Voices and influences
Adam Clarke
The self-taught Irish Methodist orientalist who rode preaching circuits for fifty years and spent forty of them writing a commentary on the whole Bible.
Summary
This site quotes Adam Clarke 9,015 times across 66 books, and lists 0 works.
- Lived 1762 to 1832.
- Quoted here most in Genesis: 673 of 9,015.
Adam Clarke
- Lived
- 1762 to 1832
- Tradition
- Methodist
5 of 9,015 quotations
Own words
Quoted in full, because Adam Clarke died in 1832 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.
The earth was without form and void - The original term תהו tohu and בהו bohu, which we translate without form and void, are of uncertain etymology; but in this place, and wherever else they are used, they convey the idea of confusion and disorder.
The rest of the quotation
From these terms it is probable that the ancient Syrians and Egyptians borrowed their gods, Theuth and Bau, and the Greeks their Chaos.
Genesis 1:2 Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. BSB
Even a fool - He is counted wise as to that particular. He may know that he cannot speak well, and he has sense enough to keep from speaking. He is, as to that particular, a wise fool.
The rest of the quotation
A man may be golden-mouthed and silver-tongued in eloquence; but to know when and where to speak and to be silent, is better than diamonds. But who that thinks he can speak well can refrain from speaking? His tongue has no rest.
Proverbs 17:28 Even a fool is considered wise if he keeps silent, and discerning when he holds his tongue. BSB
Thoughts of peace - Here God gives them to understand, 1. That his love was moved towards them. 2. That he would perform his good word, his promises often repeated, to them. 3. That for the fulfillment of these they must pray, seek, and search.
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4. That he would hearken, and they should find him; provided, 5. They sought him with their whole heart, Jer 29:10-13.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope. BSB
Let your light so shine - Or more literally, Thus let your light shine, Ουτω λαμψατω το φως.
The rest of the quotation
As the sun is lighted up in the firmament of heaven to diffuse its light and heat freely to every inhabitant of the earth; and as the lamp is not set under the bushel, but placed upon the lamp-stand that it may give light to all in the house; Thus let every follower of Christ, and especially every preacher of the Gospel, diffuse the light of heavenly knowledge, and the warmth of Divine love through the whole circle of their acquaintance.
Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. BSB
A bruised reed shall he not break - A reed is, in Scripture, the emblem of weakness, Eze 29:6; and a bruised reed must signify that state of weakness that borders on dissolution and death. And smoking flax shall he not quench - Λινον τυφομενον.
The rest of the quotation
Λινος means the wick of a lamp, and τυφομενον is intended to point out its expiring state, when the oil has been all burnt away from it, and nothing is left but a mere snuff, emitting smoke.
Matthew 12:20 A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish, till He leads justice to victory. BSB
Influence, on the record
This site quotes Adam Clarke 9,015 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
Adam Clarke was born at Moybeg, in County Londonderry, Ireland, about 1760 — his father said 1762, and the exact year has never been settled. His father was a schoolmaster; the family was poor. As a boy Clarke was thought slow. He learned to read late, and then read everything he could reach. He was converted among the Methodists in 1778, and in 1782 John Wesley himself sent him to the Bradford circuit in England. He was about twenty-two, with almost no formal schooling and a horse. He spent the rest of his life as a travelling preacher, moving circuits every few years as Methodist rules required — Bradford, Norwich, the Channel Islands, Dublin, Manchester, Liverpool, London. He was elected president of the British Methodist Conference three times, in 1806, 1814, and 1822, an honor almost never repeated in that era. And all along he studied. Clarke taught himself Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldee, Arabic, Persian, Samaritan, Coptic, and more, and became one of the finest oriental scholars in Britain without ever holding a university chair. The government hired him: for years he worked for the Records Commission on Rymer's Foedera, the great collection of English state papers, and he catalogued manuscripts for private libraries. He was elected to the Royal Irish Academy and the Society of Antiquaries. The work he is known for took forty years. The Holy Bible... with a Commentary and Critical Notes was published in eight volumes between 1810 and 1826. It is enormous, digressive, and packed with material nobody else was supplying to English readers — Hebrew and Arabic parallels, ancient customs, natural history, textual notes, and long excursions on whatever caught his eye. It became the standard theological resource of Methodism for the better part of two centuries, and it is still consulted. He was open about where he broke ranks. Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ: he held the Son to be fully and eternally divine, but taught that the title "Son" describes the incarnation rather than an eternal relation. Methodists argued with him about it in his lifetime and long after, and Methodist doctrine did not follow him there. He also read the tempter of Genesis 3 as a creature more like an ape than a serpent — a reading nearly everyone else rejected. The commentary carries these views plainly, and readers have always had to weigh them. He gave himself away in other directions too. He worked for the early Bible society movement, championed the Sunday school, organized mission work in the Shetland Isles, and gave away most of what he earned. He died of cholera in London on August 26, 1832, during the epidemic that swept Britain that year, still working. Sources: Adam Clarke, The Holy Bible... with a Commentary and Critical Notes; J. B. B. Clarke, ed., An Account of the Infancy, Religious and Literary Life of Adam Clarke, LL.D.; Luke Tyerman, The Life and Times of the Rev. John Wesley; the Dictionary of National Biography (1887), "Clarke, Adam."
