Job 12:18, Psa 75:6-7, Jer 27:5 | JFB | STEP | 18. He looseth the bond of kings —He looseth the authority of kings—the "bond" with which they bind their subjects ( ). a girdle —the cord, with which they are bound as captives, instead of the royal "girdle" they once wore ( ), and the bond they once bound others with. So "gird"—put on one the bonds of a prisoner instead of the ordinary girdle ( ).

Job 12:18

18. He looseth the bond of kings—He looseth the authority of kings—the "bond" with which they bind their subjects (Isa 45:1; Ge 14:4; Da 2:21).

a girdle—the cord, with which they are bound as captives, instead of the royal "girdle" they once wore (Isa 22:21), and the bond they once bound others with. So "gird"—put on one the bonds of a prisoner instead of the ordinary girdle (Joh 21:18).

Psalms 75:6-7

6. promotion—literally, "a lifting up." God is the only right judge of merit.

4-8. Here the writer speaks in view of God's declaration, warning the wicked.

Lift . . . up the horn—to exalt power, here, of the wicked himself—that is, to be arrogant or self-elated.

Jeremiah 27:5

5. God here, as elsewhere, connects with the symbol doctrine, which is as it were its soul, without which it would be not only cold and frivolous, but even dead [CALVIN]. God's mention of His supreme power is in order to refute the pride of those who rely on their own power (Isa 45:12).

given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me— (Ps 115:15, 16; Da 4:17, 25, 32). Not for his merits, but of My own sole good pleasure [ESTIUS].