Bible Commentaries

2 Kings 5:7 — He rent his clothes - The action indicated alarm and terror quite as much as sorrow 2 Samuel 13:19; Ezra 9:3; 2 Chronicles 34:27; Jeremiah 36:22.Consider, I pray you - Jehoram speaks to his chief officers, and bids them mark the animus of the Syrian monarch. Compare the conduct of Ahab 1 Kings 20:7.

1 Chronicles 11:6-8 — The narrative here given fills out a manifest defect in 2 Samuel 5:8 where something has evidently dropped out of the text.The prowess of Joab on this occasion, and the part which he took in the building of the city of David 1 Chronicles 11:8, are known to us only from this passage of Chronicles.

1 Chronicles 22:1 — This is the house of the Lord God - The double miracle - that of the angelic appearance and that of the fire from heaven - had convinced David that here he had found the destined site of that “house” which it had been told him that his son should build 1 Chronicles 22:10. Hence, this public announcement.

1 Chronicles 4:23 — Among plants and hedges - Rather, “in Netaim and Gederah” Joshua 15:36.With the king - Or, probably, “on the king’s property.” Both David and several of the later kings had large territorial possessions in various parts of Judaea 1Ch 27:25, 1 Chronicles 27:31; 2 Chronicles 26:10; 2Ch 27:4; 2 Chronicles 32:28-29.

1 Chronicles 9:25 — See the marginal references. If the number of warders was, as stated in Nehemiah (Nehemiah 11:19) 172 (i. e. 168 besides the four chief warders), and the number employed at any one time was, as under David 1 Chronicles 26:17-18, twenty-four, then the turn of the courses to keep ward came every seven weeks.

2 Chronicles 13:20 — Jeroboam’s death was a judgment upon him for his sins. Chronologically speaking, his death is here out of place, for he outlived Abijah at least two years (compare the marginal reference and 1 Kings 15:9); but the writer, not intending to recur to his history, is naturally led to carry it on to its termination.

Ezra 3:2 — Jeshua, the high priest, was the son of Jozadak, who was carried into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar 1 Chronicles 6:15.Zerubbabel was really the son of Pedaiah, Shealtiel’s (or Salathiel’s) younger brother. But Shealtiel having no sons, and the royal line being continued in the person of his nephew, Zerubbabel, the latter was accounted Shealtiel’s son.

Job 40:10 — Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency - That is, such as God has. Put on everything which you can, which would indicate rank, wealth, power, and see whether it could all be compared with the majesty of God; compare Psalms 104:1, “O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honor and majesty.”

Psalms 135:1 — Praise ye the Lord - Hebrew, Hallelu-jah. Literally, “Praise Jah,” an abridged name for Yahweh. See the notes at Psalms 68:4.Praise ye the name of the Lord - The same as praising God himself.Praise him, O ye servants of the Lord - You who are especially designated or appointed to this service, Psalms 134:1.

Psalms 148:1 — Praise ye the Lord - See the notes at Psalms 146:1.Praise ye the Lord from the heavens - On the part of the heavens. Let those who dwell in heaven begin the song.Praise him in the heights - All that are in the heights; to wit, in the highest parts of the universe, or the heavens.

Psalms 148:2 — Praise ye him, all his angels - Dwelling in the heavens. Compare the notes at Psalms 103:20.Praise ye him, all his hosts - See the notes at Psalms 103:21 and the notes at Isaiah 1:9. All his armies - referring to the angels considered as marshalled into hosts, of which God is the Head and Leader.

Proverbs 21:6 — Vanity - Or, “a breath driven to and fro of those that are seeking death.” Another reading of the last words is: “of the snares of death” (compare 1 Timothy 6:9). Some commentators have suggested that the “vapor” or “mist” is the mirage of the desert, misleading those who follow it, and becoming a “net of death.”

Proverbs 27:20 — Hades, the world of the dead, and Destruction (Death, the destroying power, personified) have been at all times and in all countries thought of as all-devouring, insatiable (compare the marginal reference). Yet one thing is equally so, the lust of the eye, the restless craving which grows with what it feeds on Ecclesiastes 1:8.

Proverbs 3:20 — Compare Genesis 1:7; Genesis 7:11; Job 38:0. Looking upon the face of Nature, men see two storehouses of the living water, without which it would be waste and barren. From the “depths” rush forth the surging waves, from the “clouds” falls the gentle rain or “dew;” but both alike are ordered by the Divine Wisdom.

Proverbs 5:21 — One more warning. The sin is not against man, nor dependent on man’s detection only. The secret sin is open before the eyes of Yahweh. In the balance of His righteous judgment are weighed all human acts.Pondereth - Note the recurrence of the word used of the harlot herself (see Proverbs 1:6 note): she ponders not, God does.

Isaiah 40:17 — Are as nothing - This expresses literally what had been expressed by the beautiful and striking imagery above.Less than nothing - A strong hyperbolic expression denoting the utter insignificance of the nations as compared with God. Such expressions are common in the Scriptures.And vanity - Hebrew, תהו tôhû - ‘Emptiness;’ the word which in Genesis 1:2 is rendered ‘without form.’

Isaiah 44:21 — Remember these - Remember these things which are now said about the folly of idolatry, and the vanity of worshipping idols. The object of the argument is, to turn their attention to God, and to lead them to put their trust in him.Thou art my servant - (See the notes at Isaiah 42:19; Isaiah 43:1).

Jeremiah 15:13 — Jeremiah is personally addressed in the verse, because he stood before God as the intercessor, representing the people.(1) God would give Judah’s treasures away for nothing; implying that He did not value them.(2) the cause of this contempt is Judah’s sins.(3) this is justified by Judah having committed them throughout her whole land.

Jeremiah 25:3 — The three and twentieth year - i. e., nineteen under Josiah, and four under Jehoiakim. This prophecy divides itself into three parts,(1) the judgment of Judah Jeremiah 25:3-11, and Babylon’s doom Jeremiah 25:12-14;(2) the wine-cup of fury Jeremiah 25:15-29;(3) the judgment of the world Jeremiah 25:30-38.

Jeremiah 8:18 — Rather, “O my comfort in sorrow: my heart faints for me.” The word translated “comfort” is by some supposed to be corrupt. With these mournful ejaculations a new strophe begins, ending with Jeremiah 9:1, in which the prophet mourns over the miserable fate of his countrymen, among whom he had been earnestly laboring, but all in vain.