Bible Commentaries
Go deeper in Scripture
Browse trusted public-domain commentary alongside DiscipleDeck Bible study. References inside each commentary open Bible previews in place.
27,299 commentary entries
The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 11:1-23
EXPOSITION The first four verses of this chapter would have been better placed as the conclusion of the previous chapter. They correspond with 1 Kings 12:21-24; and they tell how Rehoboam was restrained from making bad…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 13:1-22
EXPOSITION The career of Abijah begins and ends with this chapter, the twenty-one verses of which are paralleled by only eight in 1 Kings 15:1-8. The difference is caused by the fact that the writer of Kings only mentio…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 14:1-15
EXPOSITION This chapter commences Asa's long reign of forty-one years. Asa was son of Abijah and grandson of Maachah (2 Chronicles 15:16; 1 Kings 15:13). The reign was remarkable for the devotion of Asa to the true God,…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 15:1-19
EXPOSITION This chapter is something like an oasis in our history, and was perhaps such in the real life of Asa also. Presumably it covers a period of some twenty years. Reading between the lines, and indeed chapters, w…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 16:1-14
EXPOSITION The contents of this chapter fall easily into three parts: Asa's conflict with Baasha (2 Chronicles 16:1-6; parallel, 1 Kings 15:16-22); Hanani's rebuke of Asa, and Asa's ill reception of it (2 Chronicles 16:…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 18:1-34
EXPOSITION This chapter, from its second verse, finds its parallel in 1 Kings 22:2-35. It opens with dangerous symptoms, recording in one sentence the event that was to bear ill fruit, if not till "years" afterward (1 K…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 19:1-11
EXPOSITION The matter of this chapter is preserved for us by the writer of Chronicles alone, and is of much significance. After glancing at the moment's outward "peace" (2 Chronicles 19:1), which Jehoshaphat had on his…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 20:1-37
EXPOSITION Of this chapter, with its thirty-seven verses, only the six verses (31-36) find any duplicate or parallel in Kings (1 Kings 22:41-49). The chapter is occupied with a statement of the invasion of Judah by Moab…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 21:1-20
EXPOSITION The matter of this chapter may be divided into four parts. The death and burial of Jehoshaphat, and the number, names, and position of his sons (2 Chronicles 21:1-3). The accession and wicked course of Jehora…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 22:1-12
EXPOSITION This chapter comprises the accession, brief reign, and death of Ahaziah (2 Chronicles 22:1-9) and the following murders and usurpation of Athaliah during six years (2 Chronicles 22:10-12). The parallel of the…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 24:1-27
EXPOSITION This chapter contains the entire career of Joash, and is answered to by the twelfth chapter of Kings. It tells of Joash's fidelity to God, and his worship and temple, while Jehoiada's life lasted (2 Chronicle…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 25:1-28
EXPOSITION This chapter is filled up with a very graphic account of the entire career of Amaziah, and its twenty-eight verses are paralleled by the twenty verses of 2 Kings 14:1-20, where the narrative reads in several…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 26:1-23
EXPOSITION The twenty-three verses of this chapter, entirely occupied with the career of Uzziah, have to be content with a parallel of nine verses only, viz. 2 Kings 14:21, 2 Kings 14:22; 2 Kings 15:1-7. Our chapter fir…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 27:1-9
EXPOSITION This chapter of nine verses is paralleled by the seven verses of 2 Kings 15:32-38. It consists of personal particulars respecting Jotham (2 Kings 15:1, 2 Kings 15:2); his building and his wars (2 Kings 15:3-6…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 28:1-27
EXPOSITION This chapter is paralleled by 2 Kings 16:1-20. There is a great deal gained in this case by addition on the two accounts, however. Our chapter contains the wickedness by idolatry of Ahaz, the severe punishmen…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 29:1-36
EXPOSITION The important reign of Hezekiah extends over this and the following three chapters, counting in all ninety-seven verses. The parallel, for the contents of the first three of these chapters, with their sixty-f…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 30:1-27
EXPOSITION This chapter contains the account of Hezekiah's arrangements after the restoration for the observance of the Passover—arrangements more than ordinarily interesting to notice in respect of, first, the unusual…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 32:1-33
EXPOSITION This chapter of thirty-three verses is paralleled by the sixty-one verses that begin with 2 Kings 18:13 and end with 2 Kings 19:37; and by Isaiah 36:1-22; Isaiah 37:1-38. Our chapter gives, as might be antici…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 33:1-25
EXPOSITION The first twenty verses of this chapter are taken up with the account of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah and Hephzibah, who, beginning to reign at the early age of twelve years, reigned in all fifty-five years;…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 34:1-33
EXPOSITION This chapter, with the following, embraces the entire of the beneficent reign of Josiah, son of Amon—the son an illustrious contrast to the father. The parallel (2 Kings 22-23:30) is less full, and also, so f…
The Pulpit Commentary on 2 Chronicles 35:1-27
EXPOSITION This chapter of twenty-seven Verses, occupied with the account of Josiah's great Passover (2 Chronicles 35:1-19), and his death in the battle of Megiddo, waged by Necho King of Egypt with "Carchemish by Euphr…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 1:1-4
PART 1 1. THE FIRST RETURN FROM THE CAPTIVITY EXPOSITION THE DECREE OF CYRUS (Ezra 1:1-4). The origin of the return is found in an exertion of Divine influence on the mind of a heathen king, who was moved thereby to put…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 1:1
In the first year of Cyrus. The context shows that it is the first year of Cyrus at Babylon which is intended. Cyrus the Great became King of Persia by his final defeat and capture of Astyages, in b.c. 559 probably. His…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 1:1
The crisis. The very first word of this book (literally "and," Keil, Wordsworth, etc.) has its importance. It shows the book to be an additional and continuous portion of that most important of all histories, the histor…