Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 3:15
Their feet [are] swift to shed blood:
Their feet … – The quotation in this and the two following verses, is abridged or condensed from Isa 59:7-8. The expressions occur in the midst of a description of the character of the nation in the time of the prophet. The apostle has selected a few expressions out of many, rather making a reference to the entire passage, than a formal quotation. The expression, their feet are swift, etc., denotes the eagerness of the nation to commit crime, particularly deeds of injustice and cruelty. They thirsted for the blood of innocence, and hasted to shed it, to gratify their malice, or to satisfy their vengeance.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. Their feet are swift to shed blood] They make use of every means in their power to destroy the reputation and lives of the innocent.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
If we consider this member also, we may see the corruption of man; witness that testimony, Pro 1:16, and Isa 59:7; on both which see annotations.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. Their feet areswift to shed blood (Pro 1:16;Isa 59:7): that is, “Thosefeet, which should ‘run the way of God’s commandments’ (Ps119:32), are employed to conduct men to deeds of darkest crime.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Their feet are swift to shed blood. The sins of the heart and mouth are before described, and now the sins of action are taken notice of; for “the feet” are the instruments of motion and action: and when these are said to be “swift to shed blood”, it denotes the readiness and eagerness of men, to murder innocent creatures; which shows the dreadful malice and hatred that is in them. The words are cited from Isa 59:7, and seem to point at the times of Manasseh, who shed so much innocent blood, as to fill Jerusalem with it from one end to the other.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
To shed (). First aorist active infinitive of , to pour out, old verb with aorist active .
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Their feet are swift,” (okseis hoi podes auton) “The feet of them all (are) swift or hasty,” eager; of such, the way or pattern of conduct of sinners, Solomon warned, Pro 1:16.
2) “To shed blood,” (ekcheiai haima) “To shed blood;” They were evil in deed and practice because they were wicked in heart, Jer 17:9; Isa 59:3-7. Their feet are here said to “run” to evil and hasty, impulsive to shed innocent blood. They were all rebels against any Divine standard of morals and ethics, at enmity with their Creator, Rom 8:7.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
15. Swift Like the feet of a hotly pursuing murderer.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
Ver. 15. Swift to shed blood ] As Paul, till God stopped him in his cursed career.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
15. ] The LXX (Isa l. c.) have , ( . [14] ) , ( , ).
[14] The CODEX SINAITICUS. Procured by Tischendorf, in 1859, from the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. The Codex Frederico-Augustanus (now at Leipsic), obtained in 1844 from the same monastery, is a portion of the same copy of the Greek Bible, the 148 leaves of which, containing the entire New Testament, the Ep. of Barnabas, parts of Hermas, and 199 more leaves of the Septuagint, have now been edited by the discoverer. A magnificent edition prepared at the expense of the Emperor of Russia appeared in January, 1863, and a smaller edition containing the N.T. &c., has been published by Dr. Tischendorf. The MS. has four columns on a page, and has been altered by several different correctors, one or more of whom Tischendorf considers to have lived in the sixth century. The work of the original scribe has been examined, not only by Tischendorf, but by Tregelles and other competent judges, and is by them assigned to the fourth century . The internal character of the text agrees with the external, as the student may judge for himself from the readings given in the digest. The principal correctors as distinguished by Tischendorf are: A, of the same age with the MS. itself, probably the corrector who revised the book, before it left the hands of the scribe, denoted therefore by us -corr 1 ; B (cited as 2 ), who in the first page of Matt. began inserting breathings, accents, &c., but did not carry out his design, and touched only a few later passages; C a (cited as 3a ) has corrected very largely throughout the book. Wherever in our digest a reading is cited as found in 1 , it is to be understood, if no further statement is given, that C a altered it to that which is found in our text; C b (cited as 3b ) lived about the same time as C a , i.e. some centuries later than the original scribe. These are all that we need notice here 6 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rom 3:15-17 . These verses are rather a free extract from, than a quotation of, Isa 59:7-8 . They describe the moral corruption of Israel in the age of the prophet. According to Lipsius, refer to the spiritual misery which comes upon the Jews in the path of self-righteousness. But it is much more natural to suppose that the Apostle is pointing to the destruction and misery which human wickedness inflicts on others, than to any such spiritual results of it. It is as if he had said, “Wherever they go, you can trace them by the ruin and distress they leave behind”. The same consideration applies to Rom 3:17 . It does not mean, “They have failed to discover the way of salvation,” but “they tread continually in paths of violence”.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Their feet, &c. See Pro 1:16. Isa 59:7.
swift = sharp. Greek. oxys. Occurs only here and seven times in Rev., always “sharp”.
shed. Greek. ekcheo. Only here in Rom. Elsewhere seventeen times, generally “pour out”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
15.] The LXX (Isa l. c.) have , (. [14]) , (, ).
