Bible Commentaries

Jeremiah 23:14 — taught the same. I would shun a heretic, saith one, as I would do a devil, for he is sent on his errand. Seducers certainly act the part of that horrid fiend, and, together with him, shall be "cast alive into the burning lake." Revelation 19:20 They commit adultery. — As did Eli’s sons, and those two stinking goats, Jeremiah 29:23 . And walk in lies. — Make a trade of it. It was not for nothing that Chrysostom Hom. iii. in Act. said of those of his time, Non arbitror

Jeremiah 31:34 — in the legal administrations; as Paul also showeth, 2 Cor. iii. Not that men should have no need of teaching at all in those times; for the best know but in part, and must daily grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:18 For they shall all know me. — All mine elect shall know me in some competent measure: know the principles, Hebrews 6:1-2 and go on unto perfection, ib. For I will forgive their iniquities. — In heaven, and in their own consciences also,

Ezekiel 26:2 — Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken [that was] the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, [now] she is laid waste: Because that Tyrus hath said. — Wicked men shall give account for their "hard speeches also," Judges 1:15 if not sooner, yet certainly at the last day, with the whole world all on a light fire about their ears. Tyre was the chief city of Phoenicia, built before Solomon’s temple, saith Josephus; Antiq., lib. viii. cap. 2. and anciently called Sarra,

Ezekiel 46:9 — gate: he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against it. Shall go out the way of the south gate. — For more easy passage sake, in such a multitude of people. But withal to teach us many things; as (1.) Not to turn our backs upon the holy ordinances; The Jews at this day depart out of the synagogue with their faces still toward the ark, like crabs going backward. (2.) To "make straight paths for our feet"; Hebrews 12:13 not looking back

Daniel 12:13 — been foreshown to him. So Augustine and Pareus died a little before Hippo and Heidelberg were taken. Till the end be. — Whenever it shall be, sooner or later, thou shalt be sure to awake out of the dust of death unto everlasting life. as Daniel 12:2 Yea, thou shalt "shine as the stars for ever and ever." Daniel 12:3 All that thou hast to do now is, to prepare for such an end, and to wait till thy change shall come, comforting thyself against death with the hope of a blessed resurrection. For

Hosea 10:7 — bubble blown up by every small wind, and as easily blown out again; it no sooner appears but it disappears. Lo, such are the greatest kings and kingdoms, when God taketh them in their wickedness. "He cuts off the spirit of princes," Psalms 76:12 , he slips them off (so the Hebrew is) as one would slip off a flower between one’s fingers; or as one would slip off a bunch of grapes. The kingdoms of the earth are like "foam upon the waters": 1. For their seeming brightness; 2.

Hosea 6:11 — thine own land, when I shall have returned the captivity of my people, viz. under the conduct of Zorobabel, by the decree of Cyrus. Here, then, is a promise of a joyful harvest to Judah, who is not to be punished with like severity as Israel, Hosea 1:7 , and for the change of person, when I returned, for he shall have returned. See Isaiah 29:19 Jeremiah 31:23 Zephaniah 3:20 Psalms 14:7 . Simul Iudae captivitas et reditus praedicitur significanter admodum, saith Jerome here; both the captivity and

Joel 1:19 — repentance; but they, tanquam monstra marina, as so many sea monsters, pass by my words with a deaf ear, they refuse to return. "Thy hand is lifted up" in threatening, and will fall down in punishing, but "they will not see," Isaiah 26:11 , they will not search, they will not have their eyes (like the windows in Solomon’s temple) broad inward, 1 Kings 6:4 ; the eyes of their minds are as ill set (for this matter) as the eyes of their bodies, they see not what is within. But whatever

Joel 3:11 — — Come and fetch your bane, whereof by your forwardness to come uncalled ye may seem to be ambitious; judgments need not go to find you out; for you associate yourselves, that ye may be broken in pieces, Isaiah 8:9 , as at Armageddon, Revelation 16:16 . Come on, therefore, since you will needs be so mad, and take what befalls you. "Who would set the briars and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together," Isaiah 27:4 ; see Zechariah 14:2-3 Ezekiel

Joel 3:6 — remove them far from their border. The children also of Judah, and the children of Jerusalem — "The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold," Lamentations 4:2 , with whom you were anciently confederate in the days of Solomon, 1 Kings 4:25 , and seemed to be then their prosperity proselytes. Have ye sold unto the Grecians — That is, to the Gentiles in general, for so St Paul often useth the word Grecians, as contradistinct to Jews; who were barbarously sold, as if they

