Voices and influences
John Gill
The self-taught Baptist Hebraist who pastored one London congregation for fifty-one years and wrote a comment on every verse in the Bible.
Summary
This site quotes John Gill 5,991 times across 66 books, and lists 0 works.
- Lived 1697 to 1771.
- Quoted here most in Psalms: 639 of 5,991.

John Gill
- Lived
- 1697 to 1771
- Tradition
- Reformed Baptist
5 of 5,991 quotations
Own words
Quoted in full, because John Gill died in 1771 and these works are out of copyright. Each citation below names its edition and its year. A citation naming a modernised text means that edition makes its own editorial changes, and that edition's terms are not in this site's record.
A bruised reed shall he not break,.... Various are the thoughts of interpreters, about what is meant by this, and by the smoking flax shall he not quench.
Undated in the archive this site cites.
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Some think the Scribes and Pharisees are designed, whose power Christ could easily crush, and their wrath and fury restrain, but would not, till the time of his vengeance was come. Others that the publicans and sinners are intended, of whose conversion and salvation there were more hope than of the Scribes and Pharisees; and which Christ greatly sought after, and therefore cherished and encouraged them in his ministry and conversation.
Matthew 12:20 A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish, till He leads justice to victory. BSB
And Cain talked with Abel,.... Or "said", or "spoke unto" him (l); either what the Lord God said to him in the foregoing verses, as Aben Ezra; or he spoke to him in a kind and friendly manner, and thereby got him to take a…
Undated in the archive this site cites.
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walk in the field with him.
Genesis 4:8 Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. BSB
And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offering unto the Lord,.... This, as Ben Gersom observes, is distinguished from a burnt offering; for though it was to be perfect, and without blemish, yet not obliged to be a male as that, Lev 3:
Undated in the archive this site cites.
Leviticus 22:21 When a man presents a peace offering to the LORD from the herd or flock to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without blemish or defect to be acceptable. BSB
So David and Abishai came to the people by night,.... Josephus (l) wrongly says, that he took with him both Abishai and Ahimelech; he chose to have but one, for the greater secrecy.
Undated in the archive this site cites.
1 Samuel 26:7 That night David and Abishai came to the troops, and Saul was lying there asleep in the inner circle of the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. And Abner and the troops were lying around him. BSB
Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam,.... Calamities, destruction, and ruin: and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall; not leave a dog of his, or rather a male, see 1Sa 25:22.
Undated in the archive this site cites.
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and him that is shut up and left in Israel; in garrisons or in prisons, in cities or in fields, or in whatsoever situation or circumstances they may be.
1 Kings 14:10 Because of all this, behold, I am bringing disaster on the house of Jeroboam: I will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both slave and free, in Israel; I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns up dung until it is gone! BSB
Influence, on the record
This site quotes John Gill 5,991 times across 66 books.
This site’s own count of what it does with the voice
The life, in order
The life told as one accountfrom this site's record
John Gill was born at Kettering in Northamptonshire on November 23, 1697, the son of a wool merchant who served as a deacon in the dissenting congregation there. Because the family were Nonconformists, the local grammar school effectively closed to him around the age of eleven. So he taught himself. What he taught himself was languages. He worked through Latin and Greek on his own, then Hebrew — and then kept going, into the Targums, the Talmud, and the medieval rabbis. Almost no English Christian of his century read Jewish sources as widely as Gill did, and he read them in the original. He was baptized in 1716, began preaching, and in 1719 was called to a small Particular Baptist congregation at Horsleydown in Southwark, south London. He stayed fifty-one years, until his death. That pulpit had a long life ahead of it: the congregation later moved and eventually became the church that called Charles Spurgeon a century afterward, and Spurgeon spoke of Gill as one of his predecessors. The work he is remembered for is the commentary. Gill wrote an exposition of the entire Bible, verse by verse, book by book — the New Testament first, in three volumes (1746–1748), then the Old Testament in six (1748–1763). It was the first complete verse-by-verse commentary on the whole Bible written by a Baptist, and it is thick with rabbinic material nobody else was bringing to English readers. He also wrote The Cause of God and Truth (1735–1738), a four-part defense of Calvinist doctrine against the Arminian arguments of Daniel Whitby, and late in life A Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity (1767–1770), the first full systematic theology produced by an English Baptist. The University of Aberdeen gave him a doctorate in divinity in 1748; he remarked that he had neither asked for it nor deserved it. His theology was high Calvinism, and he pressed it further than most. Gill held to eternal justification and was reluctant to make a free offer of Christ to all who heard him — a position later called hyper-Calvinism, and one that Andrew Fuller and then Spurgeon worked hard to undo among the Baptists. Historians still argue about exactly how far he went. Robert Hall's jab has followed the commentary ever since: it was, he said, a continent of mud. But the mud kept getting reprinted. Augustus Toplady defended him fiercely. Spurgeon kept him on the shelf and praised his learning in Commenting and Commentaries, while rejecting outright his restraint about inviting sinners to come. He preached his last sermon in 1771 and died at Camberwell on October 14 of that year, aged seventy-three. Fifty-one years in one pulpit, a comment on every verse in the Bible, and a body of theology his own denomination has been arguing with ever since. Sources: John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments and A Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity; John Rippon, A Brief Memoir of the Life and Writings of the Late Rev. John Gill, D.D.; C. H. Spurgeon, Commenting and Commentaries; Timothy George and David Dockery, eds., Baptist Theologians.