[14] The CODEX SINAITICUS. Procured by Tischendorf, in 1859, from the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. The Codex Frederico-Augustanus (now at Leipsic), obtained in 1844 from the same monastery, is a portion of the same copy of the Greek Bible, the 148 leaves of which, containing the entire New Testament, the Ep. of Barnabas, parts of Hermas, and 199 more leaves of the Septuagint, have now been edited by the discoverer. A magnificent edition prepared at the expense of the Emperor of Russia appeared in January, 1863, and a smaller edition containing the N.T. &c., has been published by Dr. Tischendorf. The MS. has four columns on a page, and has been altered by several different correctors, one or more of whom Tischendorf considers to have lived in the sixth century. The work of the original scribe has been examined, not only by Tischendorf, but by Tregelles and other competent judges, and is by them assigned to the fourth century. The internal character of the text agrees with the external, as the student may judge for himself from the readings given in the digest. The principal correctors as distinguished by Tischendorf are:-A, of the same age with the MS. itself, probably the corrector who revised the book, before it left the hands of the scribe, denoted therefore by us -corr1; B (cited as 2), who in the first page of Matt. began inserting breathings, accents, &c., but did not carry out his design, and touched only a few later passages; Ca (cited as 3a) has corrected very largely throughout the book. Wherever in our digest a reading is cited as found in 1, it is to be understood, if no further statement is given, that Ca altered it to that which is found in our text; Cb (cited as 3b) lived about the same time as Ca, i.e. some centuries later than the original scribe. These are all that we need notice here6.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 3:15-18. – ) Isa 59:7-8, LXX., – – . So of the feet, Pro 1:16.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 3:15
Rom 3:15
Their feet are swift to shed blood;-They frequently and without compunction commit murder and violence, and rush fiercely on their victims to gratify their malice or to satisfy their vengeance.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Pro 1:16, Pro 6:18, Isa 59:7, Isa 59:8
Reciprocal: Gen 19:4 – But Jdg 9:32 – by night 1Sa 19:15 – Bring him 1Sa 22:11 – sent to call 1Sa 23:10 – destroy the city 1Sa 23:23 – I will search Ezr 4:23 – they went up Est 3:13 – by posts Est 5:14 – he caused Psa 59:4 – run Jer 41:7 – slew Eze 38:11 – go up Mar 6:25 – with haste Joh 13:30 – went
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
:15
Rom 3:15. Swift to shed blood means they are ever ready and anxious to do so.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 3:15-17. Their feet, etc. Sinful doings are here described in a quotation from Isa 59:7-8. There are some omissions, as will appear from the following rendering of the original passage in the Hebrew:
Their feet run to do evil.
And they haste to shed innocent blood;
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
Wasting and destruction are in their highways;
A way of peace they hare not known,
And there is no judgment in their paths,
Their paths they have made perverse for themselves;
No reader in it hath known peace.
The sense is plain: they readily commit murder (Rom 3:15); wherever they go, they produce destruction and misery (Rom 3:16); the one opposite way, that where men walk peacefully, is strange to them.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Vv. 15-18. Their feet are swift to shed blood: oppression and misery are in their ways: the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes.
Of these four propositions the first three are borrowed from Isa 59:7-8, in which chapter the prophet confesses the corruption of Israel. The feet, as the emblem of walking, symbolize the whole conduct. Man acts without regard to his neighbor, without fear of compromising his welfare and even his life; a saying taken from Pro 1:16. He oppresses () his brother, and fills his life with misery (), so that the way marked out by such a course is watered with the tears of others.
No peace can exist either in the heart of such men, or in their neighborhood (Rom 3:17). And this overflow of depravity and suffering arises from a void: the absence of that feeling which should have filled the heart, the fear of God (Rom 3:18). This term is the normal expression for piety in the Old Testament; it is that disposition in man which has always God present in the heart, His will and judgment. The words: before their eyes, show that it belongs to man freely to evoke or suppress this inward view of God, on which his moral conduct depends. This final characteristic is borrowed from Psa 36:1, which marks the contrast between the faithful and the wicked even in Israel.
The apostle in drawing this picture, which is only a grouping together of strokes of the pencil, made by the hands of psalmists and prophets, does not certainly mean that each of those characteristics is found equally developed in every man, Some, even the most of them, may remain latent in many men; but they all exist in germ in the selfishness and natural pride of the ego, and the least circumstance may cause them to pass into the active state, when the fear of God does not govern the heart. Such is the cause of the divine condemnation which is suspended over the human race.
This is the conclusion which the apostle reaches; but he limits the express statement of it, in Rom 3:19-20, to the Jews; for they only could attempt to protest against it, and put themselves outside this delineation of human corruption. They could object in particular, that many of the sayings quoted referred not to them, but to the Gentiles. Paul foresees this objection, and takes care to set it aside, so that nothing may impair the sweep of the sentence which God pronounces on the state of mankind.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Their feet are swift to shed blood;
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
15. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Not only is this true of wicked worldly people who are ready to waylay and murder you, but it is equally true of the fallen churches; as we see through ages how eagerly they have rushed forth to shed innocent blood, beginning with our Savior, and continuing through the centuries, deluging the world with martyrs blood, and would today if they could. The Inquisition would revive this day if they had the power.