Bible Commentaries

Job 23:11 — his footsteps. This Job speaketh of himself, not as vaunting, but as vindicating and defending his own innocence; and as giving Eliphaz to know, that he had already done, and still continued to do, as he had in the former chapter exhorted him, Job 22:21-22 . Acquaint now thyself with God, … That is not now to do, saith Job; for my foot hath held his steps. Be at peace. I am so, saith he, for his way have I kept and not declined. Now, can two walk together, and they not be agreed? Receive, I

Job 26:10 — to an end. He hath compassed the waters with bounds — Decreto circinavit superficiem aquarum (Tremel.). He hath as it were with a pair of compasses drawn a circle about the sea, that it may not pass to drown the earth. Confer Job 38:8 ; Job 38:10-11 ; Psalms 33:7 ; Psalms 89:10 ; Psalms 104:9 ; Proverbs 8:29 . So he drew a circle round about the earth, Proverbs 8:27 , doing all with infinite wisdom, Pondere, mensura, numero, … He foundeth the earth not upon solid rocks, but fluid waters.

Job 31:3 — hatred and horror for the unchaste; such stinking goats shall be set on the left hand, and sent to hell; where they shall have so much the more of punishment as they had here of sensual and sinful pleasure, as sour sauce to their sweet meats, Revelation 18:7 . Not to speak of the miseries they meet with here, which are not a few: in their souls, hardness of heart, or horror of conscience: in their bodies, foul and loathsome diseases, such as will stick to them when their best friends forsake them: in

Job 33:13 — 9:20 . "Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth," Isaiah 45:9 . Let men learn to meddle with their match, and not to contend with God, who is much mightier than they, Ecclesiastes 6:10 , and hath assured them that with the froward he will wrestle, Psalms 18:26 . Jeremiah, who in his distemper would needs reason the cause with God concerning his judgments (which are sometimes secret, but always just), did well and wisely to preface

Job 33:27 — God’s court it is better to say Ego feci, Guilty, Lord; mercy, Lord; and not to put God to his proofs, as they did, Jeremiah 2:35 ; since he that hideth his sins shall not prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy, Proverbs 28:13 . And perverted that which was right — Thus the true penitentiary layeth load upon himself, and aggravates his sins, whereof (saith Merlin) we have here a definition answerable to that of St John, 1 John 3:4 , "Sin is the transgression of

Job 34:9 — other passions, and now beginneth to be sensible of his outbursts. But, truly, if he should have said as here he is taxed (and yet David and Jeremiah said little less), he would have gone in company with those workers of iniquity, Isaiah 58:3 Malachi 3:14-15 , and have lifted at the very foundation of all true religion, Hebrews 11:6 , and thence it was that Elihu was so hot. But men must take heed of drawing odious consequences out of other men’s speeches; and of forcing them to go two miles when

Job 39:13 — his ill favoured feet, is an old wive’s tale; let those who wish to believe it. Or wings and feathers unto the ostrich? — And so by a synecdoche, to all other fowls of the air; in the admirable variety of whose colours, tunes, and tastes, 1 Corinthians 15:39 , much of God’s power and wisdom, yea, of his goodness also, may be seen; and therefore the loss of these creatures (good for food, for physique, and for delight, as the companions of our lives) is threatened as a judgment, Jeremiah

Psalms 49:14 — grave — All their pomp and bravery wherein they came abroad while alive (as Agrippa and Bernice came to the tribunal with a great deal of fancy, Acts 25:23 ), and with which they affect to be buried in state. So passes the honour of the world. 1 Corinthians 7:31 . From their dwelling — Whence they are carried to the grave, that dark house of all living, Job 30:23 . Some render the text thus, Infernus habitaculum ipsis, Hell shall be their habitation. Tremellius thus, Et formam corum consumat

Proverbs 12:12 — gracelessness would not come time enough, but he must needs run to meet it. Thus thrasonical Lamech Genesis 4:23 thinks to have the odds of God, seventy to seven. Jun. in loc. Thus the princes of the Philistines, while plagued, came up to Mizpeh against Israel 1 Samuel 7:10-11 - who were there drawing water, i.e., weeping abundantly before the Lord - as it were to fetch their bane. Thus Pope Julius III will have his pork flesh, al despito de Dio; and Doctor Story Acts and Mon., 1925. will curse Queen Elizabeth

Proverbs 17:24 — eyes, especially, is an argument of his gravity. Vultus index animi. - Profecto occulis animus inhabitat. - Plin, His eyes are in his head, Ecclesiastes 2:4 he scattereth away all evil with them. Proverbs 20:8 He hath oculum irretortum, as Job had; Job 31:1 and Joseph had oculum in metam (which was Ludovica’s Vives’s motto), his eye fixed upon the mark; he looks right on; Proverbs 4:25 he goes through the world as one in a deep muse, or as one that hath haste of some special business, and

