Bible Commentaries

Isaiah 17:14 — Sennacherib’s forces. But this mourning lasted but till morning. The time of affliction is ordinarily short; a day, or night; a piece of a night, as here; a "moment"; Isaiah 54:8 "a small moment." Isaiah 54:7 Or if longer, yet (1.) There are some breathing time between; (2.) There is much good got by it; (3.) It is nothing to eternity. Before morning he is not. — He and his forces are all gone. The wicked, saith Oecolampadius here, at the eventide of their death have a

Isaiah 28:21 — people in his mercy seat, or throne of grace; neither ariseth he to punish them till much provoked, and then he may possibly deal as severely with them as he did with the Philistines at Mount Perazim, or with the Amorites in the valley of Gibeon. Joshua 10:10 But then he doth "his work, his strange work, and brings to pass his act, his strange act" - i.e., That which is neither his wont nor his delight. Lamentations 3:33 Micah 7:18 Ezekiel 33:11 To fall foul upon his people by his plagues and

Isaiah 29:17 — as a forest? Is it yet not a very little while? — Nonne adhuc paululum paululum; or, A hundred years hence the Gentiles shall be called by the preaching of the apostles (for here beginneth the consolatory part of this chapter; see on Isaiah 29:1 ); and that is but a very small time with God. He speeds away the generation, that he may finish the calling of his elect, and so put an end to all. And Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field. — Heb., Lebanon shall be turned into Carmel,

Isaiah 32:20 — righteousness, and fattening them for the purpose with those waters of the sanctuary, as Nile doth the land of Egypt, … Oh, the heaped up happiness of such! O terque quaterque beati! Say, "They sow in tears, yet they shall reap in joy"; Psalms 126:5 say, They "send thither the feet of the ox and the ass," those laborious and useful creatures, to ear the ground, and fit it for receipt of seed; Psalms 144:14 they "shall surely eat the fruit of their labours"; Psalms 128:2

Isaiah 33:7 — Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly. Behold their valiant ones. — Or, Their heralds, messengers. Heb., Hen Erelam, behold their Erel, or their Ariel Isaiah 29:1-2 - that is, their altar, shall they ( i.e., the Assyrians) cry without, sc., in mockery, twitting the Jews with their sacrifices as no way profitable to them. So the profane Papists, when they murdered the poor Protestants at Orleans, sang in scorn,

Isaiah 43:24 — xii. cap. 22. Neither hast thou filled me with the fat. — The heathens had a gross conceit that their gods fed on the steam that ascended from their fat sacrifices; and some Jews might haply hold the same thing. See Deuteronomy 32:38 Psalms 50:13 . But thou hast made me to serve with thy sins. — With thine hypocrisy and oppressions especially. Isaiah 1:11-15 The Seventy render it, "Thou hast stood before me in thy sins," as outbraving me. Thou hast tried my long patience, in

Isaiah 43:3 — of Egypt and Ethiopia, was beaten by Sennacherib, who was then making towards Jerusalem, which he had already devoured in his hopes. Isaiah 37:9 Thus, "The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead." Proverbs 11:8 Saul and his people were afflicted by the Philistines, that David might escape. 1 Samuel 23:27-28 The Canaanites were rooted out, to make room for the Israelites. Charles V, and Francis, the French king, after a mutual agreement to root out Lutheranism,

Isaiah 50:2 — rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because [there is] no water, and dieth for thirst. Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? — Christ "came unto his own, but his own received him not." John 1:11 This was condemnation, John 3:19 their rebelling against the light of the gospel; this was the great offence, the damning sin, the very cause of their utter rejection. Is my hand shortened at all? — Or rather, Have not you, by your obstinace

Isaiah 53:12 — many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great. — Or, I will give many to him. Psalms 2:8 Some sense it thus: I will give him to conquer, plunder, and spoil the evil spirits; as Colossians 2:15 and this he shall have for a reward of his ignominious death, and his intercession for some of his enemies, whom he conquered by a new and noble kind of victory, viz., by loving them and by praying for them. And he was numbered with transgressors.

