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.
The rest of the quotation
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
Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols.
“Every man is brutish - נבער nibar, is a boor, acts as a brute, who may suppose that a stock of a tree, formed like a man, may be an intellectual being; and therefore shuns the form as though it had life.”
The Portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance—the LORD of Hosts is His name.
“The Portion of Jacob is not like them - Every nation had its tutelary god; this was its portion; in reference to this God says Deu 4:19, “He has divided the sun, moon, and stars, to all the nations under the heaven.””
For this is what the LORD says: “Behold, at this time I will sling out the inhabitants of the land and bring distress upon them so that they may be…
“I will sling out the inhabitants of the land - I will project you with violence from your country. I will send you all into captivity. This discourse, from Jer 10:17, is supposed to have been delivered in the eleventh year of Jehoiakim.”
For the shepherds have become senseless; they do not seek the LORD. Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.
“The pastors are become brutish - The king and his counselors, who, by refusing to pay the promised tribute to Nebuchadnezzar, had kindled a new war.”
Listen! The sound of a report is coming— a great commotion from the land to the north. The cities of Judah will be made a desolation, a haunt for jackals.
“The noise of the bruit is come - How this silly French word bruit, which signifies noise, got in here, I cannot imagine. The simple translation is this: “The voice of the report!”
Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, and on the families that do not call on Your name.
“Pour out thy fury upon the heathen - Even those who are now the executors of thy justice upon us will, in their turn, feel its scourge; for if judgment begins at us, who have been called thy house and thy people, shall they who…”
“Listen to the words of this covenant and tell them to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.
“Hear ye the words of this covenant - It is possible that the prophet caused the words of the covenant made with their fathers in the desert (Exo 24:4-8) to be read to them on this occasion; or, at least, the blessings and the cursings…”
They have returned to the sins of their forefathers who refused to obey My words. They have followed other gods to serve them.
“They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers - A great reformation had taken place under the reign of Josiah, and the public worship of idols had been abolished, and most of the high places destroyed; but under the reign of his son…”
As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not be listening when they call…
“Therefore pray not thou for this people - I am determined to give them up into the hands of their enemies; I will neither hear thy intercession, nor regard their prayers. Their measure is full.”
What right has My beloved in My house, having carried out so many evil schemes? Can consecrated meat avert your doom, so that you can rejoice?
“What hath my beloved to do in mine house - This has been supposed to refer to Abraham, Moses, or such eminent servants of God, whose intercession was very powerful. Were even they to appear as intercessors, their prayer should not be regarded.”
And the LORD informed me, so I knew. Then You showed me their deeds.
“The Lord hath given me knowledge of it - The men of Anathoth had conspired against his life, because he reproved them for their sins, and denounced the judgments of God against them.”
You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts.
“Thou art near in their mouth - They have no sincerity: they have something of the form of religion, but nothing of its power.”
How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field be withered?
“How long shall the land mourn - These hypocrites and open sinners are a curse to the country; pull them out, Lord, that the land may be delivered of that which is the cause of its desolation.”
Even your brothers—your own father’s household—even they have betrayed you; even they have cried aloud against you. Do not trust them, though they speak well of you.
“For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father - Thou hast none to depend on but God: even thy brethren will betray thee when they have it in their power.”
Is not My inheritance to Me like a speckled bird of prey with other birds of prey circling against her?
“Is unto me as a speckled bird - A bird of divers colors. This is a people who have corrupted the worship of the true God with heathenish rites and ceremonies; therefore, the different nations, (see Jer 12:10; whose gods and forms of worship they…”
Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled My plot of ground. They have turned My pleasant field into a desolate wasteland.
“Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard - My people have had many kinds of enemies which have fed upon their richest pastures; the Philistines, the Moabites, Ammonites, Assyrians, Egyptians. and now the Chaldeans.”
Over all the barren heights in the wilderness the destroyers have come, for the sword of the LORD devours from one end of the earth to the other.
“The sword of the Lord shall devour - It is the sword of the Lord that has devoured, and will devour: this is what no man layeth to heart. They think these things come in the course of events.”
This is what the LORD says: “As for all My evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to My people Israel, I am about to uproot them from…
“Against all mine evil neighbors - All the neighboring nations who have united in desolating Judea shall be desolated in their turn: they also are wicked, and they shall be punished.”
But after I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land.
“I will return, and have compassion on them - This is a promise of restoration from the captivity, and an intimation also that some of their enemies would turn to the true God with them; learn the ways of his people; that is, would abjure…”
But if they will not obey, then I will uproot that nation; I will uproot it and destroy it, declares the LORD.”
“I will - destroy that nation - Several of them did not obey, and are destroyed. Of the Moabites, Ammonites, and Chaldeans, not one vestige remains. The sixteenth verse is supposed to be a promise of the conversion of the Gentiles. See Eph 2:13-22.”
“Take the loincloth that you bought and are wearing, and go at once to Perath and hide it there in a crevice of the rocks.”
“Go to Euphrates, and hide it there - Intending to point out, by this distant place, the country into which they were to be carried away captive.”
So I went to Perath and dug up the loincloth, and I took it from the place where I had hidden it.
“And behold, the girdle was marred; it was profitable for nothing - This symbolically represented the state of the Jews: they were corrupt and abominable; and God, by sending them into captivity, “marred the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem,” Jer 13:9.”
then you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land—the kings who sit on…
“Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land - with drunkenness - You pretend to take this literally, but it is a symbol. You, and your kings, and priests, and prophets, are represented by these bottles.”
Say to the king and to the queen mother: “Take a lowly seat, for your glorious crowns have fallen from your heads.”
“Say unto the king and to the queen - Probably Jeconiah and his mother, under whose tutelage, being young when he began to reign, he was left, as is very likely.”
“I will scatter you like chaff driven by the desert wind.
“The wind of the wilderness - Some strong tempestuous wind, proverbially severe, coming from the desert to the south of Judea.”