Matthew 3:4 BSB — MannaFest

Matthew 3:4

John wore a garment of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

Now John himself had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey.

KJV

And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

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Commentary

4 voices

Jerome

Commentary on Matthew (420)

(Verse 4.) Now John himself had a garment made of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist. He said, 'It is made of hair, not wool.' The type of clothing indicates austerity, not luxury. The leather belt that he wore, just like Elijah, is a symbol of mortification (IV Kings 1). Furthermore, what follows is... But his food was locusts and wild honey. It is fitting for a dweller of solitude to fulfill not the delights of food, but the necessity of human flesh.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

His raiment of camel’s hair - A sort of coarse or rough covering, which, it appears, was common to the prophets, Zec 13:4. In such a garment we find Elijah clothed, 2Ki 1:8. And as John had been designed under the name of this prophet, Mal 4:5, whose spirit and qualifications he was to possess, Luk 1:17, he took the same habit and lived in the same state of self-denial.

J.C. Ryle

1816–1900

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew (1856)

These verses describe the ministry of John the Baptist, the forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ: it is a ministry that deserves close attention. Few preachers ever produced such effects as John the Baptist: “There went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan.”None ever received such praise from the great head of the church: Jesus called him “a burning and a shining light” ( John 5:35 ); the great Bishop of souls Himself declared, that “among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.”

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair--woven of it. and a leathern girdle about his loins--the prophetic dress of Elijah (2Ki 1:8; and see Zec 13:4). and his meat was locusts--the great, well-known Eastern locust, a food of the poor (Le 11:22). and wild honey--made by wild bees (1Sa 14:25, 26).

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

27 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
Αὐτὸς	Autos	Himself	G846 →
δὲ	de	now	G1161 →
ὁ	ho	<the>	G3588 →
Ἰωάννης	Iōannēs	John	G2491 →
εἶχεν	eichen	was having	G2192 →
τὸ	to	the	G3588 →
ἔνδυμα	enduma	garment	G1742 →
αὐτοῦ	autou	of him	G846 →
ἀπὸ	apo	of	G575 →
τριχῶν	trichōn	hair	G2359 →
καμήλου	kamēlou	of a camel	G2574 →
καὶ	kai	and	G2532 →
ζώνην	zōnēn	a belt	G2223 →
δερματίνην	dermatinēn	of leather	G1193 →
περὶ	peri	around	G4012 →
τὴν	tēn	the	G3588 →
ὀσφὺν	osphun	waist	G3751 →
αὐτοῦ·	autou	of him;	G846 →
ἡ	hē	<the>	G3588 →
δὲ	de	and	G1161 →
τροφὴ	trophē	[the] food	G5160 →
ἦν	ēn	was	G1510 →
αὐτοῦ	autou	of him	G846 →
ἀκρίδες	akrides	locusts	G200 →
καὶ	kai	and	G2532 →
μέλι	meli	honey	G3192 →
ἄγριον.¶	agrion	wild.	G66 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Mark 1:6
John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
leads to
- 2 Kings 1:8
  “He was a hairy man,” they answered, “with a leather belt around his waist.” “It was Elijah the Tishbite,” said the king.
  Reached by 3 independent paths from here.
- Zechariah 13:4
  And on that day every prophet who prophesies will be ashamed of his vision, and he will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive.
  Reached by 3 independent paths from here.
- Leviticus 11:22
  Of these you may eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket, or grasshopper.
Through
Zechariah 13:4
And on that day every prophet who prophesies will be ashamed of his vision, and he will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive.
leads to
- Isaiah 20:2
  the LORD had already spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and the sandals from your feet.” And Isaiah did so, walking around naked and barefoot.
  Reached by 3 independent paths from here.
- Micah 3:6–7
  Therefore night will come over you without visions, and darkness without divination. The sun will set on these prophets, and the daylight will turn black over them.
- Revelation 11:3
  And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
Through
Leviticus 11:22
Of these you may eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket, or grasshopper.
leads to
- Mark 1:6
  John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- Exodus 10:4–5
  But if you refuse to let My people go, I will bring locusts into your territory tomorrow.