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
Who knows the power of Your anger? Your wrath matches the fear You are due.
“Who knoweth the power of thine anger? - Who can measure it, or take a correct estimate of it, as it is manifest in cutting down the race of people?”
Return, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on Your servants.
“Return, O Lord - Come back to thy people; show mercy by sparing them. It would seem probable from this that the psalm was composed in a time of pestilence, or raging sickness, which threatened to sweep all the people away - a supposition by…”
Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen evil.
“Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us - Let the one correspond with the other. Let our occasions of joy be measured by the sorrows which have come upon us.”
May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish for us the work of our hands— yes, establish the work of our hands!
“And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us - The word translated “beauty” - נעם nô‛am - means properly “pleasantness;” then, beauty, splendor; then grace or layout. The Septuagint renders it here, λαμπρότης lamprotēs, “splendor;” and so the Latin Vulgate.”
no evil will befall you, no plague will approach your tent.
“There shall no evil befall thee - The Chaldee Paraphrase has, “The Lord of the world answered and said, ‘There shall no evil befall thee,’” etc.”
He brought forth His people with rejoicing, His chosen with shouts of joy.
“And he brought forth his people with joy - With joy at their deliverance from bondage, and for his merciful interposition. And his chosen with gladness - Margin, as in Hebrew, “singing.” See Exo. 15.”
to disperse their offspring among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands.
“To overthrow their seed also among the nations - Margin, as in Hebrew, “to make them fall;” to wit, among the surrounding people. The reference here is to the posterity of those who complained and fell in the wilderness.”
They shed innocent blood— the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.
“And shed innocent blood ... - The blood of those who had committed no crime; who did not “deserve” the treatment which they received.”
But He lifts the needy from affliction and increases their families like flocks.
“Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction - Margin, “after.” The sense is not materially different.”
May it be like a robe wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him.
“Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him - He has chosen to put it on, to wear it, to appear in it; so let him constantly feel its consequences.”
The sea observed and fled; the Jordan turned back;
“The sea saw it - The word it is supplied, not very properly, by our translators. It would be more expressive to say, “The sea saw:” that is, The sea - (the Red Sea) - saw the mighty movement - the marshalled hosts - the…”
I am a stranger on the earth; do not hide Your commandments from me.
“I am a stranger in the earth - A wayfaring man; a pilgrim; a so-journer; a man whose permanent home is not in this world.”
My soul melts with sorrow; strengthen me according to Your word.
“My soul melteth - Margin, “droppeth.” The Hebrew word here employed - דלף dâlaph - means to drop, to drip, to distil, spoken of a house, as when the rain drops through the roof, Ecc 10:18; then, to shed tears, to weep, Job 16:20 -…”
And I will walk in freedom, for I have sought Your precepts.
“And I will walk at liberty - Margin, “at large.” Luther renders it, “freely.” The Septuagint, “in a broad place.” The Hebrew word means “wide, broad, large, spacious.””
Rage has taken hold of me because of the wicked who reject Your law.
“Horror hath taken hold upon me - Has seized me; has overpowered and overwhelmed me. I shudder; I tremble; I am afraid; I am filled with distress. Luther, “I am burnt up.””
The law from Your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.
“The law of thy mouth - The law which proceeds out of thy mouth, or which thou hast spoken. Is better unto me - The Hebrew is, “Good to me is the law of thy mouth above thousands of gold and silver.””
May my heart be blameless in Your statutes, that I may not be put to shame.
“Let my heart be sound ... - Hebrew, “Be perfect.” See the notes at Job 1:1. The Septuagint here is “immaculate,” ἄμωμος amōmos. So the Latin Vulgate.”
All Your commandments are faithful; I am persecuted without cause—help me!
“All thy commandments are faithful - Margin, “faithfulness.” The idea in the Hebrew is that they are worthy to be relied on. They are founded in truth, and they should secure our confidence. They persecute me wrongfully ... - Hebrew, a “lie, “or “falsehood.””
I have seen a limit to all perfection, but Your commandment is without limit.
“I have seen an end of all perfection - The word which is here rendered “perfection” - תכלה tiklâh - occurs only in this place; but a similar word from the same root - תכלית taklı̂yth - occurs in the following places: in Neh 3:21…”
I constantly take my life in my hands, yet I do not forget Your law.
“My soul is continually in my hand - The Septuagint renders this, “My soul is always in thy hands,” but the Hebrew will not admit of this construction. The idea in the original is that his soul - his life - was always in jeopardy.”
Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.
“Thy testimonies - Thy law; thy revealed will; the revelation which thou hast given considered as thy solemn “testimony” as to what is true and right.”
I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes, even to the very end.
“I have inclined mine heart - The Hebrew word means properly “to stretch out”; “to extend” - as the hand. Exo 8:6, Exo 8:17. Then it means to incline, to bow, to depress.”
Uphold me, and I will be saved, that I may always regard Your statutes.
“Hold thou me up - Keep me from falling in the trials and temptations of life. The Hebrew word means to prop, uphold, support. The Septuagint is, “Aid me.””
You reject all who stray from Your statutes, for their deceitfulness is in vain.
“Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes - Compare the notes at Psa 119:21. Rather, “Thou hast made light of,” or “thou despisest.” The Hebrew word means properly to suspend in a balance; to weigh.”
I am lowly and despised, but I do not forget Your precepts.
“I am small and despised - The word here rendered “small” may mean “small” in respect to number - that is, “few,” Mic 5:2; Isa 60:22; or in respect to age - “young,” Gen 19:31; or in respect to dignity - “low;” least in rank…”