Judges 19:23

Jdg 19:23 And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, [nay], I pray you, do not [so] wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly.

Ver. 23. Nay, my brethren.] Brethren they were by race and place: but these were unworthy of this compellation, as having put off the man, and become dogs, and worse, {Deu 23:18 2Ti 3:8} scalded {a} in their own grease. {Rom 1:27}

{a} εξεκαυθησαν.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(23) Do not this folly.—It is from no deficiency of moral indignation that the word “folly” (nebalah) is used. Sometimes when crime is too dark and deadly for ordinary reproach the feelings are more deeply expressed by using a milder word, which is instantly corrected and intensified by the hearer himself. (See Gen_34:7; Deu_22:21.) Thus Virgil merely gives the epithet “unpraised” (“illaudati Busiridis aras”) to the cannibal tyrant, which serves even better than a stronger word. (Comp. “Shall I praise you for these things? I praise you not” 1Co_11:17-22.) (See the author’s Brief Greek Syntax, p. 199.) This figure of speech takes the various form of antiphasis, litotes, meiosis, &c.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23. Nay, my brethren … wickedly] Similarly Gen_19:7.

do not … folly] This translation is only a makeshift. The Hebr. nebâlâh means much more than folly; it implies moral insensibility, repudiation of the claims of morality and religion, particularly, in this phrase, an outrage against the laws of nature, Jdg_20:6; Jdg_20:10, Gen_34:7, Deu_22:21, 2Sa_13:12. In Jos_7:15 the phrase is used of Achan’s iniquity.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them,.... Opened the door, and went out to converse with them, and talked them after this manner:

and said unto them, nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly; it is plain he understood them in such sense, that they meant not bare knowledge of the man, as who he was, &c. but to commit wickedness the most abominable; so great, that it cannot be well said how great it is; and to dissuade from it, he uses the most tender language, and the most earnest entreaties:

seeing this man is come into my house, do not this folly; he argues from the law of hospitality, which ought not to be infringed; a man being obliged to protect a stranger under his roof; and from the nature of the crime, which was folly, stupidity, and what was abominable to the last degree.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

This man is come into mine house - He appeals to the sacred rights of hospitality, just as Lot did Gen 19:8. Both cases betray painfully the low place in the social scale occupied by woman in the old world, from which it is one of the glories of Christianity to have raised her.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

This man is come into mine house, and therefore I am obliged to protect him by the laws of hospitality. Compare Gen 19:17,8.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He pleads the sanctity of hospitality.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Into my house - And therefore I am obliged to protect him by the laws of hospitality.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.