made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan,

He brake in pieces the brazen serpent, that Moses had long since made, and erected in the wilderness as a type of that Christ, by whom his people are healed of the venomous stings of their sins; which holy monument, being reserved to this day, was grossly abused by the superstitious Israelites, who burnt incense to it, as a God: this Hezekiah pulled down and defaced; terming it, by way of indignation, as it was, a Piece of Brass.

XIX. 3 The children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

It is with us, as with a woman in travail, which hath not strength to bring forth her birth; extreme calamity hath seized upon us, of which we have no power to deliver ourselves.

XIX. 7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return.

I will, with a blast of wind, send him away; for I will raise a rumour of Tirhakah coming up against his land, which shall fetch him off from you.

XIX. 29 Ye shall eat this year, &c. See Isaiah xxxvii. 30.

XX. 2 Then he turned his face to the wall.

For the greater privacy of his meditation, he turned his face from the view of his attendants towards the wall.

XX. 9 Shall the shadow go forward ten degrees? &c.

Shall the shadow in one moment skip over ten degrees, so as the day shall be so much shorter than ordinary?

XX. 11 And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow back ten degrees, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

And Isaiah prayed earnestly unto the Lord; and he recalled the motion of the sun ten degrees back, from the point, where it was; so as the day, which in ordinary course consisted of twelve hours, was now protracted to two and twenty: and that this retrograde motion might be sensibly discerned, he caused it to be apparently seen, and noted in the famous dial of Jerusalem, which was called by the name of Ahaz.

XX. 19 And he said, Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?

God hath dealt graciously with me herein; for I had well deserved a speedy judgment upon myself, in my own person, but lo, the mercy of God hath not proceeded thus against me, but hath, notwithstanding my offence, promised peace, and stability of his wonted grace to me, all my life,

XXI. 3 And worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. As one, that affected to be an universal idolater, he worshipped all the spirits that rule in the air, and all the stars that are fixed in heaven.

XXI. 13 And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab.

I will take the same course with Jerusalem, that I have taken with Samaria; and with the wicked house of Ahab, which I have utterly rooted out from before me.

XXII. 8 I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD.

I have found the very original record of the book of the Law, which was left by Moses, and reserved in the Holy of Holies by the command of God.

XXII. 14 Now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college.

Now she dwelt at Jerusalem, in the college which is set apart for the use and inhabitation of the prophets; as being, notwithstanding her sex, of great eminence in that profession.

The Books of the CHRONICLES, consisting partly of genealogies, and partly of the same histories repeated, have afforded no use of this Paraphrase.

EZRA.

II. 62 But they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.

Because their genealogy could not be found and approved, they were held in the rank of ordinary Israelites, men not sanctified for the holy office of priesthood; and therefore were accordingly put from their ministration.

II. 63 And the Tirshatha said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim.

And the governor or deputy (who was Sheshbazzar) said unto them, by the motion and information of the Jews, that they should not be admitted to eat of those holy things (whose use was peculiar to the sacred tribe) until there should be a decision made of this question by a priest of God, who, by the oracle of the breastplate, should give sentence and determination hereof from God himself.

IV. 4 The people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah. The people of the land disheartened and discouraged the people of Judah, from this holy enterprise of building the temple of God. IV. 10 Whom the great and noble Asnapper brought over. Whom the great and noble Esar-haddon, king of Assyria, brought

over. See verse 2.

IX. 2 So that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of the land.

So as, those, who are the chosen and peculiar people of God, the Jews, have matched themselves in marriages, with the heathenish and idolatrous people of the land.

IX. 8 And to give us a nail in his holy place.

To fasten us, and to give us the hope of a settled being, in this holy place; as some nail, that is driven up to the head, in some solid table, that cannot be removed.

NEHEMIAH.

II. 13 And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port.

And I went out by night, by the gate which opens towards the valley of Jehosaphat, which is to the south, over against that which is called the serpent's well, by reason of the sly creeping of it; and so to the dung port, towards the east.

V. 5 Fet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, &c. There is no difference in nature, in flesh or blood, betwixt us and the rest of Israel: why should we, without any fault of our part, be in worse condition than they?

V. 14 I and my brethren have not caten the bread of the go

vernor.

