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in well doing, and comfort in virtuous suffering, which we learn of His holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. Let him accordingly stop on fit occasions and think: What consolation doth this passage administer to me? What acknowledgements to Heaven doth this declaration require from me? What fear for myself doth this threatening call for? What duty doth this precept or pattern point out to me? Of what sin doth it convince me? Against what dangers doth it warn me? Is my character and behaviour suitable to this command or exhortation, this description or good example? or do I see myself here, under another's name, reproved, condemned, stigmatized? Have I acquired that sense of my own sinfulness and weakness, of God's holiness and justice, of my need of the merits of Christ, and the grace of the Divine Spirit, which the whole tenour of Scripture inculcates, or am I still inclined to stand or fall by my own righteousness? Faithful pains, taken for some time in such home questions, without forcing unnatural uses out of any text, but only dwelling on those that fairly present themselves, will make us experience a Divine virtue in the sacred writings, piercing first, and healing afterwards; which, provided we are not satisfied with being piously moved at the time, and then relapsing into what we were before, but continue the inquiry steadily, and carry on every feeling into practice, will assuredly transform us into what we ought to be. Possibly, indeed, we may not all at once or very soon receive a sensible benefit. But surely we have no title to be impatient under the hands of our heavenly Physician; perfect recovery will be at length the certain consequence of His treatment of us; and every single ingredient in the great remedy, His holy Word, and every direction for the use of it, will contribute its share to our cure. Let us therefore conscientiously observe all His commands, each in its due place, and let us entreat His blessing on our humble endeavours, that, receiving the seed of the Word into a good and honest heart, we may "bring forth fruit with patience." Abp. Secker.

IT may be proper to state, that the marginal references, printed in this Edition of the Bible, are the same which were originally furnished by the framers of the authorized Version. Other marginal references have been added in later times, and have been inserted in many editions of the Bible: but it has been deemed expedient to omit them in this Edition, inasmuch as they do not rest on the same authority, as the references of the Translators. Also, the summaries of the contents of each chapter, and the marginal readings and explanations, are those of the authorized Translators.

The chronological dates in the margin, as well as the Chronological Index at the end, were added by Dr. William Lloyd, who died Bishop of Worcester in 1717.

The unlearned reader may find it useful to be informed, that, wherever words occur in the text of the English Bible, printed in the Italick character, he is to understand that these words have none corresponding to them in the original Hebrew or Greek text, but that the sense is implied; and that the words are added in the English to complete the sense, or make it clearer.

a 2

INTRODUCTION

TO THE

OLD TESTAMENT.

THE HE Old Testament contains those sacred books which were composed, previously to the birth of our Saviour, by the successive Prophets and inspired writers, whom it pleased God to raise up from time to time, through a period of more than a thousand years. These books are written in Hebrew, and they are the only writings now extant in that language. The Old Testament, according to our Bibles, consists of thirty-nine books; but among the Jews they formed only twenty-two, which was also the number of letters in their alphabet. They divided these twentytwo books into three classes: the first class consisted of five books, namely, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, which they called the Law: the second class consisted of thirteen books, namely, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth in one book, the two books of Samuel, of Kings, and of Chronicles, respectively, in single books, Ezra and Nehemiah in one book, Esther, Job, Isaiah, the two books of Jeremiah in one, Ezekiel, Daniel, and the twelve Minor Prophets in one book; these thirteen books they called the Prophets: the third class consisted of the four remaining books, namely, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon, which four books the Jews call Chetubim, and the Greeks Hagiographa; this class was also called the Psalms from the name of the first book in it. This threefold division was naturally suggested by the books themselves; it was used merely for convenience, and did not proceed from any opinion of difference in the authority of the books of the several classes. In like manner, the Minor Prophets were so called from the brevity of their works, and not from any supposed inferiority to the other Prophets. The books are not, in all instances, arranged in our Bibles according to the order of time in which they were written; but the book of Genesis was the earliest composition contained in the sacred volume, except, as some think, the book of Job; and the book of Malachi was certainly the latest book of the Old Testament.