Amos 3:12 — shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion — By a country comparison (as before often) the prophet sets forth the fewness of such as shall escape the enemy’s hands. It is but a little that a shepherd dare pull out of the jaws of a lion. 1 Samuel 17:35 . Few Davids or Lysimachuses, that dare look such fierce creatures in the face. Something a shepherd in this case may adventure to do, that he may not be made to stand to the loss, Exodus 22:13 Genesis 31:39 . But it is not much; neither

Amos 7:8 — A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more: Behold, I will set a plumbline — I will call them to a strict account, and show them no favour, Jeremiah 16:3 , I will now actually execute my justice which I have hitherto suspended; and pay them home for the new and the old; bringing upon them an evil, an only evil, without mixture of mercy, Ezekiel 7:5 . I will not again pass by them any more —

Amos 9:10 — people shall die by the sword — The flagitious, presumptuous persons, that bless themselves when I curse them, saying, We shall have peace, though we walk every man in the imagination of his heart, and take his full swing in sin, Deuteronomy 29:19 . Such sinners in Zion, Isaiah 33:14 , such sacrificing Sodomites, Isaiah 1:10 , such profligate professors shall die by the sword; either by the hand of the enemy, or, which is worse, gladio spiritali, saith Mercer, by the spiritual sword, being blinded

Obadiah 1:13 — enter, therefore, into their gates for prey and spoil is to burden yourselves with that burdensome stone that shall break you; to drink of that poisonous cup that shall bane you; to lay your hands upon that hearth of fire that will burn you, Zechariah 12:2-3 ; Zechariah 12:6 . Look to it, hands off, keep you far from so evil a matter, lest it prove as that gold of Toulouse, Aurum Tholosanum, a mischief to all that meddle with it. Thou shouldest not have looked — See Obadiah 1:12 . The repetition

Jonah 2:1 — see John 2:2 ; John 2:6-7 ; yea, that this was the substance (though now better methodized) of what he prayed and praised in the bowels of the fish we have cause to believe from this very verse; and therefore also his deliverance is set down, John 2:10 , after his doxology. The word here rendered prayed signifieth also, sometimes, to give thanks, as 1 Samuel 2:2 ; and who knows not that thanksgiving is a special part of prayer? This therefore is prayer. Jonah having prayed, and perceiving that he

Micah 5:10 — And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots: And it shall come to pass in that day — viz. Of Christ’s power and kingdom, Psalms 110:3 . The word day here signifies non spatium diurnum, sed diuturnum, ac a Deo destinatum, saith Danaeus, not the space of twenty-four hours, but a long time, yet certain and set by God. That I will cut off thy horses out of thee — For the which

Micah 5:15 — execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard. And I will execute vengeance in anger — Upon those that refuse to be reformed, that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Thessalonians 1:8 . Such as were the Jews’ enemies, the primitive persecutors, the stubborn Papists, some of whom have professed that they would rather take part with the Turks than with the Lutherans: as some rigid Lutherans again have protested openly, that

Micah 6:14 — troubled with a bulimy, an appetitus caninus, desire of a dog, a weakness of the digestive faculty, so that thy meat feeds thee not: the staff of it being also broken by God, the nutritive property of it being taken away. See Trapp on " Haggai 1:6 " And thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee — Thou shalt be laid low enough by civil and intestine discords, which as a fire feedeth upon the people, Isaiah 9:19 , no man shall spare his brother. Or like as a hungry man snatcheth

Zephaniah 2:9 — [even] the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them. Therefore as I live — This is God’s oath; so, As true as I live, Numbers 14:21 cf. Psalms 95:10 , therefore they are to blame that use it in their common talk. Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, … — Whereas they think that I either hear not their revilings or regard them not, I shall make Moab and Ammon smart and

Zephaniah 3:2 — She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God. She obeyed not the voice — sc. Of her teachers, nor inclined her ear to them that instructed her, as Proverbs 5:13 . Hence she was so filthy and oppressive; who, if she had hearkened to wholesome counsel, and hidden the word of God’s grace in her heart, would have purified herself even as he is pure, 1 John 3:3 , and not have exacted money and grain, but