Matthew Henry

He said: “The LORD roars from Zion and raises His voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the summit of Carmel withers.”

“Our God, whose special residence is there, will issue out warrants, given at that court, as it were, for the executing of judgments on the land.”

I will cut off the ruler of Moab and kill all the officials with him,” says the LORD.

“The king, the chief judge, and all the inferior judges and princes, shall be cut off together. If the people sometimes suffer for the sin of their princes, yet the princes themselves shall not escape, Jer. xlviii. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.”

Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, though his height was like that of the cedars, and he was as strong as the oaks.

“They were of great stature ( whose height was like the height of the cedars ) and the people of Israel were as shrubs to them; and they were also of great strength, not only tall, but well-set: He was strong as the oaks.”

Does a bird land in a snare where no bait has been set? Does a trap spring from the ground when it has nothing to catch?

“When God has come forth to contend with a sinful people it is necessary that they should understand, 1.”

Surely the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets.

“The secret of God is with them; it is in some sense with all the righteous ( Prov. iii. 32 ), with all that fear God ( Ps. xxv.”

The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken—who will not prophesy?

“Nay, and besides the prophetic impulse which went along with the inspiration, and made the word like a fire in their bones ( Jer. xx.”

Proclaim to the citadels of Ashdod and to the citadels of Egypt: “Assemble on the mountains of Samaria; see the great unrest in the city and the acts of oppression…

“If they have grown impudent in sin, let them bear the shame: " Publish it in Ashdod, in Egypt. " 1. Let them see how black the charge is, and how well proved.”

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: “An enemy will surround the land; he will pull down your strongholds and plunder your citadels.”

“(1.) Their country shall be invaded and ruined; and observe how the punishment answers to the sin. [1.]”

This is what the LORD says: “As the shepherd snatches from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so the Israelites dwelling in Samaria…

“Those that stretch themselves lazily upon their couches when God's judgments are abroad shall go captive with the first that go captive. Notice is given of it to themselves,”

“I beset all your cities with cleanness of teeth and all your towns with lack of bread, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.

“Or, I have given you emptiness of teeth, nothing to fill your mouths with. " Bread, the staff of life, has been wanting, for you have sown much and brought in little, " as Hag. i.”

“I also withheld the rain from you when the harvest was three months away. I sent rain on one city but withheld it from another.

“Now, [1.] By this it appeared that the withholding of the rain was not casual, but by a divine direction and disposal, and that the cloud which waters the earth is turned round about by the counsels of God, to do whatsoever he commands it…”

“I struck you with blight and mildew in your growing gardens and vineyards; the locust devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the…

“Their vineyards and gardens yielded their increase in great abundance, so did their fig-trees and olive-trees; but the palmer-worm devoured them before the fruits were ripe, and fit to be gathered in.”

“I sent plagues among you like those of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses.

“The pestilence is God's messenger; this he sent among them, with directions whom to strike dead, and it was done. It was a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; deaths were scattered among them by the hand of a destroying angel at midnight.”

“Some of you I overthrew as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the…

“Perhaps they were consumed with lightning, as Sodom was, or the houses were, in some other way, burnt to the ground, and the inhabitants in them. Sodom and Gomorrah are said to be condemned with an overthrow, and so made an example, 2 Pet. ii.”

Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal; do not journey to Beersheba, for Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing.

“They had sought to Bethel, where one of the golden calves was; they had frequented Gilgal, a place which they chose to set up idols in, because it had been made famous in the days of Joshua by God's wonderful appearances to and for his…”

There are those who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness to the ground.

“Corruptio optimi est pessima -- The best, when corrupted, becomes the worst. "You leave off righteousness in the earth, as if those that do wrong were accountable to the God of heaven only, and not to the princes and judges of the earth.”

There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity.

“They hate him that rebukes in the gate, in the gate of the Lord's house, or in their courts of justice, or in the places of concourse, where Wisdom is lifting up her voice, Prov. i.”

Woe to you who long for the Day of the LORD! What will the Day of the LORD be for you? It will be darkness and not light.

“Or, rather, it is spoken to those who speak jestingly of that day of the Lord which the prophet spoke so seriously of; they desired it, that is, they challenged it; they said, Let him do his worst; let him make speed, and hasten his…”

Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

“Stephen quotes this passage ( Acts vii. 42 ), to show the Jews that they ought not to think it strange that ceremonial law was repealed when from the beginning it was comparatively made light of.”

Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Hosts.

“Or the captivity of Israel under Shalmaneser was far beyond that of Damascus under Tiglath-pileser, and much more grievous and destructive, which was foretold ch. i.”

Woe to those at ease in Zion and those secure on Mount Samaria, the distinguished ones of the foremost nation, to whom the house of Israel comes.

“The house of Israel came to them, that is, was divided into those kingdoms, of which Zion and Samaria were the mother cities.”

You lie on beds inlaid with ivory, and lounge upon your couches. You dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall.

“They had no concern at all for the interests of the church of God, and of the nation, that were sinking and going to decay: They are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph; the church of God, including both the kingdoms of Judah and…”

Therefore, you will now go into exile as the first of the captives, and your feasting and lounging will come to an end.

“How strongly this burden is bound on, not to be shaken off by their presumption and security; for it is bound by the Lord the God of hosts, by his mighty, his almighty, hand, which none can resist; it is bound with an oath, which…”

For the LORD gives a command: “The great house will be smashed to pieces, and the small house to rubble.”

“The princes' palaces are not above the rebuke of divine justice, nor the poor men's cottages beneath it; neither shall escape. When sin has marked them for ruin God will find ways to bring it about.”

you who rejoice in Lo-debar and say, ‘Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?’

“But those who trust in their own strength rejoice in a thing of nought, and so they will find. Probably they did not say this with their lips, totidem verbis--in so many words, but it was the language of their hearts and of their actions…”