Voices and influences
Albert Barnes
The Philadelphia pastor who rose at four every morning to write Bible notes for his own Sunday school, and sold a million volumes of them.
Summary
This site quotes Albert Barnes 8,265 times across 66 books, and lists 0 works.
- Lived 1798 to 1870.
- Quoted here most in Isaiah: 746 of 8,265.
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Albert Barnes
- Lived
- 1798 to 1870
- Tradition
- Presbyterian
5 of 8,265 quotations
Own words
Quoted in full, because Albert Barnes died in 1870 and these works are out of copyright. Each citation below names its edition and its year. A citation naming a modernised text means that edition makes its own editorial changes, and that edition's terms are not in this site's record.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts - Interpreters have differed in regard to the connection of this verse with the preceding.
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Undated in the archive this site cites.
The rest of the quotation
It is evident, I think, that it is properly connected with the subject of pardon; and the sense must be, that the plans and purposes of God in regard to forgiveness are as far above those of people as the heavens are higher than the earth, Isa 55:
Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. BSB
He hath shewed thee - Micah does not tell them now, as for the first time; which would have excused them. He says, “He hath shewed thee;” He, about whose mind and will and pleasure they were pretending to enquire, the Lord their God.
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Undated in the archive this site cites.
The rest of the quotation
He had shewn it to them. The law was full of it. He shewed it to them, when He said, “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him and to serve the Lord, thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command thee this day for thy good?” Deu 10:12-13. They had asked, “with what outward thing shall I come before the Lord;” the prophet tells them, “what thing is good,” the inward man of the heart, righteousness, love, humility. And what doth the Lord require (search, seek) of thee? - The very word implies an earnest search within. He would say (Rup.), “Trouble not thyself as to any of these things, burnt-offerings, rams, calves, without thee. For God seeketh not thine, but thee; not thy substance, but thy spirit; not ram or goat, but thy heart.” : “Thou askest, what thou shouldest offer for thee? Other thyself. For what else doth the Lord seek of thee, but thee? Because, of all earthly creatures, He hath made nothing better than thee, He seeketh thyself from thyself, because thou hadst lost thyself.” To do judgment - are chiefly all acts of equity; “to love mercy,” all deeds of love. Judgment, is what right requires; mercy, what love. Yet, secondarily, “to do judgment” is to pass righteous judgments in all cases; and so, as to others, “judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” Joh 7:24; and as to one’s self also. Judge equitably and kindly of others, humbly of thyself. […]
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? BSB
(Compare Exo. 39:1-31.) Moses is now commanded to commit all that pertains to the offerings made to the Lord in the sanctuary to the exclusive charge of the members of a single family, who were to hold their office from generation to generation.
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Undated in the archive this site cites.
The rest of the quotation
In the patriarchal times, the external rites of worship had generally been conducted by the head of the tribe or family, in accordance with the principle involved in the dedication of the firstborn Exo 13:2; Num 3:12-
Exodus 28:1 “Next, have your brother Aaron brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, to serve Me as priests. BSB
The leper was to carry about with him the usual signs of mourning for the dead. Compare Lev 10:6 and margin reference.
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Undated in the archive this site cites.
The rest of the quotation
The leper was a living parable in the world of the sin of which death was the wages; not the less so because his suffering might have been in no degree due to his own personal deserts: he bore about with him at once the deadly fruit and the symbol of the sin of his race. Exo 20:
Leviticus 13:45 A diseased person must wear torn clothes and let his hair hang loose, and he must cover his mouth and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’ BSB
Chambers - (Margin, floors). Rather, a lean-to, which completely surrounded three sides of the building, the north, the west, and the south.
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Undated in the archive this site cites.
1 Kings 6:5 Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple, in which he constructed the side rooms. BSB
Influence, on the record
This site quotes Albert Barnes 8,265 times across 66 books.
This site’s own count of what it does with the voice
The life, in order
The life told as one accountfrom this site's record
Albert Barnes was born at Rome, New York, on December 1, 1798. He was headed for the law. At Hamilton College he was converted, changed direction, and went to Princeton Theological Seminary instead, graduating in 1824. His first pastorate was Morristown, New Jersey, from 1825 to 1830. In 1830 he was called to the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, where he preached until 1867 — thirty-seven years in one pulpit. The habit that made him famous was the alarm clock. Barnes rose at four every morning and wrote until nine, before the day's pastoral work began. What he wrote were notes on the Bible for his own Sunday school teachers and Bible class — plain explanations, verse by verse, aimed at people with no Greek and no library. He published them, beginning with the Gospels in 1832. They did not stop. Notes, Explanatory and Practical eventually covered the whole New Testament and much of the Old — Job, the Psalms, Isaiah, Daniel — and sold more than a million volumes in his lifetime, an astonishing number for the period. Generations of American laymen learned their Bible out of Barnes. He was also tried for heresy. His 1829 sermon The Way of Salvation, and then his notes on Romans in 1835, were charged with departing from the Westminster Confession on original sin and the atonement; Barnes taught that Christ's death was a provision made for all rather than a payment restricted in advance to the elect. The Presbytery of Philadelphia suspended him from the ministry in 1835, and the General Assembly reversed the suspension in 1836. He was acquitted, but the fight was one of the fuses of the Old School–New School division that split the American Presbyterian church in 1837. Barnes stood on the New School side. He fought slavery hard and early. An Inquiry into the Scriptural Views of Slavery (1846) took up the biblical arguments the Southern churches used and dismantled them one at a time; The Church and Slavery followed in 1857. The books were read widely in the North during the years the country came apart. His eyesight failed badly in later life, and he kept working with help. He resigned the pulpit in 1867 and died in Philadelphia on December 24, 1870, at seventy-two. What he left is unusual for a scholar. Not a monument — a tool. A working pastor's commentary, written before breakfast for people who had no one else to explain the text, still in print and still free more than a century and a half later. Sources: Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the New Testament and An Inquiry into the Scriptural Views of Slavery; the published minutes of the Presbyterian General Assembly, 1835–1837; Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church; George Marsden, The Evangelical Mind and the New School Presbyterian Experience.
