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3,811 commentary entries
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible
Parental Discipline
Here is, 1. The duty of magistrates, and that is, to judge faithfully between man and man, and to determine all causes brought before them, according to truth and equity, particularly to take care of the poor, not to co…
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 29:15
Parents, in educating their children, must consider, 1. The benefit of due correction. They must not only tell their children what is good and evil, but they must chide them, and correct them too, if need be, when they…
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 29:16
Note, 1. The more sinners there are the more sin there is: When the wicked, being countenanced by authority, grow numerous, and walk on every side, no marvel if transgression increases, as a plague in the country is sai…
Miscellaneous Maxims
Note, 1. It is a very happy thing when children prove the comfort of their parents. Good children are so; they give them rest, make them easy, and free from the many cares they have had concerning them; yea, they give d…
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 29:18
See here, I. The misery of the people that want a settled ministry: Where there is no vision, no prophet to expound the law, no priest or Levite to teach the good knowledge of the Lord, no means of grace, the word of th…
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 29:19
Here is the description of an unprofitable, slothful, wicked servant, a slave that serves not from conscience, or love, but purely from fear. Let those that have such servants put on patience to bear the vexation and no…
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 29:20
Solomon here shows that there is little hope of bringing a man to wisdom that is hasty either, 1. Through rashness and inconsideration: Seest thou a man that is hasty in his matters, that is of a light desultory wit, th…
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 29:21
Note, 1. It is an imprudent thing in a master to be too fond of a servant, to advance him too fast, and admit him to be too familiar with him, to suffer him to be over-nice and curious in his diet, and clothing, and lod…
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 29:22
See here the mischief that flows from an angry, passionate, furious disposition. 1. It makes men provoking to one another: An angry man stirs up strife, is troublesome and quarrelsome in the family and in the neighbourh…
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 29:23
This agrees with what Christ said more than once, 1. That those who exalt themselves shall be abased. Those that think to gain respect by lifting up themselves above their rank, by looking high, talking big, appearing f…
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 29:24
See here what sin and ruin those involve themselves in who are drawn away by the enticement of sinners. 1. They incur a great deal of guilt: He does so that goes partner with such as rob and defraud, and casts in his lo…
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 29:25
Here, 1. We are cautioned not to dread the power of man, neither the power of a prince nor the power of the multitude; both are formidable enough, but the slavish fear of either brings a snare, that is, exposes men to m…
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 29:26
See here, 1. What is the common course men take to advance and enrich themselves, and make themselves great: they seek the ruler's favour, and, as if all their judgment proceeded from him, to him they make all their cou…
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 29:27
This expresses not only the innate contrariety that there is between virtue and vice, as between light and darkness, fire and water, but the old enmity that has always been between the seed of the woman and the seed of…
The Words of Agur
THE WORDS OF AGUR. Some make Agur to be not the name of this author, but his character; he was a collector (so it signifies), a gatherer, one that did not compose things himself, but collected the wise sayings and obser…
The Prayer of Agur
THE PRAYER OF AGUR. After Agur's confession and creed, here follows his litany, where we may observe, I. The preface to his prayer: Two things have I required (that is, requested) of thee, O God! Before we go to pray it…
Four Wicked Generations
FOUR WICKED GENERATIONS. Here is, I. A caution not to abuse other people's servants any more than our own, nor to make mischief between them and their masters, for it is an ill office, invidious, and what will make a ma…
Four Things Unsearchable
FOUR THINGS UNSEARCHABLE. He had spoken before of those that devoured the poor (Proverbs 30:14), and had spoken of them last, as the worst of all the four generations there mentioned; now here he speaks of their insatia…
Four Things Little and Wise
FOUR THINGS LITTLE AND WISE. Here is, I. An account of four things that are unsearchable, too wonderful to be fully known. And here, 1. The first three are natural things, and are only designed as comparisons for the il…
Four Things Little and Wise
FOUR THINGS LITTLE AND WISE. I. Agur, having specified four things that seem great and yet are really contemptible, here specifies four things that are little and yet are very admirable, great in miniature, in which, as…
Four Things Majestic and Stately
FOUR THINGS MAJESTIC AND STATELY. Here is, I. An enumeration of four things which are majestic and stately in their going, which look great:— 1. A lion, the king of beasts, because strongest among beasts. Among beasts i…
Maternal Counsels to King Lemuel
MATERNAL COUNSELS TO KING LEMUEL. Most interpreters are of opinion that Lemuel is Solomon; the name signifies one that is for God, or devoted to God; and so it agrees well enough with that honourable name which, by divi…
The Virtuous Woman
THE VIRTUOUS WOMAN. This description of the virtuous woman is designed to show what wives the women should make and what wives the men should choose; it consists of twenty-two verses, each beginning with a letter of the…
The Vanity of the World
THE VANITY OF THE WORLD. Here is, I. An account of the penman of this book; it was Solomon, for no other son of David was king of Jerusalem; but he conceals his name Solomon, peaceable, because by his sin he had brought…