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.
.jpg?width=640)
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
He is secure in his ways at all times; Your lofty judgments are far from him; he sneers at all his foes.
“His ways are always grievous - His paths; his manner of life; his conduct toward God; his dealings with men. The word rendered “are grievious,” יחילוּ yāchiylû - has been variously rendered. The Latin Vulgate renders it, “His ways are defiled.” So the Septuagint.”
He lies in wait like a lion in a thicket; he lurks to seize the oppressed; he catches the lowly in his net.
“He lieth in wait secretly - Margin, in the secret places. See the note at Psa 10:8. The object here is merely to illustrate the thought in the previous verse, by an allusion to a lion and a hunter.”
He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He hides His face and never sees.”
“He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten - That is, this is his practical, habitual feeling. He acts as if God had forgotten, or as if God takes no knowledge of what is occurring in the earth. Compare Psa 10:6.”
Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call him to account for his wickedness until none is left to be found.
“Break thou the arm of the wicked - The arm is the instrument by which we effect a purpose, and especially in wielding a sword or a spear, as in battle; and if the arm is broken, we are powerless.”
You have heard, O LORD, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,
“Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble - Their desire or their prayer that thou wouldst interpose in their behalf in the time of danger, and rescue them. Compare Psa 6:8-9.”
If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
“If the foundations be destroyed - These are still to be regarded as the words of the psalmist’s advisers; or as an argument why he should make his escape.”
The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked; His soul hates the lover of violence.
“The Lord trieth the righteous - That is, he “proves” them, searches them, tests the reality of their piety.”
For the LORD is righteous; He loves justice. The upright will see His face.
“For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness - This would be more correctly rendered, “For Jehovah is righteous; he loves righteousness.” The idea is, that God is himself righteous, and, consequently, he loves those who are righteous.”
I crushed them so they could not rise; they have fallen under my feet.
“I have wounded them ... - I have so weakened them - so entirely prostrated them - that they were not able to rally again.”
You have armed me with strength for battle; You have subdued my foes beneath me.
“For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle - See the note at Psa 18:32. Compare Job 12:18; Pro 31:17. Thou hast subdued under me - Margin, as in Hebrew, caused to bow.”
They cried for help, but there was no one to save them— to the LORD, but He did not answer.
“They cried - They cried out for help, for mercy, for life. In modern language, “they begged for quarter.” They acknowledged that they were vanquished, and entreated that their lives might be spared. But there was none to save them - To preserve their lives.”
You have delivered me from the strife of the people; You have made me the head of nations; a people I had not known shall serve me.
“Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people - From the contentions of the people; or, from the efforts which they have made to overcome and subdue me.”
Foreigners lose heart and come trembling from their strongholds.
“The strangers shall fade away - Hebrew, “The sons of the stranger.” That is, foreigners. The word rendered fade away - נבל nâbêl - means properly to wilt, wither, fall away, as applicable to flowers, leaves, or plants, Psa 1:3; Psa 37:2; Isa 1:30; Isa…”
the God who avenges me and subdues nations beneath me,
“It is God that avengeth me - Margin, giveth avengements for me. The marginal reading is a literal translation of the Hebrew.”
Therefore I will praise You, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing praises to Your name.
“Therefore will I give thanks unto thee - Margin, confess. The Hebrew word - ידה yâdâh - in the form used here, means properly to profess, to confess, to acknowledge; then especially to acknowledge or recognize blessings and favors; in other words, to give thanks…”
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.
“The heavens declare the glory of God - They announce, proclaim, make known his glory. The word heavens here refers to the material heavens as they appear to the eye - the region of the sun, moon, and stars.”
Without speech or language, without a sound to be heard,
“There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard - Margin, Without these their voice is heard. Hebrew, “without their voice heard.” The idea in the margin, which is adopted by Prof.”
their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun.
“Their line - That is, of the heavens. The word used here - קו qav - means properly a cord, or line: (a) a measuring line, Eze 47:3; Job 38:5; Isa 44:13; and then (b) a cord or string as of a lyre or other…”
it rises at one end of the heavens and runs its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.
“His going forth - The psalmist now describes that race which he has to run, as borne over the entire circuit of the heavens, from one end of it to another - sweeping the whole space across the firmament.”
The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true, being altogether righteous.
“The fear of the Lord - The word rendered fear in this place - יראה yir'âh - means properly fear, terror, Jon 1:10; then, reverence, or holy fear, Psa 2:11; Psa 5:7; and hence, reverence toward God, piety, religion - in which sense it is…”
By them indeed Your servant is warned; in keeping them is great reward.
“Moreover by them is thy servant warned - The word used here - זהר zâhar - means, properly, to be bright, to shine; then, to cause to shine, to make light; and then, to admonish, to instruct, to warn.”
Keep Your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless and cleansed of great transgression.
“Keep back thy servant also - Restrain thy servant; or, do not suffer him to commit those sins. From presumptuous sins - The word used here is manifestly designed to stand in some respects in contrast with the secret faults mentioned in the previous verse.”
Let not my enemies gloat over me without cause, nor those who hate me without reason wink in malice.
“Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me - Margin, “falsely.” Literally, “My enemies of falsehood;” that is, who are “falsely” my foes; who have no just cause for being opposed to me. Compare Mat 5:11.”
Vindicate me by Your righteousness, O LORD my God, and do not let them gloat over me.
“Judge me, O Lord my God - Pronounce judgment, or judge between me and my enemies. Compare the notes at Psa 26:1. According to thy righteousness - That is, “rightly.” Let there be a righteous judgment.”
Let them not say in their hearts, “Aha, just what we wanted!” Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up!”
“Let them not say in their hearts - Let them not congratulate themselves on the result; let them not feel that they have triumphed; let them not, under thy government, come off victorious in doing wrong.”