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
But Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him and said, “Teacher, don’t You care that we are perishing?”
“On a pillow - Προσκεφαλαιον probably means a little bed, or hammock, such as are common in small vessels. I have seen several in small packets, or passage boats, not a great deal larger than a bolster.”
Then Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the sea. “Silence!” He commanded. “Be still!” And the wind died down, and it was perfectly calm.
“Peace, be still - Be silent! Be still! There is uncommon majesty and authority in these words. Who but God could act thus?”
Overwhelmed with fear, they asked one another, “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
“What manner of man is this? - They were astonished at such power proceeding from a person who appeared to be only like one of themselves.”
Night and day in the tombs and in the mountains he kept crying out and cutting himself with stones.
“Crying and cutting himself with stones - In this person’s case we see a specimen of what Satan could do in all the wicked, if God should permit him; but even the devil himself has his chain; and he who often binds others, is always…”
And he shouted in a loud voice, “What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You before God not to torture me!”
“What have I to do with thee - Or, What is it to thee and me, or why dost thou trouble thyself with me? See on Mar 1:24 (note), and Mat 8:29 (note), where the idiom and meaning are explained.”
“What is your name?” Jesus asked. “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.”
“Legion: for we are many - Could a disease have spoken so? “No, there was no devil in the case; the man spoke according to the prejudice of his countrymen.””
And he begged Jesus repeatedly not to send them out of that region.
“Out of the country - Strange that these accursed spirits should find it any mitigation of their misery to be permitted to exercise their malevolence in a particular district!”
Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.
“The swine - Instead of τους χοιρους, BCDL, three others, Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, Vulgate, and Itala, read αυτους, them - And they that fed Them fled. Griesbach has adopted this reading.”
When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
“That - had the legion - This is omitted by D, and two others, Ethiopic, Persic, Vulgate, and all the Itala but one. Mill, Bengel, and Griesbach, think it should be omitted.”
But Jesus would not allow him. “Go home to your own people,” He said, “and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy He has…
“Suffered him not - Ὁ δε Ιησους, Howbeit Jesus, is omitted by ABKLM, twenty-seven others, both the Syriac, both the Persic, Coptic, Gothic, Vulgate, and one of the Itala. Mill and Bengel approve of the omission, and Griesbach leaves it out of the text.”
and pleaded with Him urgently, “My little daughter is near death. Please come and place Your hands on her, so that she will be healed and live.”
“My little daughter - Το θυγατριον μου, that little daughter of mine. The words express much tenderness and concern. Luke observes, Luk 8:42, that she was his only daughter, and was about twelve years of age.”
His disciples answered, “You can see the crowd pressing in on You, and yet You ask, ‘Who touched Me?’”
“Thou seest the multitude thronging then, etc. - Many touch Jesus who are not healed by him: the reason is, they do it not by faith, through a sense of their wants, and a conviction of his ability and willingness to save them.”
“Daughter,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be free of your affliction.”
“Be whole of thy plague - Rather, continue whole, not, be whole, for she was already healed: but this contains a promise, necessary to her encouragement, that her disorder should afflict her no more.”
While He was still speaking, messengers from the house of Jairus arrived and said, “Your daughter is dead; why bother the Teacher anymore?”
“Why troublest thou the Master - These people seem to have had no other notion of our Lord than that of an eminent physician, who might be useful while there was life, but afterwards could do nothing.”
But Jesus overheard their conversation and said to Jairus, “Do not be afraid; just believe.”
“Jesus - saith - These words were spoken by our Lord to the afflicted father, immediately on his hearing of the death of his child, to prevent that distress which he otherwise must have felt on finding that the case was now, humanly speaking, hopeless.”
When they arrived at the house of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw the commotion and the people weeping and wailing loudly.
“He cometh - But ερχονται, they come, is the reading of ABCDF, four others, and several versions. Wept and wailed - See on Mat 9:23 (note).”
And they laughed at Him. After He had put them all outside, He took the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and went in to see the child.
“The father and the mother - Prudence required that they should be present, and be witnesses of the miracle. And them that were with him - That is, Peter, James, and John, Mar 5:37.”
Taking her by the hand, Jesus said, “Talitha koum!” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”
“Talitha cumi - , This is mere Syriac, the proper translation of which the evangelist has given. The Codex Bezae has a very odd and unaccountable reading here, ῥαββι. θαβιτα κουμι, My master. Damsel arise.”
Then Jesus gave strict orders that no one should know about this, and He told them to give her something to eat.
“Something should be given her to eat - For though he had employed an extraordinary power to bring her to life, he wills that she should be continued in existence by the use of ordinary means.”
When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were astonished. “Where did this man get these ideas?” they asked.
“Were astonished - επι τῃ διδαχῃ αυτου, at his doctrine, or teaching. This is added by the Codex Bezae and eight others, later Syriac, Armenian, Vulgate, and all the Itala.”
Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t His sisters here with us as well?”
“Is not this the carpenter - Among the ancient Jews, every father was bound to do four things for his son. 1. To circumcise him. 2. To redeem him. 3. To teach him the law. 4. To teach him a trade.”
He instructed them to take nothing but a staff for the journey—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts—
“A staff only - It is likely he desired them to take only one with every two, merely for the purpose of carrying any part of their clothes on, when they should be obliged to strip them off by reason of the heat; for walking…”
and to wear sandals, but not a second tunic.
“Shod with sandals - The sandal seems to have been similar to the Roman solea, which covered only the sole of the foot, and was fastened about the foot and ankle with straps.”
If anyone will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that place, as a testimony against them.”
“And whosoever shall not receive you - Ὁς αν τοπος μη δεξηται, whatsoever Place will not receive you: this is the reading of BL, four others, and the later Syriac in the margin. Verily, etc.”
Now King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known, and people were saying, “John the Baptist has risen from the dead!
“And king Herod heard? - Την ακοην αοτου, his fame, is added by KM, fifteen others, and in the margin of several. It seems necessary to complete the sense.”