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
Abundant food is in the fallow ground of the poor, but without justice it is swept away.
“The contrast is the ever recurring one between honest poverty and dishonest wealth. “The new-plowed field of the poor is much food, but there are those, who, though rich, perish through their disregard of right.””
Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.
“Every wise woman - literally, Wise women. The fullest recognition that has as yet met us of the importance of woman, for good or evil, in all human society.”
Fools mock the making of amends, but goodwill is found among the upright.
“Fools make a mock - The verb in the Heb. is singular, the noun plural. The King James Version assumes that the number is altered to individualize the application of the maxim. Others translate it: “Sin mocks the fools who are its victims,” i.”
A truthful witness saves lives, but one who utters lies is deceitful.
“In the second clause, “destroyeth life” might have been expected as the antithesis to “delivereth souls.” But what worse could be said? “A deceitful witness speaketh lies.” All destruction is implied in falsehood.”
A large population is a king’s splendor, but a lack of subjects is a prince’s ruin.
“A protest against the false ideal of national greatness to which Eastern kings, for the most part, have bowed down. Not conquest, or pomp, or gorgeous array, but a happy and numerous people form the true glory of a king.”
Wisdom rests in the heart of the discerning; even among fools she is known.
“Omit “that which is.” “Wisdom” is the subject of both clauses. She is “made nown,” i. e., by the very force of contrast, in the midst of fools; or she is reserved and reticent in the one, noisy and boastful in the other.”
The eyes of the LORD are in every place, observing the evil and the good.
“The teaching which began with the fear of the Lord Pro 1:7 would not be complete without this assertion of His omni-present knowledge.”
The lips of the wise spread knowledge, but not so the hearts of fools.
“Not so - The word translated “so” is taken by some in its etymological force as “strong,” “firm,” and the passage is rendered “the heart of the fool disperseth (supplied from the first clause) what is weak and unsteady,” i. e., “falsehood and unwisdom.””
All the days of the oppressed are bad, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast.
“Afflicted - The affliction meant here is less that of outward circumstances than of a troubled and downcast spirit. Life to the cheerful is as one perpetual banquet, whether he be poor or rich.”
Better a dish of vegetables where there is love than a fattened ox with hatred.
“A dinner of herbs - The meals of the poor and the abstemious. The “stalled ox,” like the “fatted calf” of Luk 15:23, would indicate a stately magnificence.”
The way of the slacker is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.
“The slothful goes on his journey, and for him the path is thick set with thorns, briars, fences, through which he cannot force his way. For the “righteous” (better, upright), the same path is as the broad raised causeway of the king’s highway.”
A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother.
“To “despise” a mother is to cause her the deepest grief, and is therefore not unfitly contrasted with “making a glad father.””
A man takes joy in a fitting reply—and how good is a timely word!
“Probably, a special reference to debates in council Pro 15:22. They bring before us the special characteristic of the East, the delight in ready, improvised answers, solving difficulties, turning aside anger. Compare the effect on the scribe Mar 12:28.”
The LORD tears down the house of the proud, but He protects the boundaries of the widow.
“The widow - Here, as elsewhere Deu 10:18; Psa 68:5, the widow, as the most extreme type of desolation, stands as the representative of a class safer in their poverty under the protection of the Lord, than the proud in the haughtiness of their strength.”
The LORD detests the thoughts of the wicked, but the words of the pure are pleasant to Him.
“Some prefer the margin, and render, words of pleasantness are pure. Gracious words are to God as a pure acceptable offering, the similitude being taken from the Levitical ritual, and the word “pure” in half ceremonial sense (compare Mal 1:11).”
He who is greedy for unjust gain brings trouble on his household, but he who hates bribes will live.
“Gifts - There is a special application to the office of the judge. The Aramaic Targum paraphrases the first words of this passage as: “he who gathers the mammon of unrighteousness,” using the words with special reference to wealth obtained by unjust judgments.”
He who listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise.
“The reproof of life - i. e., The reproof that leads to, or gives life, rather than that which comes from life and its experience.”
The plans of the heart belong to man, but the reply of the tongue is from the LORD.
“The proverbs in Pro 16:1-7 have, more than any other group, an especially religious character impressed upon them. The name of Yahweh as Giver, Guide, Ruler, or Judge, meets us in each of them.”
All a man’s ways are pure in his own eyes, but his motives are weighed out by the LORD.
“We are blind to our own faults, do not see ourselves as others see us. There is One who tries not the “ways” only, but the “spirits” Heb 4:12: this is the true remedy against self-deceit.”
Commit your works to the LORD and your plans will be achieved.
“Commit - literally, as in the margin, as a man transfers a burden from his own back to one stronger and better able to bear it. Compare the margin reference. Thy thoughts - i. e., The plans or counsels out of which the works spring.”
A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
“Deviseth his way - i. e., Thinks it out with anxious care; yet it is the Lord and He only who directs the steps. Compare Pro 16:1.”
Honest scales and balances are from the LORD; all the weights in the bag are His concern.
“See Pro 11:1 note. People are not to think that trade lies outside the divine law. God has commanded there also all that belongs to truth and right.”
The wrath of a king is a messenger of death, but a wise man will pacify it.
“While Pro 16:13 depicts the king as he ought to be, this verse reminds us of the terrible rapidity with which, in the despotic monarchies of the East, punishment, even death, follows royal displeasure.”
When a king’s face brightens, there is life; his favor is like a rain cloud in spring.
“The “latter rain” is that which falls in March or April just before the harvest. The “cloud” which brings it, immediately screening people from the scorching sun, and bringing plenty and blessing, is a fit type of the highest favor.”
Whoever heeds instruction will find success, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD.
“Good as it is to “handle a matter wisely,” it is far better to “trust in the Lord.” The former is really impossible except through the latter.”