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
Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.
“Hear, O heavens “Hear, O ye heavens” - God is introduced as entering into a public action, or pleading, before the whole world, against his disobedient people.”
Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children of depravity!
“Ah sinful nation “Degenerate” - Five MSS., one of them ancient, read משחתים moschathim, without the first י yod, in hophal corrupted, not corrupters. See the same word in the same form, and in the same sense, Pro 25:26.”
From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there is no soundness—only wounds and welts and festering sores neither cleansed nor bandaged nor soothed with oil.
“They have not been closed, etc. “It hath not been pressed,” etc. - The pharmaceutical art in the East consists chiefly in external applications: accordingly the prophet’s images in this place are all taken from surgery.”
And the Daughter of Zion is abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a shack in a cucumber field, like a city besieged.
“As a cottage in a vineyard “As a shed in a vineyard” - A little temporary hut covered with boughs, straw, turf, or the like materials, for a shelter from the heat by day, and the cold and dews by night, for the watchman that…”
Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
“Ye rulers of Sodom “Ye princes of Sodom” - The incidental mention of Sodom and Gomorrah in the preceding verse suggested to the prophet this spirited address to the rulers and inhabitants of Jerusalem, under the character of princes of Sodom and people of Gomorrah.”
When you come to appear before Me, who has required this of you—this trampling of My courts?
“When ye come to appear - Instead of לראות leraoth, to appear, one MS. has לראות liroth, to see. See De Rossi. The appearing before God here refers chiefly to the three solemn annual festivals. See Exo 23:14.”
Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!
“Wash you - Referring to the preceding verse, “your hands are full of blood;” and alluding to the legal washing commanded on several occasions. See Lev 14:8, Lev 14:9, Lev 14:47.”
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they…
“Though your sins be as scarlet - שני shani, “scarlet or crimson,” dibaphum, twice dipped, or double dyed; from שנה shanah, iterare, to double, or to do a thing twice.”
But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
“Ye shall be devoured with the sword “Ye shall be food for the sword” - The Septuagint and Vulgate read תאכלכם tochalchem, “the sword shall devour you;” which is of much more easy construction than the present reading of the text.”
Your silver has become dross; your fine wine is diluted with water.
“Wine mixed with water - An image used for the adulteration of wines, with more propriety than may at first appear, if what Thevenot says of the people of the Levant of late times were true of them formerly.”
I will restore your judges as at first, and your counselors as at the beginning. After that you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.”
“I will restore - “This,” says Kimchi, “shall be in the days of the Messiah, in which all the wicked shall cease, and the remnant of Israel shall neither do iniquity, nor speak lies.” What a change must this be among Jews!”
For you will become like an oak whose leaves are withered, like a garden without water.
“Whose leaf “Whose leaves” - Twenty-six of Kennicott’s, twenty-four of De Rossi’s, one ancient, of my own, and seven editions, read אליה aleyha, in its full and regular form.”
For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with influences from the east; they are soothsayers like the Philistines; they strike hands with the…
“They be replenished “And they multiply” - Seven MSS. and one edition, for ישפיקו yaspiku, read ישפיחו yaspichu, “and have joined themselves to the children of strangers;” that is, in marriage or worship. - Dr. Jubb. So Vulg., adhaeserunt. Compare Isa 14:”
Go into the rocks and hide in the dust from the terror of the LORD and the splendor of His majesty.
““When he ariseth to strike the earth with terror” - On the authority of the Septuagint, confirmed by the Arabic and an ancient MS., I have added here to the text a line, which in the 19th and 21st verses (Isa 2:19, Isa 2:21) is…”
and the idols will vanish completely.
“Shall utterly abolish “Shall disappear” - The ancient versions and an ancient MS. read יחלפו yachalpu, plural. One of my MSS. reads יחלוף yachaloph, probably a mistake for יחלפו yachalpu.”
In that day men will cast away to the moles and bats their idols of silver and gold—the idols they made to worship.
“Which they made each one for himself to worship “Which they have made to worship” - The word לו lo, for himself, is omitted by two ancient MSS., and is unnecessary. It does not appear that any copy of the Septuagint has it, except MS.”
Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?
“Cease ye from man - Trust neither in him, nor in the gods that he has invented. Neither he, nor they, can either save or destroy.”
“I will make mere lads their leaders, and children will rule over them.”
“I will give children to be their princes “I will make boys their princes” - This also was fully accomplished in the succession of weak and wicked princes, from the death of Josiah to the destruction of the city and temple, and the taking of…”
A man will seize his brother within his father’s house: “You have a cloak—you be our leader! Take charge of this heap of rubble.”
“Of the house of his father “Of his father’s house” - For בית beith, the house, the ancient interpreters seem to have read מבית mibbeith, from the house; του οικειου του πατρος αυτου, Septuagint; domesticum patris sui, Vulgate; which gives no good sense.”
For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen because they spoke and acted against the LORD, defying His glorious presence.
“The eyes “The cloud” - This word appears to be of very doubtful form, from the printed editions, the MSS., and the ancient versions.”
Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.
“Say ye to the righteous - לצדיק letsaddik, the ל lamed is added here by one MS. and the Chaldee. The righteous is the person, 1. Who fears God. 2. Departs from evil. 3. Walks according to the testimony of God. 4.”
Youths oppress My people, and women rule over them. O My people, your guides mislead you; they turn you from your paths.
“Err “Pervert” - בלעו billeu, “swallow.” Among many unsatisfactory methods of accounting for the unusual meaning of this word in this place, I choose Jarchi’s explication, as making the best sense. “Read בללו billalu, ‘confound.’ Syriac.” - Dr. Judd. “Read בהלו beholu, ‘disturb or trouble.’””
The LORD also says: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty—walking with heads held high and wanton eyes, prancing and skipping as they go, jingling the bracelets on their ankles—
“And wanton eyes “And falsely setting off their eyes with paint” - Hebrew, falsifying their eyes. I take this to be the true meaning and literal rendering of the word; from שקר shakar.”
In that day the Lord will take away their finery: their anklets and headbands and crescents;
“Ornaments about their feet “The ornaments of the feet rings” - The late learned Dr. Hunt, professor of Hebrew and Arabic in the University of Oxford, has very well explained the word עכס both verb and noun, in his very ingenious Dissertation on Prov, Isa…”
their headdresses, ankle chains, and sashes; their perfume bottles and charms;
“The tablets - The words בתי הנפש bottey hannephesh, which we translate tablets, and Bishop Lowth, perfume boxes, literally signify houses of the soul; and may refer to strong scented bottles used for pleasure and against fainting; similar to bottles with otto of roses, worn…”