The five first books of the Bible, generally known by the name of the Pentateuch, are frequently cited both in the Old and the New Testament under the name of the Law. It appears from Deuteronomy, (chap. xxxi. 26,) that the book of the Law, that is, the whole Pentateuch, written by the hand of Moses, was, by his command, deposited in the tabernacle, not long before his death. It was kept there not only while the Israelites remained in the wilderness, but afterwards, when they were

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settled in the land of Canaan. To the same sanctuary were consigned, as they were successively produced, the other sacred books, which were written before the building of the temple at Jerusalem. And when Solomon had finished the temple, he directed that these books should be removed into it; and also, that the future compositions of inspired men should be secured in the same holy place. We may therefore conclude, that the respective works of Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Joel, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and Obadiah, all of whom flourished before the Babylonian captivity, were regularly deposited in the temple. Whether these manuscripts perished in the flames, when the temple was burnt by Nebuchadnezzar, we are not informed. But as the burning of the Scriptures is not lamented by any of the contemporary or succeeding Prophets, and as the other treasures of the temple were preserved and set apart as sacred by Nebuchadnezzar, it is probable that these original manuscripts also were saved; and more especially, as it does not appear that Nebuchadnezzar had any particular enmity against the religion of the Jews. If however the original books were destroyed with the temple, it is certain that there were at that time numerous copies of them; and we cannot doubt but some of them were carried by the Jews to Babylon, and that others were left in Judea. The Holy Scriptures were too much reverenced, and too much dispersed, to make it credible that all the copies were lost or destroyed; and indeed we find Daniel, when in captivity, (ch. ix. 11, 13,) referring to the book of the Law as then existing; and soon after the captivity, (Neh. viii.) Ezra not only read and explained the Law to the people, but he restored the publick worship and the sacrifices according to the Mosaick ritual; and therefore there must have been, at that time, at least a correct copy of the Law; for it is impossible to believe that he would have attempted the re-establishment of a church, in which the most minute observance of the rites and ceremonies prescribed by Moses was not only absolutely necessary for the acceptable performance of Divine worship, but the slightest deviation from which was considered as sacrilege or abomination, unless he had been in actual possession either of the original manuscript of the Law, or of a copy so well authenticated as to leave no doubt of its accuracy in the minds of the people.

There is an uncontradicted tradition in the Jewish church, that about fifty years after the temple was rebuilt, Ezra, in conjunction with the great synagogue, made a collection of the sacred writings, which had been increased, since the Jews were carried into captivity, by the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and the Prophecies of Ezekiel, of Daniel, Haggai, and Zechariah; and as Ezra was himself inspired, we may rest assured, that whatever received his sanction, was authentick. To this genuine collection, which, according to former custom, was placed in the temple, were afterwards annexed the sacred compositions of Ezra himself, as well as those of Nehemiah and Malachi, which were written after the death of Ezra. This addition, which was probably made by Simon the Just, the last of the great synagogue, completed the Canon of the Old Testament; for after Malachi no Prophet arose till the time of John the Baptist, who, as it were, connected the two covenants, and of whom Malachi foretold, (ch. iv. 5,) that he should precede "the great day of the Lord," that is, the coming of the Messiah. It cannot now be ascertained, whether Ezra's copy of the Scriptures was destroyed by Antiochus Epiphanes, when he pillaged the temple; nor is it material, since we know that Judas Maccabeus repaired the temple, and replaced every thing requisite for the performance of Divine worship, which included a correct, if not Ezra's own, copy of the Scriptures. This copy, whether Ezra's or not, remained in the temple till Jerusalem was taken

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INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT.

by Titus, and it was then carried in triumph to Rome, and laid up with the purple vail in the royal palace of Vespasian.

Thus, while the Jewish polity continued, and nearly 500 years after the time of Ezra, a complete and faultless copy of the Hebrew canon was kept in the temple at Jerusalem, with which all others might be compared. And it ought to be observed, that although Christ frequently reproved the rulers and teachers of the Jews for their erroneous and false doctrines, yet He never accused them of any corruption in their written Law, or other sacred books: and St. Paul reckons among the privileges of the Jews, "that unto them were committed the oracles of God," (Rom. iii. 2,) without insinuating that they had been unfaithful to their trust. After the final destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, there was no established standard of the Hebrew Scriptures; but from that time, the dispersion of the Jews into all countries, and the numerous converts to Christianity, became a double security for the preservation of a volume held equally sacred by Jews and Christians, and to which both constantly referred as to the written word of God. They differed in the interpretation of these books, but never disputed the validity of the text in any material point.

