1583 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed,.... That is, he that is guilty of wilful murder shall surely be put to death by the order of the civil magistrate; so the Targum of Jonathan, "by witnesses the judges shall condemn him to death,'' that is, the fact being clearly proved by witnesses, the judges shall condemn "him to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And you, be ye fruitful and multiply,.... Instead of taking away the lives of men, the great concern should be to multiply them; and this indeed is one reason of the above law, to prevent the decrease and ruin of mankind; and which was peculiarly needful, when there were so few men in the world as only four, and therefore it is repeated in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him,.... Not only what is contained in the preceding verses, but in the subsequent ones: saying; as follows.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And [I], behold, [I] establish my covenant with you,.... Not the covenant of grace in Christ, but of the preservation of the creatures in common, a promise that they should not be destroyed any more by a flood; to which promise it seems an oath was annexed, as appears from Isaiah 54:9 which passage refers to this covenant, as Aben Ezra on the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And with every living creature that is with you,.... This is a further proof that this was not the covenant of grace, but of conservation, since it is made with irrational as well as rational creatures: of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; the birds of the air, the tame cattle, and the wild beasts: from all that go...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I will establish my covenant with you,.... This is repeated to denote the certainty of it, as well as to lead on to the particulars of it: neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither man nor beast, at least not all of them, and especially by water: neither shall there be any more a flood to destroy the earth;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And God said, this is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you,.... Meaning the bow in the cloud, and which might be formed in the cloud at this time, that Noah might see it, and know it when he saw it again, and seems to be pointed unto: "this is the token"; or sign of the covenant made between God and Noah, and his sons: and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I do set my bow in the cloud,.... Or "I have given", or "have set it" (p); which seems as if it was at that instant set; this is the same we call the "rainbow": and so Horace (q) calls it "arcus pluvius": it is called a "bow", because of its form, being a semicircle, and a "rainbow", because it is seen in a day of rain, and is a sign of it, or of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth,.... Or "cloud a cloud" (u), cause the clouds to gather thick in the heavens, and to hang over the earth ready to pour down great quantities of water; by reason of which the inhabitants might dread another flood coming upon them: wherefore, in order to dissipate such fears, it shall be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I will remember my covenant which is between me and you, and every living creature of all flesh,.... See Genesis 9:11 and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh; this is repeated to remove those fears which would naturally arise, upon the gathering of the clouds in the heavens; but as God would remember his covenant,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the bow shall be in the cloud,.... Not whenever there is a cloud, but at some certain times, when that and the sun are in a proper position to form one, and when divine wisdom sees right there should be one; then it appears and continues for a time, and as the cloud becomes thinner and thinner, it disappears: and I will look upon it, that I...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And God said to Noah, this is the token of the covenant,.... Which is repeated for the greater confirmation and certainty of it, since the fears of men would be apt to run very high, especially while the flood was fresh in memory; which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth: see Genesis 9:9, it is highly probable, that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth,.... These were born before the flood, and went into the ark with Noah, and came out with him; see Genesis 5:32 and Ham [is the] father of Canaan; this is observed for the sake of the following history, concerning the behaviour of the one to Noah, and of the curse of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
These are the three sons of Noah,.... And his only ones; and if he had any more, they left no posterity behind them, since it follows, and of them was the whole earth overspread, with inhabitants, by them and their posterity only: Berozus (z) indeed says, that Noah, after the flood, begat more sons, and giants; and his commentator, Annius, talks...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Noah began to be an husbandman,.... Or "a man of the earth" (c), not lord of it, as Jarchi, though he was, but a tiller of the earth, as he had been before the flood, and now began to be again; he returned to his old employment, and which perhaps he improved, having invented, as the Jews (d) say, instruments of husbandry; it may be, the use of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he drank of the wine, and was drunken,.... Either not being acquainted with the strength of it, as is thought by many; or having been used to weaker liquor, as water; or through the infirmity of his age; however, he was overtaken with it, and which is recorded, not to disgrace him, but to caution men against the evil of intemperance, as well...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father,.... Which, had it been through surprise, and at an unawares, would not have been thought criminal; but be went into his father's tent, where he ought not to have entered; he looked with pleasure and delight on his father's nakedness: Ham is represented by many writers as a very...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Shem and Japheth took a garment,.... Who were the two brothers Ham told what he had seen, and who, no doubt, reproved him for his ill behaviour, and then took a garment, a coat of their own, very probably, some large garment fit for the purpose; and laid it upon both their shoulders; one part of it on the right shoulder of the one, and the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Noah awoke from his wine,.... From his sleep, which his wine brought on him; when the force and strength of that was gone, and when not only he awaked, but came to himself, and was sober; and knew what his younger son had done to him; either by revelation, as some, or prophecy, as Ben Gersom, or by the relation of his two sons, whom, when...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said,.... Not in a drunken fit, as some profane persons would suggest, for he was awaked from his wine; nor in the heat of passion, but by inspiration, under a spirit of prophecy: cursed [be] Canaan; or, "O cursed Canaan", or rather, "Canaan is", or "shall be cursed" (q); for the words are either a declaration of what was his case, or a...