112 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel,.... As an instance of his boldness, courage, and impartiality, he begins with the principal men of the land, and charges them with sins, and reproves for them, and denounces judgments on account of them; [See comments on Micah 3:1]; that abhor judgment, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. Or, "O thou that buildest up" (g), c. or "everyone of them that buildeth up" (h), c. for the word is in the singular number but, be fire words rendered either of these ways, they respect the heads and princes of the people who either repaired the temple on Zion, or ornamented the king's...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The heads thereof judge for reward,.... That is, the heads or principal men of Zion and Jerusalem; the kings, or sanhedrim, according to Kimchi; but as this prophecy was delivered in the times of Hezekiah, Jeremiah 26:18, be who was so good a king must be excepted from this charge; perhaps it was delivered in the beginning of his reign, before a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed [as] a field,.... That is, for your sins, as the Targum; for the bloodshed, injustice, and avarice of the princes, priests, and prophets; not that the common people were free from crimes; but these are particularly mentioned, as being ringleaders into sin, and who ought to have set better examples; as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Micah 4 This chapter contains some gracious promises concerning the glory and happiness of the church of Christ in the last days; as of its stability, exaltation, and increase, and of the spread of the Gospel from it, Micah 4:1; and of the peace and security of it, and constant profession and exercise of religion in it, Micah 4:3;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But in the last days it shall come to pass, [that] the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains,.... It appears by the adversative but, with which these words are introduced, that they have a dependence upon and a connection with the last of the preceding chapter; signifying, that though "the mountain of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And many nations shall come, and say, come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob,.... In Isaiah 2:3; it is, "many people", c. the sense is the same See Gill on Isaiah 2:3; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; the teacher is the King Messiah, as Kimchi observes; the great...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off,.... That are in the most distant parts of the world; not only the isles afar off, but the remotest parts of the continent, the American nations found out since. In Isaiah 2:4, it is, "and he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people"; that is, the King...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But they shall sit every man under his vine, and under his fig tree,.... A proverbial phrase, expressive of the greatest tranquillity, security, and enjoyment of property; see 1 Kings 4:25; when persons need not keep within their walled towns and cities, and lack themselves up in their houses, but may sit down in their gardens, fields, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For all people will walk everyone in the name of his god,.... Till those times come before described; when many nations and people shall flock to the church, and there shall be such general peace and tranquillity as here promised; till then the nations of the earth shall retain their former religion, and the profession of it, with constancy, till...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth,.... The Jews or Israelites so described; not from the halting of Jacob their father, as Abarbinel thinks; nor because of their halting between two opinions, worshipping both the true God and idols, as in the times of Elijah; for this will not suit with the Jews in their present state;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I will make her that halted a remnant,.... That is, make a reserve of her, and not utterly cut her off for her halting or sinning; that there may be a seed, a posterity descending from her, that shall serve the Lord, and appear to be a remnant according to the election of grace; which will be the persons called and gathered in the latter day:...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And thou, O tower of the flock,.... The words "Migdal Eder" are left by some untranslated, and think that place to be intended so called, which was near to Bethlehem, Genesis 35:19; and perhaps is the same which Jerom (t) calls the tower of Ader, about a mile from Bethlehem: this is supposed to be the place where the shepherds were watching over...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now why dost thou cry out aloud?.... Or "cry a cry" (w); a vehement one, or set up a most lamentable cry, as if no help or hope were to be had, but as in the most desperate condition: here the prophet represents the Jews as if they were already in captivity, and in the utmost distress, and as they certainly would be; and yet had no reason to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail,.... Bear thy troubles and calamities, sufferings and sorrows, patiently, and expect deliverance from them, as a woman in such circumstances does: or, as some render it in the future, "thou shalt be in pain", c. (y) and so is a prediction of their distress and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now also many nations are gathered against thee,.... Which is to be understood, not of Sennacherib's army invading Judea, and besieging Jerusalem, in Hezekiah's time; for that was not threshed, as the phrase is afterwards used, or destroyed by the daughter of Zion, but by an angel from heaven: nor of the Babylonians or Chaldeans, since they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel,.... Which are very different from theirs: the thoughts and designs of the enemies of Zion, in the times of the Maccabees, were, to destroy utterly the people of God, and root them out of the earth, and abolish their religion and worship; but the intentions of God were...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Arise, and thresh, O daughter of Zion,.... The nations gathered against her, and now laid together on the floor as sheaves to be threshed. Here the people of God are aroused, and called out of a low and weak estate, and are animated and encouraged to exert themselves, and fall upon their enemies, and destroy them; alluding to the threshing of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Micah 5 This chapter begins with a prophecy of the siege of Jerusalem, Micah 5:1; and then follows another concerning the place of the Messiah's birth, Micah 5:2; and of the case of the Jews, either before or after it, Micah 5:3; and of Christ's office as a shepherd, and of his grandeur in the world, Micah 5:4; and of his being a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops,.... Not Jerusalem, full of people, called to draw out their forces, and fall upon the enemy besieging them, whether Chaldeans or Romans; but rather the Babylonians, whose armies were large, and their troops numerous; who are called upon by the people of God, encouraged by the foregoing...