I and my family have not taken that allowance, which was appointed for the governor; so as, though I wielded the place, yet I forbore to take the maintenance allotted unto it, both of money and provision, in favour of the people, and respect to the common good.

V. 19 Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people.

O God, thou, that art wout to accept of and graciously to reward the good desires and works, that are wrought by thy Spirit in and by us thy unworthy servants, be thou pleased to receive and to crown, these my good intentions and endeavours towards this thy people.

VI. 10 To Shemaiah, &c. who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God,

I came to Shemaiah, who was, under pretence of devout humiliation and prayer for my safety, shut up in his house; and he, pretending a tender care of my person, advised, that we shut up ourselves in the Temple.

VI. 11 And I said, Should such a man as I flee?

Have I taken upon me to be the governor of this people; and have I, in a godly resolution, gone through this work hitherto; and shall I now bewray any base fear or cowardice: and seem to

set such a price upon my life, as that I would protract it, by weak subducing of myself, and hiding my head in the temple ?

VI. 14 My God, think thou upon Tobiah, &c.

O my God, I do not, out of any private malice or spleen, or in any respect to the affronts offered to my person, but in a sincere desire of thy glory, beseech thee, to make known to the world how ill thou takest these treacherous plots of Tobiah, and his complices, &c.

VII. 65 Now the Tirshatha, &c. See Ezra ii. 63.

XI. 11 Seraiah, &c. the son Ahitub, the ruler of the house of God.

Seraiah the son of Ahitub, who was the man that had the charge of the oversight of the temple; both for the fabric of it, and the good order to be kept in it.

XIII. 4 Having the oversight of that chamber of the house of our God.

Having the oversight of that chamber of store, which pertained to the Temple of the Lord; wherein were laid up all things that

were of use for the sacrifices. See verse 5.

XIII. 14 Remember me, O my God, &c. See chapter vi. verse 14. XIII. 25 And I cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair.

Irated them, and reviled them, and dealt so roughly with them, as that I proceeded to blows, and to the tearing off their hair from their heads.

ESTHER.

I. 13 Wise men, which knew the times.

That were men of excellent judgment, and knowledge in all affairs; able to give advice for the fittest times, and manners of performance, of all actions.

I. 19 That Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus. That Vashti be no more admitted into thy presence as thy wife, but be instantly dismissed.

II. 18 And he made a release to the provinces, &c.

For the honour of his marriage, he gratified the provinces, with pardons, and releases of those exactions, whereof they com. plained; and gave bountiful gifts amongst them, &c.

II. 19 Then Mordecai sat in the king's gate.

Mordecai, according to the place or office that he had in the court, sat in the gate of the king.

III. 2 But Mordecai bowed not, nor did reverence.

But Mordecai, whether for that he knew Haman to be of that blood which by God's charge were exposed to the hatred and revenge of Israel, or whether for that he thought the honour required was more than was fit for a man, bowed not, nor did that reverence which all others too officiously gave to Haman.

III. 7 In the first month, &c. they cast Pur, that is, a lot, &c. They did, by superstitious lots, seek to find out a day, which, by their vain conjectures, might be most likely to be prosperous for this their design.

III. Ibid. In the month of Adar.

In the last month in the year, which answers to our February.

IV. 16 If I perish, I perish.

I will put my life in hazard: I cannot venture it upon a better cause: I will do the act; let God give what issue he pleaseth.

VI. 13 If he be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him.

I have ever observed a special hand of God upon that his peculiar people, the Jews: their friends are wont still to prosper; their enemies go still to the worst: I fear the nation, as much as I hate the man.

VIII. 9 The month Sivan.

In that month which answereth to our May.

IX. 26 Wherefore they called those days Purim.

In memory of those lots, which were cast by Haman, for the prosperous success of his bloody enterprize against the Jews, they, being now happily delivered, call the days of their deliverance by the name of Purim,

JOB.

I, 1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

In the land of Uz, which lieth upon the borders of the Chaldeans, Sabeans, and Canaanites, there was a man of the posterity of Abraham by Keturah, called Job; and he was sincere and truchearted, and one that feared God, and conscionably avoided all known and wilful wickedness.

1. 3 This man was the greatest of all the men of the east. He was the greatest and wealthiest of all that posterity of Abraham, which were dispersed into the eastern countries.

I. 6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. And, to speak after the manner of men and to express the coun