8,265 quotations across 66 books
Where this voice is quoted
You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell?
“Ye serpents - This name is given to them on account of their pretending to be pious, and very much devoted to God, but being secretly evil, At the heart, with all their pretensions, they were filled with evil designs, as the serpent was, Gen…”
And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered…
“That upon you may come ... - That is, the nation is guilty. Your fathers were guilty. You have shown yourselves to be like them. You are about, by killing the Messiah and his messengers, to fill up the iniquity of the land.”
For I tell you that you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
“Ye shall not see me ... - The day of your mercy is gone by. I have offered you protection and salvation, and you have rejected it.”
As Jesus left the temple and was walking away, His disciples came up to Him to point out its buildings.
“And Jesus went out - He was going over to the Mount of Olives, Mat 24:3. The buildings of the temple - The temple itself, with the surrounding courts, porches, and other edifices. See the notes at Mat 21:12.”
While Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately.
“He sat upon the Mount of Olives - See the notes at Mat 21:1. From that mount there was a magnificent view of the whole city. The disciples came unto him privately - Not all of them, but Peter, James, John, and Andrew, Mar 13:3.”
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
“Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom - At Caesarea the Jews and Syrians contended about the right to the city, and twenty thousand of the Jews were slain.”
Then they will deliver you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.
“To be afflicted - By persecution, imprisonment, scourging, etc. “They shall deliver you up to councils” (Mark). To the great council, or Sanhedrin - for this is the word in the original. See the notes at Mat 5:22.”
and many false prophets will arise and mislead many.
“And many false prophets - Many men pretending to be prophets or foretellers of future events. This refers not to the false “Messiahs” of which he had spoken Mat 24:5, but to prophets who should appear during the siege of the city.”
But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.
“He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved - The word “end,” here, has by some been thought to mean the destruction of Jerusalem, or the end of the Jewish economy, and the meaning has been supposed to be “he that…”
So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination of desolation,’ described by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand),
“The abomination of desolation - This is a Hebrew expression, meaning an abominable or hateful destroyer. The Gentiles were all held in abomination by the Jews, Act 10:28. The abomination of desolation means the Roman army, and is so explained by Luk 21:20.”
Let no one on the housetop come down to retrieve anything from his house.
“Him which is on the house-top - The roofs of the houses in Eastern countries were made flat, so that they were favorable places for walking and retirement. See the notes at Mat 9:1-8.”
For at that time there will be great tribulation, unmatched from the beginning of the world until now, and never to be seen again.
“There shall be great tribulation - The word “tribulation” means calamity or “suffering.” Luke Luk 21:24 has specified in what this tribulation would consist: “They shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall…”
For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders that would deceive even the elect, if that were possible.
“False Christs - Persons claiming to be the Messiah. False prophets - Persons claiming to be “the prophet” spoken of by Moses Deu 18:15; or persons pretending to declare the way of deliverance from the Romans, and calling the people to follow them.”
See, I have told you in advance.
“Behold, I have told you before - Mark adds Mar 13:23, “take ye heed.” The reason why he told them before was that they might be on their guard, and be prepared for those calamities.”
For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
“For as the lightning cometh out of the east ... - This is not designed to denote the quarter from which he would come, but the manner.”
Immediately after the tribulation of those days: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers…
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days - That is, immediately after these tribulations, events will occur that “may be properly represented” by the darkening of the sun and moon, and by the stars falling from heaven.”
And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the…
“And he shall send his angels - “Angels” signify, literally, “messengers,” Luk 7:24; Luk 9:52. The word is often applied to inanimate objects, or to anything that God employs to rescue his people from danger Psa 104:4; but it most commonly refers to the race…”
So also, when you see all these things, you will know that He is near, right at the door.
“So likewise ye ... - In the same manner, when you see what I have predicted the “signs” around Jerusalem - then know that its destruction is at hand, Is near - Luke says Luk 21:28, “your redemption draweth nigh, and Luk 21:31 the kingdom…”
As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.
“Noe - The Greek way of writing “Noah.” See Gen. 6–9. The coming of the Son of man would be as it was in the days of Noah: 1.”
Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.
“Two women ... - Grinding in the East was performed, as it is now, chiefly by hand. The millstones were about 2 feet in diameter and 12 foot in thickness.”
But understand this: If the homeowner had known in which watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house…
“But know this ... - If a man knew the hour, or “about the hour,” when a robber would come, he would be ready for him.”
For this reason, you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.
“Be ye also ready - Luke Luk 21:36 says that he charged them to pray always, that they might be accounted worthy to escape those things - the judgments coming upon the wicked - and to stand before the Son of man - that is…”
Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the others their food at the proper time?
“This passage is, in fact, “a parable,” though it is not expressly so called. The design is to show that his disciples should act as if they were each moment expecting his return.”
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
“Then shall the kingdom of heaven - See the notes at Mat 3:2. The phrase here refers to his coming in the day of judgment. Shall be likened - Or shall resemble.”
When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
“The bridegroom tarried - That is, while they waited for him. It was uncertain at what time he would come. He delayed longer than they expected. All slumbered and slept - Waiting until near midnight, they fell into repose.”