9,015 quotations across 66 books
Where this voice is quoted
Do not be overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?
“Why shouldest thou destroy thyself? - תשומם tishshomem, make thyself desolate, so that thou shalt be obliged to stand alone; neither make thyself over-wise, תתחכם tithchaccam, do not pretend to abundance of wisdom. Why shouldest thou be so singular?”
Do not be excessively wicked, and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time?
“Be not overmuch wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time? - אל תרשע הרבה al tirsha harbeh. Do not multiply wickedness, do not add direct opposition to godliness to the rest of your crimes.”
It is good to grasp the one and not let the other slip from your hand. For he who fears God will follow both warnings.
“It is good that thou shouldest take hold or this - Do not let such an observation slip: take hold of this; do not forget that.”
Wisdom makes the wise man stronger than ten rulers in a city.
“Wisdom strengtheneth the wise - One wise, thoroughly learned, and scientific man, may be of more use in fortifying and defending a city, than ten princes. Witness the case of Syracuse, when attacked by the Romans both by sea and land.”
Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
“There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not - לא יחטא lo yechta, that may not sin.”
Do not pay attention to every word that is spoken, or you may hear your servant cursing you.
“Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken - This is good advice, and much for every man’s peace through life. Thy servant curse thee - מקללך mekallelecha, make light of thee, speak evil of thee.”
For you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.
“Thou thyself - hast cursed others - קללת kalalta, thou hast spoken evil; hast vilified others. O, who is free from evil speaking, from uncharitable speaking; from detailing their neighbor’s faults, from whispering, talebearing, and backbiting?”
What exists is out of reach and very deep. Who can fathom it?
“That which is far off - Though the wisdom that is essential to our salvation may be soon learned, through the teaching of the Spirit of wisdom, yet in wisdom itself there are extents and depths which none can reach or fathom.”
And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains.
“And I find more bitter than death the woman - After all his investigation of the wickedness of folly, and the foolishness of madness, he found nothing equally dangerous and ruinous with the blandishments of cunning women.”
“Behold,” says the Teacher, “I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find an explanation.
“Counting one by one - I have gone over every particular. I have compared one thing with another; man with woman, his wisdom with her wiles; his strength with her blandishments; his influence with her ascendancy; his powers of reason with her arts and cunning…”
Only this have I found: I have discovered that God made men upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”
“Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright - Whatever evil may be now found among men and women, it is not of God; for God made them all upright.”
Keep the king’s command, I say, because of your oath before God.
“To keep the king’s commandment - This sentence would be better translated, I keep the mouth of the king; I take good heed not to meddle with state secrets; and if I know, to hide them.”
Do not hasten to leave his presence, and do not persist in a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.
“Be not hasty - I consider the first five verses here as directions to courtiers, and the more immediate servants of kings. Be steadily faithful to your sovereign. Do not stand in an evil thing.”
For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.
“To every purpose there is time - חפץ chaphets, every volition, every thing that depends on the will of man.”
As no man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has authority over his day of death.
“There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit - The Chaldee has, “There is no man who can rule over the spirit of the breath, so as to prevent the animal life from leaving the body of man.””
Then too, I saw the burial of the wicked who used to go in and out of the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they had…
“Who had come and gone from the place of the holy - The place of the holy is the sacred office which they held, anointed either as kings or priests to God; and, not having fulfilled the holy office in a holy way, have been…”
When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil.
“Because sentence - פתגם pithgam, a Divine decree or declaration. This is no Hebrew, but a mere Chaldee word, and occurs only in the later books of the Bible - Esther, Ezra and Daniel, and nowhere else but in this place.”
Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
“But it shall not be well with the wicked - Let not the long-spared sinner presume that, because sentence is not speedily executed on his evil works, and he is suffered to go on to his hundredth transgression, God has forgotten to punish.”
When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the task that one performs on the earth—though his eyes do not see sleep in the day or even…
“When I applied mine heart to know wisdom - This is the reply of the wise man: “I have also considered these seeming contradictions.”
I saw every work of God, and that a man is unable to comprehend the work that is done under the sun.
“Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun - I saw it to be of such a nature - 1. That a man cannot find it out. 2.”
There is hope, however, for anyone who is among the living; for even a live dog is better than a dead lion.
“For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope - While a man lives he hopes to amend, and he hopes to have a better lot; and thus life is spent, hoping to grow better, and hoping to get more.”
Their love, their hate, and their envy have already vanished, and they will never again have a share in all that is done under the sun.
“Also their love, and their hatred - It is evident that he speaks here of the ignorance, want of power, etc., of the dead, in reference only to this life.”
Let your garments always be white, and never spare the oil for your head.
“Let thy garments be always white - The Jews wore white garments on festal occasions, as emblems of joy and innocence. Be always pure, and always happy.”
Enjoy life with your beloved wife all the days of the fleeting life that God has given you under the sun—all your fleeting days.
“Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest - Marry prudently, keep faithfully attached to the wife thou hast chosen, and rejoice in the labor of thy hands.”
There was a small city with few men. A mighty king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege ramps against it.
“There was a little city, and few men within it - Here is another proof of the vanity of sublunary things; the ingratitude of men, and the little compensation that genuine merit receives.”