The books of the Old Testament have been always allowed, in every age and by every sect of the Hebrew church, to be the genuine works of those persons to whom they are usually ascribed; and they have also been, universally and exclusively, without any addition or exception, considered by the Jews as written under the immediate influence of the Divine Spirit. Those who were contemporaries with the respective writers of these books, had the clearest evidence, that they acted and spoke by the authority of God Himself; and this testimony transmitted to all succeeding ages, was in many cases strengthened and confirmed by the gradual fulfilment of predictions contained in their writings. "We have not," says Josephus, "myriads of books which differ from each other, but only twenty-two books, which comprehend the history of all past time, and are justly believed to be Divine. And of these, five are the works of Moses; which contained the laws, and an account of things from the creation of man to the death of Moses: this period falls but little short of 3000 years. And from the death of Moses to the reign of Artaxerxes, who succeeded Xerxes as king of Persia, the Prophets after Moses wrote the transactions of their own times in thirteen books; and the four remaining books contain hymns to God, and precepts for the conduct of human life. And from Artaxerxes to the present time there is a continuation of writings, but they are not thought deserving of the same credit, because there was not a clear succession of Prophets. But what confidence we have in our own writings is manifest from hence; that after so long a lapse of time no one has dared to add to them, or to diminish from them, or to alter any thing in them; for it is implanted in the nature of all Jews, immediately from their birth, to consider these books as the oracles of God, to adhere to them, and if occasion should require, cheerfully to die for their sake." The Jews of the present day, dispersed all over the world, demonstrate the sincerity of their belief in the authenticity of the Scriptures, by their inflexible adherence to the Law, and by the anxious expectation with which they wait for the accomplishment of the prophecies. "Blindness has happened to them" only "in part," Rom. xi. 25; and the constancy, with which they have endured persecution, and suffered hardships, rather than renounce the commands of their lawgiver, fully proves their firm conviction that these books were divinely inspired, and that they remain uninjured by time and transcription. Handed down, untainted by suspicion, from Moses to the present generation, they are naturally objects of their

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unshaken confidence and attachment-but suppose the case reversed-destroy the grounds of their faith, by admitting the possibility of the corruption of their Scriptures, and their whole history becomes utterly inexplicable. "A book of this nature," says Dr. Jenkin, speaking of the Bible," which is so much the ancientest in the world, being constantly received as a Divine revelation, carries great evidence with it that it is authentick: for the first revelation is to be the criterion of all that follow; and God would not suffer the ancientest book of Religion in the world to pass all along under the notion and title of a revelation, without causing some discovery to be made of the imposture, if there were any in it; much less would He preserve it by a particular and signal providence for so many ages. It is a great argument for the truth of the Scriptures, that they have stood the test, and received the approbation of so many ages, and still retain their authority, though so many ill men in all ages have made it their endeavour to disprove them; but it is a still farther evidence in behalf of them, that God has been pleased to shew so remarkable a providence in their preservation.'

But the most decisive proof of the authenticity and inspiration of the ancient Scriptures is derived from the New Testament. The Saviour of the world Himself, even He who came expressly from the Father of truth "to bear witness to the truth," in the last instructions which He gave to His Apostles just before His ascension, said, "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me," Luke xxiv. 44. Our Lord, by thus adopting the common division of the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, which comprehended all the Hebrew Scriptures, ratified the Canon of the Old Testament as it was received by the Jews; and by declaring that those books contained prophecies which must be fulfilled, He established their Divine inspiration, since God alone can enable men to foretell future events. At another time Christ told the Jews, that they made "the word of God of none effect through their traditions," Mark vii. 13. By thus calling the written rules which the Jews had received for the conduct of their lives, "the word of God," He declared that the Hebrew Scriptures proceeded from God Himself. Upon many other occasions Christ referred to the ancient Scriptures as books of Divine authority; and both He and His Apostles constantly endeavoured to prove that Jesus was the Messiah foretold in the writings of the Prophets. St. Paul bears strong testimony to the Divine authority of the Jewish Scriptures, when he says to Timothy, 2 Tim. iii. 15, “ From a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith, which is in Christ Jesus." This passage incontestably proves the importance of the ancient Scriptures, and the connexion between the Mosaick and Christian dispensations:-and in the next verse the Apostle expressly declares the inspiration of Scripture; "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God." To the same effect St. Luke says, ch. i. 70, that "God spake by the mouth of His holy Prophets." And St. Peter tells us, that "prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," 2 Pet. i. 21. In addition to these passages, which refer to the ancient Scriptures collectively, we may observe, that there is scarcely a book in the Old Testament, which is not repeatedly quoted in the New, as of Divine authority.

When it is said that Scripture is divinely inspired, it is not to be understood that