Me. Ps. xxxix. 12, bn <7 rdportog zyu ei/xt sv rr\ yy xai ‘7ra,ps<x/dvifj,0Cy xaOuc -zdvreg oi rrarepeg fiov, for 1 am a stranger on the earth and a so- journer, as all my fathers were. Comp. Heb. xi. 13, note. — avsyjcfc, abstain ) The Imperative,1 as ch. v. 1, 2, I exhort — feed. Thus cohere the words, having your conversation , etc., ver. 12, and ch. iii. 7, 8, 9, and the word ready [sroi/xoi coming after the previous Im- perative, as zyovrzg here], ch. iii. 15. — tapjuxuv, carnal ) 2 Pet. ii. 10, 18. — ffrpurevovrcu, war ) Not only do they hinder, but attack. A fine word.
12. T r\v amcrpotpriv, your conversation) There are two things in which strangers and foreigners ought to conduct themselves well : The conversation , which is prescribed in excellent terms for subjects, ver. 13 ; for servants, ver. 18 ; for wives, ch. iii. 1 ; for husbands, ch. iii. 7 ; for all, ver. 8 : and confession , ch. iii. 15, 16, which pas- sage has a manifest reference to this. Each passage is derived from the will of God : ch. ii. 15, iii. 17. — xaraX aXovffiv, speak against you) That was common even then, ver 15, ch. iii. 16, iv. 4, 14. — ugxaxo- ttoiuvj as evil-doers) As though ye were not obedient to authorities and magistrates and good laws : ver. 13, 14. — ix, from) Constructed with they may glorify. — xa?,wv tpyea v, good works) Hence well-doing, ver. 14 and 15. This is true submission. — knonnUavrig, closely in- specting) The same word occurs, ch. iii. 2. Other men narrowly look into the actions of the righteous. — do^dawffi rbv 0g bv, they may glorify God) God, who has children like unto Himself. — h i](Tzpq imtxoTrfie, in the day of visitation) iifiepq, in the day , used indefinitely. [The note in the Germ. Yers. interprets it of the last day. — E. B.] There is an allusion to the divine visitation , when God brings to light the innocence of the righteous, which has long been hidden : and He often brings about this result by means of even hostile magistrates, during the process of inquiry, and he often converts adversaries themselves. Thus Septuagint, h rfj ruatpq rijg sxntxoffi )g9 in the day of visitation , Is. x. 3 ; Iv xcupa inns xonijg, at the season of visitation , Jer. vi. 15. Until such a day arrives, there is need of patience.
13. Ildari uvdpuj-Trlvri xriffei, to every creation of man) A king or Caesar is called a creation, and so are governors sent by him ; the abstract being put by Metonymia for the concrete, as in political language the phrase, eine Creatur , to create a magistrate , is often
1 Not the Infinitive re^s^a/, as B Vulg. and Rec. Text. But a.'KiyJzafo in AC, both Syr. Versions, Memph. and Cyprian. — E,