the Week of Proper 24 / Ordinary 29
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!
Read the Bible
King James Version
Matthew 3:4
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- AmericanEncyclopedias:
- CondensedParallel Translations
John's clothes were made from camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. For food, he ate locusts and wild honey.
This Iho had hys garmet of camels heer and a gerdell of a skynne aboute his loynes. Hys meate was locustes and wylde hony.
John had clothing made of camel's hair and worewore">[fn] a leather belt around his waist. His diet consisted of locusts and wild honey.Leviticus 11:22; 1 Samuel 14:25-26; 2 Kings 1:8; Zechariah 13:4; Mark 1:6;">[xr]
Now John himself had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
John's clothes were made from camel's hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food, he ate locusts and wild honey.
Now John himself had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leather girdle about his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
Now this same John had clothing made of camel's hair and a [wide] leather band around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
Now John himself had clothing made of camel's hair, and a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
And this John had his raiment of camels hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
This man John wore a garment of camel's hair, and a loincloth of leather; and he lived upon locusts and wild honey.
And this Joon hadde clothing of camels heeris, and a girdil of skynne aboute hise leendis; and his mete was honysoukis, and hony of the wode.
Now John himself had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
John wore a garment of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
John wore clothes made of camel's hair. He had a leather strap around his waist and ate grasshoppers and wild honey.
Now John himself had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
Now John was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather band about him; and his food was locusts and honey.
Yochanan wore clothes of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
And John himself had his garment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins, and his nourishment was locusts and wild honey.
But this Juchanon, his clothing was of the hair of camels, with a loins-belt of leather upon his loins; and his food was locusts and wilderness-honey.
And as to this John, his raiment was of camel's hair, and a girdle of skin was upon his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
And the same Iohn had his raiment of camels haire, and a leatherne girdle about his loynes, and his meate was locusts and wilde hony.
John's clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey.
John wore clothes made of hair from camels. He had a leather belt around him. His food was locusts and wild honey.
Now John wore clothing of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
And this Iohn had his garment of camels heare, and a girdle of a skinne about his loynes: his meate was also locusts and wilde hony.
Now the same John''s clothes were made of camel''s hair, and he had leathern belts around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
But John, himself, had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins, - while, his food, was locusts and wild honey.
And the same John had his garment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins: and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
Now John wore a garment of camel's hair, and a leather girdle around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
This Iohn had his rayment of Camels heere, and a girdle of a skynne about his loynes, his meate was locustes, and wylde hony.
John's clothes were made of camel's hair; he wore a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
Now John had a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
Now Yochanan himself had clothing made of camel's hair, and a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
Now John himself had his clothing made from camel's hair and a belt made of leather around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
And John himself had his clothing from hairs of a camel, and a belt of leather about his loin. And his food was locusts and wild honey.
And this John had his clothing of camel's hair, and a girdle of skin round his loins, and his nourishment was locusts and honey of the field.
This Ihon had his garment of camels heer, and a lethre gerdell aboute his loynes. Hys meate was locustes and wylde hony.
now John wore a coat made of camels hair, with a leathern girdle about his waist; and his food was locusts and wild hony.
John dressed in a camel-hair habit tied at the waist by a leather strap. He lived on a diet of locusts and wild field honey. People poured out of Jerusalem, Judea, and the Jordanian countryside to hear and see him in action. There at the Jordan River those who came to confess their sins were baptized into a changed life.
Now John wore clothing made from camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his diet consisted of locusts and wild honey.
Now John himself was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
John's duds were made out of animal hair, and his belt was made of good leather. He made meals out of locusts with wild honey for dessert.
Now John himself had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
Now John himself had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
his raiment: Matthew 11:8, 2 Kings 1:8, Zechariah 13:4, Malachi 4:5, Mark 1:6, Luke 1:17, Revelation 11:3
and his: Matthew 11:18, Leviticus 11:22
wild: Deuteronomy 32:13, 1 Samuel 14:25-27
Reciprocal: 1 Kings 18:7 - he knew Proverbs 24:13 - eat Isaiah 7:15 - Butter Isaiah 7:22 - butter and honey Isaiah 20:2 - the sackcloth Luke 7:25 - A man Luke 7:33 - came Hebrews 11:37 - in sheepskins
Cross-References
And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:
Now therefore thus saith the Lord , Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed.
And they said unto him, There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord , Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.
And he said unto him, Thus saith the Lord , Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron, is it not because there is no God in Israel to enquire of his word? therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.
And Elisha said unto him, Go, say unto him, Thou mayest certainly recover: howbeit the Lord hath shewed me that he shall surely die.
He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.
Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
The same John had his raiment,.... The Evangelist goes on to describe this excellent person, the forerunner of our Lord, by his raiment;
the same John of whom Isaiah prophesied, and who came preaching the doctrine in the place and manner before expressed,
had his raiment of camel's hair; not of camel's hair softened and dressed, which the Talmudists z call צ×ר ××××× "camel's wool"; of which wool of camels and of hares, the Jews say a the coats were made, with which God clothed Adam and Eve; and which being spun to a thread, and wove, and made a garment of, they call b ×××××, and we "camlet"; for this would have been too fine and soft for John to wear, which is denied of him, Matthew 11:8 but either of a camel's skin with the hair on it, such was the "rough garment", or "garment of hair", the prophets used to wear, Zechariah 13:4 or of camels hair not softened but undressed; and so was very coarse and rough, and which was suitable to the austerity of his life, and the roughness of his ministry. And it is to be observed he appeared in the same dress as Elijah or Elias did, 2 Kings 1:8 in whose spirit and power he came, and whose name he bore, Luke 1:17.
And a leathern girdle about his loins; and such an one also Elijah was girt with, 2 Kings 1:8 and which added to the roughness of his garment, though it shows he was prepared and in a readiness to do the work he was sent about.
And his meat was locusts and wild honey; by the "locusts" some have thought are meant a sort of fish called "crabs", which John found upon the banks of Jordan, and lived upon; others, that a sort of wild fruit, or the tops of trees and plants he found in the wilderness and fed on, are designed; but the truth is, these were a sort of creatures "called locusts", and which by the ceremonial law were lawful to be eaten, see
Leviticus 11:22. The Misnic doctors c describe such as are fit to be eaten after this manner;
"all that have four feet and four wings, and whose thighs and wings cover the greatest part of their body, and whose name is ××× "a locust."''
For it seems they must not only have these marks and signs, but must be so called, or by a word in any other language which answers to it, as the commentators d on this passage observe; and very frequently do these writers speak e of locusts that are clean, and may be eaten. Maimonides f reckons up "eight" sorts of them, which might be eaten according to the law. Besides, these were eaten by people of other nations, particularly the Ethiopians g, Parthians h, and Lybians i.
And wild honey: this was honey of bees, which were not kept at home, but such as were in the woods and fields; of this sort was that which Jonathan found, and eat of, 1 Samuel 14:25 now the honey of bees might be eaten, according to the Jewish laws k, though bees themselves might not.
z Misn. Negaim. c. 11. sect. 2. & Kilaim, c. 9. sect. 1. Talmud, Bab. Menachot, fol. 39. 2. a Bereshit Rabba, fol. 18. 2. b T. Hieros. Nedarim, fol. 40. 3. c Misn. Cholin. c. 3. sect. 7. d Maimon. & Bartenora in ib. e Misn. Beracot, c. 6. sect. 3. Terumot. c. 10. sect. 9. & Ediot. c. 7. sect. 2. & 8. 4. f Maacolot Asurot, c. 1. sect. 21. g Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 30. Alex. ab Alex. l. 3. c. 11. Ludolph. Hist. Ethiop. l. 1. c. 13. h Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 29. i Hieron. adv. Jovinian. fol. 26. Tom. 2. k Moses Kotzensis Mitzvot Tora precept. neg. 132.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
His raiment of camelâs hair - His clothing. This is not the fine hair of the camel from which our elegant cloth is made called camlet, nor the more elegant stuff brought from the East Indies under the name of âcamelâs hair,â but the long shaggy hair of the camel, from which a coarse cheap cloth is made, still worn by the poorer classes in the East, and by monks. This dress of the camelâs hair, and a leather belt, it seems, was the common dress of the prophets, 2 Kings 1:8; Zechariah 13:4.
His meat was locusts - His food. These constituted the food of the common people. Among the Greeks the vilest of the people used to eat them; and the fact that John made his food of them is significant of his great poverty and humble life. The Jews were allowed to eat them, Leviticus 11:22. Locusts are flying insects, and are of various kinds. The green locusts are about 2 inches in length and about the thickness of a manâs finger. The common brown locust is about 3 inches long. The general form and appearance of the locust is not unlike the grasshopper. They were one of the plagues of Egypt Exodus 10:0. In Eastern countries they are very numerous. They appear in such quantities as to darken the sky, and devour in a short time every green thing. The whole earth is sometimes covered with them for many leagues, Joel 1:4; Isaiah 33:4-5. âSome species of the locust are eaten until this day in Eastern countries, and are even esteemed as a delicacy when properly cooked. After tearing off the legs and wings, and taking out the entrails, they stick them in long rows upon wooden spits, roast them at the fire, and then proceed to devour them with great zest. There are also other ways of preparing them. For example: they cook them and dress them in oil; or, having dried them, they pulverize them, and, when other food is scarce, make bread of the meal. The Bedouins pack them with salt in close masses, which they carry in their leather sacks. From these they cut slices as they may need them. It is singular that even learned men have suffered themselves to hesitate about understanding these passages of the literal locust, when the fact that these are eaten by the Orientals is so abundantly proved by the concurrent testimony of travelers.
