a But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ver. 5. God forbid; Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man), iii. 4, 5. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid, ix. 14. That be far from thee, to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked; and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Gen. xviii. 25. Shall even he that hateth right govern? and wilt thou condemn him that is most just? Is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked? And to princes, Ye are ungodly? How much less to him that accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor? for they all are the work of his hands, Job xxxiv. 17 -19. For he will not lay upon man more than right; that he should enter into judgment with God, 23. For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right, Psal. ix. 4. But the LORD shall endure for ever he hath prepared his throne for judgment. And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness, 7, 8. The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked, and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest; this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright, xi. 5-7. Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast, xxxvi. 5, 6. Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh, to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people

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with his truth, xcvi. 13. The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works, cxlv. 17. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right, Isa. xlv. 19. Tell ye, and bring them near: yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who

hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none else, 21. Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee; yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper: wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? Jer. xii. 1. Yet ye say, The way of the LORD is not equal. Hear now O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal? Ez. xviii. 25. Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the LORD is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal? 29. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, and extol, and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase, Dan. iv. 37. The just LORD is in the midst thereof: he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame, Zeph. iii. 5. Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead, Acts xvii. 31. Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer; Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you: And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall be punished with everlast

ing destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day, 2 Thess. i. 510. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest, Rev. xv. 3, 4. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shall be, because thou hast judged thus, xvi. 5. For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand, xix. 2.

VER. 3.

Λογίζῃ δὲ τοῦτο, ὦ ἄνθρωπε, ὁ κρίνων τοὺς τὰ τοιαῦτα πράσσοντας, καὶ ποιῶν αὐτὰ, ὅτι σὺ ἐκφεύξῃ τὸ κρίμα τοῦ Θεοῦ;

And a thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

a Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? ver. 22. Shall they escape by iniquity? In thine anger cast down the people, O God, Psal. lvi. 7. Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished; but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered, Prov. xi. 21. Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD:

though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished, xvi. 5. But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant and be delivered? Ez. xvii. 15. Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo,

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he hath given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall not escape, 18. Ye serpents, ye generations of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Matt. xxiii. 33. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape, 1 Thess. v. 3. How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him, Heb. ii. 3. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not, who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, xii. 25.

VER. 4.

Ἡ τοῦ πλούτου τῆς χξηστότητος αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῆς ἀνοχῆς, καὶ τῆς μακροθυμίας καταφρονεῖς, ἀγνοῶν ὅτι τὸ χρηστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς μετάνοιάν σε ἄγει ;

Or adespisest thou the briches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

a What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? Rom. vi. 1. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid, 15. He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it, Psal. x. 11. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil, Eccl. viii. 11. And come, and stand before me, in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Jer. vii. 10. Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged and every vision faileth? Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GoD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel: but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision, Ez. xii. 22, 23. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming: And

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shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, Matt. xxiv. 48, 49. Know ing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 2 Pet. iii. 3.

And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Rom. ix. 23. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him, x. 12. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! xi. 33. For thou, LORD, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee, Psal. lxxxvi. 5. O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy riches, civ. 24. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, Eph. i. 7. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 18. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, ii. 4. That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus, 7. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, iii. 8. That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, 16. But my God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory, by Christ Jesus, Phil. iv. 19. To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is, Christ in you, the hope of glory, Col. i. 27. That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, ii. 2. Charge them that are rich in this

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world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, 1 Tim. vi. 17. Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, Tit. iii. 6.

• Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God, Rom. iii. 25. 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, ix. 22. And the LORD passed by before him and proclaimed, the LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Exod. xxxiv. 6. The LORD is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation, Numb. xiv. 18. But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath, Psal. Ixxviii. 38. But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion and gracious, long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth, lxxxvi. 15. I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses. For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie; so he was their Saviour. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them,

Isa. Ixiii. 7-10. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him

to life everlasting, 1 Tim. i. 16. Which sometimes were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight persons, were saved by water, 1 Pet. iii. 20.

d He looketh upon men; and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living, Job xxxiii. 27-30. If thou LORD, shouldest mark iniquity, O LORD who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared, Psal. cxxx. 3, 4. And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him, Isa. xxx. 18. Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful, saith the LORD; and I will not keep anger for ever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD, Jer. iii. 12, 13. 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, 22, 23. That thou mayest remember and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD, Ez. xvi. 63. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lond and his goodness in the latter days, Hos. iii. 5. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of

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my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 1 will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants, Luke xv. 17-19. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, 2 Pet. iii. 9. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you, 15. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me, Rev. iii. 20.

VER. 5.

Κατὰ δὲ τὴν σκληρότητά σου καὶ ἀμετανόητον καρδίαν, θησαυρίζεις σεαυτῷ ὀργὴν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὀργῆς, καὶ ἀποκαλύψεως δικαιοκρισίας τοῦ Θεοῦ·

But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and d revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

a For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, Rom. xi. 25. But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said, Exod. viii. 15. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall fol. low them; and I will get me honour upon Pharoah, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen, xiv. 17. But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day, Deut. ii. 30. For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that he

might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favour, but that he might destroy them, as the LORD commanded Moses, Josh. xi. 20. Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharoah hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed? 1 Sam. vi. 6. Now be ye not stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you, 2 Chron. xxx. 8. And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the LORD God of Israel, xxxvi. 13. Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself; into that very destruction let him fall, Psal. xxxv. 8. He, that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy, Prov. xxix. 1. Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is as iron sinew, and thy brow brass, Isa. xlviii. 4. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted, Ez. iii. 7. But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him, Dan. v. 20. But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his Spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of Hosts, Zech. vii. 11, 12. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, Heb. iii. 13. While it is said, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, 15. (Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day, after so long a time; as it is

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said, To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, iv. 7.

b 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, Rom. ix. 22. Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures? To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste, Deut. xxxii. 34, 35. For they know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces, Am. iii. 10. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days, Jam. v. 3.

That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath, Job xxi. 30. Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death, Prov. xi. 4. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished, 2 Pet. ii. 9. But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men, iii. 7. For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? Rev. vi. 17.

dBut we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God, Rom. ii. 3. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, i. 18.

VER. 6.

Ὃς ἀποδώσει ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα

αὐτοῦ·

Who will render to every mли асcording to his deeds: