Εἰ δὲ ἀπαρχὴ ἁγία, καὶ τὸ φύραμα· καὶ εἰ ἡ ῥίζα ἁγία, καὶ οἱ κλάδοι.

For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: band if the root be holy, so are the branches.

a And the first of all the first-fruits

of all things; and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest's: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that ye may cause the blessing to rest in thine house, Ezek. xliv. 30. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures, Jam. i. 18.

bAnd I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, Gen. xvii. 7. Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? Jer. ii. 21.

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being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world : But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ, Eph. ii. 11-13.

VER. 18.

Μὴ κατακαυχῶ τῶν κλάδων· εἰ δὲ και τακαυχᾶσαι, οὐ σὺ τὴν ῥίζαν βαστάζεις, ἀλλ ̓ ἡ ῥίζα σέ.

a Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

a See on chap. iii. ver. 27.

Εἰ γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς τῶν κατὰ φύσιν κλάδων οὐκ ἐφείσατο, μήπως οὐδέ σου φείσηται.

For if God spared not the natural brunches, a take heed lest he also spare not thee.

a But with many of them God was not well pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the in

tent we should not lust after evil

things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured,

and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall, 1 Cor. x. 5-12. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not, Jude 5. See also on Matt. iii. ver. 10. clause 4.

a What if God, willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction; And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles! Rom. ix. 22-24. See now that 1, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand, For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever. If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour fesh ; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people; for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merci

ful unto his land, and to his people, Deut. xxxii. 39-43. And when ye see this your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb;

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lxvi. 14.

b See on John viii. ver. 31.

* See on Matt. iii. ver. 10, clause 4.

VER. 23.

Καὶ ἐκεῖνοι δὲ, ἐὰν μὴ ἐπιμείνωσι τη ἀπιστία, εγκεντρισθήσονται· δυνατὸς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς πάλιν ἐγκεντρίσει αὐτούς.

a And they also, if they abide not in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.

a I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness? ver. 11, 12. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away, 2 Cor. iii. 15, 16.

VER. 24.

Εἰ γὰρ σὺ ἐκ τῆς κατὰ φύσιν ἐξεκόπης ἀγριελαίου, καὶ παρὰ φύσιν ἐνεκεντρίσθης εἰς καλλιέλαιον, πόσῳ μᾶλλον οὗτοι οἱ κατά φύσιν, εγκεντρισθήσονται τῇ ἰδίᾳ iλala;

a For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?

a See on ver. 17. clause 2.

VER. 25.

Οὐ γὰρ θέλω ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν, ἀδελφοί, rò uorigiov roûto, (iva pò has crap' ἑαυτοῖς φρόνιμοι) ὅτι πώρωσις ἀπὸ μέρους τῷ Ἰσραὴλ γέγονεν, ἄχρις οὗ τὸ πλήρωμα τῶν ἐθνῶν εἰσέλθῃ·

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; Israel, buntil the fulness of the Gentiles a that blindness in part is happened to be come in.

• Or, hardness.

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a See on Matt. xiii. ver. 14. b See on Luke xxi. ver. 24.

VER. 26.

Καὶ οὕτω πᾶς Ἰσραὴλ σωθήσεται· και πὼς γέγραπται· Ἥξει ἐκ Σιὼν ὁ ῥυόμενος, καὶ ἀποστρέψει ἀσεβείας ἀπὸ Ἰακώβ.

a And so all Israel shall be saved: bas

it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them. And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt, Isa. xi. 10-16. But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end, xlv. 17. For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee:

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but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no

more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed; saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee, liv. 6-10. At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers. But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? And I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me. Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD. A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God. Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel, Jer. iii. 17-23. For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after. Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwelling-places;

and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof. And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving, and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few: I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them. And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the LORD. And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God, xxx. 17-22. Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith the LORD, If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel, for all that they have done, saith the LORD, XXXI. 35-37. Behold, I will gather them out of all countries whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them: And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart, and with my whole soul, xxxii. 37-41. Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath

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even cast them off? Thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them. Thus saith the LORD, If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth: Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed, to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them, xxxiii. 24— 26. Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey and I will judge between cattle and cattle. And I will set up one Shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; be shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them: I the LORD have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them, and the places round about my hill, a blessing: and I will cause the shower to come down in his season: there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. And they shall no more be a prey to the beathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them: but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. And I will raise up for them a Plant of renown, and they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord GOD. And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord GOD, Ezek. xxxiv. 22-31. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GoD, Behold, I will take the children