Proverbs 17:5 — Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: [and] he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished. He that mocketh the poor, … — See Trapp on " Proverbs 14:31 " And he that is glad at calamities, shall not be unpunished. — He is sick with the devil’s disease, επιχαιρεκακια , which Job was not tainted with; Job 31:16-40

Proverbs 18:10 — These are said to be Arx roboris, a tower so deep, no pioneer can undermine it; so thick, no cannon can pierce it; so high, no ladder can scale it; - "a rock," an "old rock"; Isaiah 26:4 yea, "munitions of rocks"; Isaiah 33:16 rocks within rocks; a tower impregnable - inexpugnable. That cannot be taken by assault or storm; incapable of being overcome, subdued, or overthrown by force; impregnable, invincible. The righteous runneth to it. — All creatures run to their

Proverbs 19:16 — first fruit of shaking off sloth and sleepiness. He that "stirs up himself to take hold of God," Isaiah 64:7 and to "take hold of his covenant," Isaiah 56:4 "to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servant," Proverbs 19:6 to "love him, and keep his commandments," Exodus 20:6 to do that little he does out of love, if it be no more than to "think upon his commandments to do them," Psalms 103:18 this man’s soul shall be bound up "in the

Proverbs 23:26 — strange strife, not of earthly, but of spiritual powers, after the possession of man’s heart; and through man’s transgression Satan hath gotten strong hold thereon. Acts 5:3 Luke 22:3 Once he strove about a dead man’s body; Judges 1:9 but doubtless his purpose was therein to have set up an idol for himself in the hearts of the living. If Satan can get the heart, he is safe; and so is Satan’s vicar. It was a watchword in Pope Gregory XIII’s time, in Queen Elizabeth’s

Proverbs 29:10 — The bloodthirsty hate the upright: but the just seek his soul. The bloodthirsty hate the upright. — As Cain did Abel for his goodness, 1 John 3:12 and as many bloody villains still, who bear about, and, so far as they dare, make use of Cain’s club to knock on the head God’s righteous Abels. All hatred is bloody, but especially the habit of hatred. No sight pleased Hannibal

Proverbs 29:11 — Fecknam would have excused him by his long imprisonment in the Marshalsea, whereby he was grown testy, he replied merrily, ‘So it seems, Mr Fecknam; for now that he is come forth of the Marshalsea, he is ready to go to Bedlam.’ Ibid., fol. 1340. See Proverbs 14:23 . But a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards. — Or, In an inner room, Beachor, in interiori aliquo loco, in ulteriore animi recessu. in the bottom and bosom of his mind, till he see a fit season; as knowing well that all

Proverbs 29:6 — heart under a painted complexion, so many a man’s heart aches and quakes within him when his face counterfeits a smile. But the righteous sing and rejoice. — Good men only may be glad, and none have any reason to rejoice but they. Hosea 9:1 The Papists have a proverb, Spiritus Calvinianus est spiritus melancholicus, and the mad world are easily persuaded by the devil that there is no comfort in a Christian course - that your precise fellows live a melancholy and monkish kind of life, and

Proverbs 3:14 — market bell rang, save a deaf old man, and he too, as soon as he heard of it. Now "godliness is profitable to all things," as having the promises of both lives; and the promises are "exceeding great and precious" things, 2 Peter 1:4 even "the unsearchable riches of Christ," Ephesians 3:8 who brings "gold tried in the fire," and that which is better. Revelation 3:18 For one grain of grace is far beyond all the gold of Ophir, and one hour’s enjoyment of

Proverbs 5:3 — him; then to keep thee from the bitter sweet lips of these enchantresses, "let thy lips keep knowledge"; answer them (as Joseph did) with "the words of truth and soberness"; Acts 26:25 with "gracious and wholesome words," 1 Timothy 6:3 such as have a cooling and healing property in them; with Scripture language, which the devil and his agents cannot answer or away with. When, therefore, thou art tempted to this or any like sin, say No - I may not, I dare not; for it is

Ecclesiastes 1:2 — Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all [is] vanity. Vanity of vanities. — Or, Most vain vanity: therefore, no happiness here to be had but in the reverential fear of God, Ecclesiastes 12:13 and this is the sum of the whole sermon, the result of the discourse, the impartial verdict brought in by one that could best tell; and he tells it over and over, that men might the sooner believe him, without putting themselves to the fruitless