catalogum ergo bene longum texit; therefore he here brings in a long bead roll of their sins, wherein their hands, lips, heart, feet, …, were found guilty of high offence. See Isaiah 1:15 . Your lips have spoken lies. — Those very "lips" of yours that have uttered prayers, have muttered lies. See James 3:10 . And your tongue hath muttered perverseness. — How this was done, none hath better set forth than the

Isaiah 66:9 — God. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? — i.e., Shall I set upon a work and not go through with it? God began and finished his work of creation. Christ is both "author and finisher" of his people’s faith. Hebrews 12:2 The Holy Ghost will sanctify the elect wholly, "and keep them blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus Sancti gratia, saith Ambrose. Otherwise his power and mercy would not

Jeremiah 26:12 — city all the words that ye have heard. The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house. — In this apology of the prophet thus answering for himself with a heroic spirit, five noble virtues, fit for a martyr, are by an expositor well observed: (1.) His prudence in alleging his divine mission; (2.) His charity in exhorting his enemies to repent; (3.) His humility in saying, "Behold, I am in your hand," …; (4.) His magnanimity and freedom of speech, in telling them that God would

Jeremiah 31:38 — since the Jews never suffered any additions to the Bible. Hebrew Text Note That the city shall be built to the Lord. — Jerusalem shall be re-edified, the Church eternally re-established by Christ. From the tower of Hananeel. — Nehemiah 3:1 ; Nehemiah 12:39 Zechariah 14:10 . Unto the gate of the corner. — 2 Kings 14:13 Zechariah 14:10 .

Jeremiah 33:6 — and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth. Behold, I will bring it health and cure. — Una eademque manus vulnus opemque feret. This is God’s usual method and manner of dealing with his people, Hosea 6:1 as a skilful physician, primo pungit, deinde ungit. “ Enecat, ut possit vivificare Deus. ” And I will reveal Revelabo., i.e., re ipsa exhibebo. unto them abundance of peace and truth. — Why then, feri, Domine, feri; such gold as "peace

Jeremiah 34:11 — free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids. But afterwards they turned, and caused their servants. — Stimulante avaritia. Covetousness prompting and pricking them on thereunto for that is the root of all evil. 1 Timothy 6:10 The Chaldeans had drawn off, to go, belike, to fight with the relief that was coming out of Egypt; Jeremiah 37:7 ; Jeremiah 37:11 and now these silly Jews thought themselves out of the reach of God’s rod perfidiously repealed their

Jeremiah 34:16 — handmaids. But ye turned. — Exprobrat recidivum Iudaeorum scelus, qui scilicet primam virtutem turpiter deluserint et violarint. He upbraideth them, and deservedly, with their apostasy and perjury. Peter also thundereth against such. 2 Peter 2:1-22 And polluted my name, — scil., By the violation of your solemn vow; so doth every profligate professor and ungirt Christian. Whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure. — Liberty is a desirable and delectable commodity. Those that live

Jeremiah 36:28 — king of Judah hath burned. Take thee again another roll. — Revertere, accipe. God’s ministers must be steadfast and unweariable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as they know that their labour is not in vain in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15:58 And write in it all the former words. — If all the tyrants on earth should fight against the very paper of the Scriptures, striving to abolish it, yet they could not possibly do it. There will be Bibles when they shall be laid

Jeremiah 42:10 — for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you. Then will I build you. — Promittitur felicitatio; parabola ab architectura et agricultura desumpta. God promiseth to bless and settle them by a twofold similitude, used also by the apostle, 1 Corinthians 3:9 "Ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building." See Jeremiah 24:6 . For I repent me of the evil. — A term taken from men, Genesis 6:6 though repentance in men is a change of the will; but repentance in God

Jeremiah 43:1 — made an end, … — See here how wicked men, and hypocrites especially, grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Balaam being resolved to curse, however, went not as at other times but set his face toward the wilderness. Numbers 24:1-2 Now he would build no more altars, but curse whatever came of it; so would these refractories, without God’s good leave, go down to Egypt, putting it to the venture. Jeremiah’s sweet words were even lost upon them.

Jeremiah 5:12 — and said, [It is] not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine: They have belied the Lord. — Or, They give the Lord the lie - as Montfort, Earl of Leicester, gave his sovereign, Henry III, Daniel’s Hist., 172. the lie. Every unbeliever doth as much, upon the matter; 1 John 5:10 see the note there, Nam etiamsi non semper ore obloquitur, factis tamen obluctatur, Oecolamp. And said, It is not he, — scil., That speaketh, but the prophets speak their

Jeremiah 6:20 — your burnt offerings [are] not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me. To what purpose cometh there to me incense? — Cui bono, so long as it smelleth of the foul hand that offereth it, so long as you think to bribe me with it? See Isaiah 1:14 . From Sheba. — Whence the Greeks seem to have their word σεβειν , to worship; and the Arabians call God - the adequate object of divine worship - Sabim, and a mystery, Saba. And the sweet cane. — Heb.,

Jeremiah 7:29 — off thine hair, [O Jerusalem], and cast [it] away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem. — In token of greatest sorrow and servitude. Job 1:20 Isaiah 15:2 Ezekiel 27:31 Tu, dum servus es, comam nutris? said he in Aristophanes. The word here rendered "hair" is nezir, which signifieth a crown, and there hence the Nazarites had their name, Numbers 6:2 ; Numbers 6:5 intimating thereby

Ezekiel 13:12 — eloquence and empty rhetoric in sermons; this is as sand without lime, or as lime without litter, hair, chaff, or the like stuff to hold it together. Where is the daubing? — What is your false doctrine come to? your work is lost, if not your souls. 1 Corinthians 3:15

Ezekiel 19:14 — branches, — i.e., Zedekiah, by his perjury and rebellion, hath ruined all, set all on a light fire. So that she hath no strong rod, … — None to speak of till Shiloh come. Rulers indeed they had after this and governors, Haggai 2:21 but no kings of their own nation. This is a lamentation. — See on Ezekiel 19:1 . And shall be for a lamentation. — Jerusalem plangitur et plangetur. The nation of the Jews shall never want matter for mourning.

Ezekiel 22:30 — a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. And I sought for a man among them, — i.e., A competent company of holy men, as once at Sodom; Genesis 18:23-32 at Jerusalem. Jeremiah 5:1 That should make up the hedge. — Which sin had thrown down. And stand in the gap. — By his piety and prayers. The Primum Mobile, say astronomers, turneth about with such swiftness, that but for the counter