One of them says they are brought to market on strings in all the cities of Arabia, and that he saw an Arab on Mount Sumara who had collected a sackful of them. They are prepared in different ways. An Arab in Egypt, of whom he requested that he would immediately eat locusts in his presence, threw them upon the glowing coals; and after he supposed they were roasted enough, he took them by the legs and head, and devoured the remainder at one mouthful. When the Arabs have them in quantities they roast or dry them in an oven, or boil them and eat them with salt. The Arabs in the kingdom of Morocco boil the locusts; and the Bedouins eat locusts, which are collected in great quantities in the beginning of April, when they are easily caught. After having been roasted a little upon the iron plate on which bread is baked, they are dried in the sun, and then put into large sacks, with the mixture of a little salt.
They are never served up as a dish, but every one takes a handful of them when hungryâ (Un. Bib. Dic.). Burckhardt, one of the most trustworthy of travelers, says: âAll the Bedouins of Arabia and the inhabitants of towns in Nejd and Hedjaz are accustomed to eat locusts.â âI have seen at Medina and Tayf locust-shops, where these animals were sold by measure. In Egypt and Nubia they are only eaten by the poorest beggars The Land and the Book, ii. 107). âLocusts,â says Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book, ii. 108), âare not eaten in Syria by any but the Bedouin on the extreme frontiers, and it is always spoken of as an inferior article of food, and regarded by most with disgust and loathing tolerated only by the very poorest people. John the Baptist, however, was of this class either from necessity or election.â It is remarkable that not only in respect to his food, but also in other respects, the peculiarities in Johnâs mode of life have their counterparts in the present habits of the same class of persons. âThe coat or mantle of camelâs hair is seen still on the shoulders of the Arab who escorts the traveler through the desert, or of the shepherd who tends his flocks on the hills of Judea or in the valley of the Jordan. It is made of the thin, coarse hair of the camel, and not of the fine hair, which is manufactured into a species of rich cloth. I was told that both kinds of raiment are made on a large scale at Nablus, the ancient Shechem. The âleathern girdleâ may be seen around the body of the common laborer, when fully dressed, almost anywhere; whereas men of wealth take special pride in displaying a rich sash of silk or some other costly fabricâ (Hackettâs Illustrations of Scripture, p. 104).
Wild honey - This was probably the honey that he found in the rocks of the wilderness. Palestine was often called the land flowing with milk and honey, Exodus 3:8, Exodus 3:17; Exodus 13:5. Bees were kept with great care, and great numbers of them abounded in the fissures of trees and the clefts of rocks. âBees abound there still, not only wild, but hived, as with us. I saw a great number of hives in the old castle near the Pools of Solomon; several, also, at Deburieh, at the foot of Tabor: and again at Mejdel, the Magdala of the New Testament, on the Lake of Tiberias. Maundrell says that he saw âbees very industrious about the blossomsâ between Jericho and the Dead Sea, which must have been within the limits of the very âdesertâ in which John âdid eat locusts and wild honeyââ (Hackettâs Illustrations of Scripture, p. 104). There is also a species of honey called wild honey, or wood honey (1 Samuel 14:27, margin), or honeydew, produced by certain little insects, and deposited on the leaves of trees, and flowing from them in great quantities to the ground. See 1 Samuel 14:24-27. This is said to be produced still in Arabia, and perhaps it was this which John lived upon.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Matthew 3:4. His raiment of camel's hair — A sort of coarse or rough covering, which, it appears, was common to the prophets, Zechariah 13:4. In such a garment we find Elijah clothed, 2 Kings 1:8. And as John had been designed under the name of this prophet, Malachi 4:5, whose spirit and qualifications he was to possess, Luke 1:17, he took the same habit and lived in the same state of self-denial.
His meat was locusts — ακÏιδεÏ. ακÏÎ¹Ï may either signify the insect called the locust, which still makes a part of the food in the land of Judea; or the top of a plant. Many eminent commentators are of the latter opinion; but the first is the most likely. The Saxon translator has [Anglo-Saxon] grasshoppers.
Wild honey. — Such as he got in the rocks and hollows of trees, and which abounded in Judea: see 1 Samuel 14:26. It is most likely that the dried locusts, which are an article of food in Asiatic countries to the present day, were fried in the honey, or compounded in some manner with it. The Gospel according to the Hebrews, as quoted by Epiphanius, seems to have taken a similar view of the subject, as it adds here to the text, ÎÏ Î· Î³ÎµÏ ÏÎ¹Ï Î·Î½ ÏÎ¿Ï Î¼Î±Î½Î½Î±, ÏÏ ÎµÎ³ÎºÏÎ¹Ï ÎµÎ½ ελαιÏ. And its taste was like manna, as a sweet cake baked in oil.