Isaiah 63:18 — people of thy holiness have possessed [it] but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary. The people of thine holiness have possessed it but a little while, — viz., In respect of that perpetuity promised them by thee; Genesis 17:8 ; Genesis 26:3 ; Genesis 28:13 Exodus 32:13 besides the many calamities that have befallen us, whereby we have had small enjoyment of this thine inheritance. All the days of the afflicted are evil, Proverbs 15:15 their life lifeless, and not to be

Isaiah 65:16 — … — Or, That blesseth, either himself or any other. Shall bless himself in the God of truth. — Heb. Shall bless in the God of Amen - that is, say some, in Christ, who is "Amen, the faithful and true witness," Revelation 3:14 in whom all the promises are, Yea, and Amen, 2 Corinthians 1:20 and who was wont often to say, Amen, amen. Others render it thus, Benedicat sibi per Deum firmi, shall bless himself by the God of the firm or faithful people, founded and rooted in God,

Jeremiah 10:2 — irreligious. See Selden. De Diis Syris. And be not dismayed at the signs of heaven. — Which the blind heathens feared and deified; and none did more than the Syrians, the Jews’ next neighbours. Of the vanity of judicial astrology, see on Isaiah 47:13 . He who feareth God needs not fear the stars; for "all things are yours," saith the apostle. 1 Corinthians 3:21 Mulcasses, King of Tunis, a great star gazer, foreseeing by them, as he said, the loss of his kingdom and life together, left

Jeremiah 29:1 — in their due time should be accomplished. As till then obediendum est etiam dyscolis, obedience must be yielded to the Babylonians, now their masters, and "not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward; for this is thankworthy." 1 Peter 2:18

Jeremiah 34:9 — [being] an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, [to wit], of a Jew his brother. That every man should let his manservant. — Should manumit and dismiss him at six years’ end, according to the law. Exodus 21:1-2 The seventh year Hic septimus annus fuit typus aeternae liberationis post curriculum sex dierum mundi, sex mille annorum. was called the year of liberty, and then they were to let go their brethren that served them, and this in a thankful remembrance

Jeremiah 35:2 — and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink. Go unto the house of the Rechabites. — So called of one Rechab, the father of, Jonadab, who was famous for his piety in Jehu’s days, 2 Kings 10:15 three hundred years at least before this prophecy of Jeremiah. They were of the posterity of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, and lived up and down in the land upon their employments, weaned from the world, and exercising themselves in the law

Jeremiah 44:21 — cried out, I hold with the fathers, I am cast out with the fathers, … Yea, Jerome once desired leave of Augustine to err with seven fathers whom he found of his opinion. But what saith the Scripture? "Be not ye the servants of men." 1 Corinthians 7:23 And what said a great politician? I will not live by example, but by rule; neither will I pin my faith on another’s sleeve, because I know not whither he may carry it. Did not the Lord remember them? — When you thought he

Lamentations 3:40 — self-examination end in reformation, else sin will be thereby but emboldened and strengthened, as idle vagrants and lawless subjects are, if questioned only, and not punished and restrained. Of turning again to the Lord; See Trapp on " Zechariah 1:2 "

Ezekiel 1:24 — Congeries similium faciens ad amplificationem. Like the noise of great waters. — Which fall with a horrible fragor, as with the catadupes, for instance. See Psalms 46:3 . As the noise of the Almighty, — i.e., As thunder. Psalms 29:4 ; Psalms 18:13 The voice of speech. — When a man crieth aloud, lifteth up his voice like a trumpet, sic clamans ut stentora vincat. As the noise of an host — Barritus ille milltarls, besides the roaring of cannons, rattling of wheels, beating of drums,

Ezekiel 2:3 — their fathers have transgressed against me. — A serpentine seed they are, a race of rebels; neither good egg nor bird, but mali corvi mala ova. Even unto this very day. — Being nothing bettered by all that they have suffered. See Jeremiah 16:13 Isaiah 1:5 .

Ezekiel 5:5 — Thus saith the Lord GOD; This [is] Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries [that are] round about her. This is Jerusalem, — i.e., This head and beard so to be shaved. Ezekiel 5:1 By the hair of the head some think the wise men of that city are figured out, and by the hair of the beard are the strong men; the razor of God’s severity maketh clean work, leaving no stub or stump behind it. I have set it in the midst of the