5,991 quotations across 66 books
Where this voice is quoted
Adam, Seth, Enosh,
“Adam, Seth,.... These first four verses exactly agree with the account of the antediluvian patriarchs in Gen 5:1, the first letter in Adam is larger than usual, as a memorial, as Buxtorf (m) observes, of the first and only man, from whence mankind had their…”
The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
“The sons of Japheth, Gomer,.... Here begins the genealogy of the sons of Noah after the flood; of the sons of Japheth the elder, in this and the two following verses; next of the sons of Ham, the younger brother, 1Ch 1:8, then of Shem…”
The sons of Esau: Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
“The sons of Esau,.... The firstborn of Isaac; his posterity are named in this and the two following verses, as in Gen 36:1 only it should be observed, that Timna, 1Ch 1:36 is not the name of a man, but was the concubine of Eliphaz…”
Tamar, Judah’s daughter-in-law, bore to him Perez and Zerah. Judah had five sons in all.
“And Tamar his daughter in law bare him Pharez and Zerah,.... Through incest; they were twins, Gen 38:27 all the sons of Judah were five; who are before mentioned by name.”
The sons of Zerah: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara—five in all.
“And the sons of Zerah,.... The other twin of Judah: Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara: five of them in all; the Targum calls them governors, and adds, on whom the spirit of prophecy dwelt; and in the Jewish chronology (n) they…”
The son of Ethan: Azariah.
“And the sons of Ethan; Azariah. Including his posterity, see Gen 46:23, the posterity of the other three sons of Zerah are not mentioned, either because the writer could not find the genealogy of them, as Kimchi; or rather, as he thinks, he cuts short…”
The sons who were born to Hezron: Jerahmeel, Ram, and Caleb.
“The sons also of Hezron, that were born unto him,.... The Targum adds, in Timnath; but most likely in Egypt: Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai; afterwards called Caleb.”
Ram was the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab was the father of Nahshon, a leader of the descendants of Judah.
“And Ram begat Amminadab,.... Ram is the same with Aram, Mat 1:3 the genealogy is carried down from him to Jesse in the same order as there, and in Rth 4:19 only here Nahshon the son of Amminadab is called the prince of the children…”
Abigail was the mother of Amasa, whose father was Jether the Ishmaelite.
“And Abigail bare Amasa,.... Who was Absalom's general, afterwards reconciled to David, and designed to be made general of his army, but was slain by Joab, see 2Sa 17:25, and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite; he is called an Israelite, 2Sa 17:25…”
When Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath, who bore to him Hur.
“And when Azubah was dead, Caleb took unto him Ephrath,.... The Targum is, "Miriam, who was called Ephrath"; but, according to Josephus (q), it was his son Hur that was the husband of Miriam the sister of Moses: which bare him Hur; See Gill on…”
Hur was the father of Uri, and Uri was the father of Bezalel.
“And Hur begat Uri, and Uri begat Bezaleel. Who yet is not thought to be the same Bezaleel we read of in Exo 31:2 though the fathers and grandfathers of both have the same names, and were of the same tribe.”
Segub was the father of Jair, who had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead.
“And Segub begat Jair, who had twenty three cities in the land of Gilead. Which, according to Kimchi, he inherited in right of his wife, which, he says, he took out of the land of Gilead; but they seem to be rather what he took…”
The sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of Hezron:
“And the sons of Jerahmeel, the firstborn of Hezron, were Ram the firstborn,.... So called by his father after the name of his brother, see 1Ch 2:9.”
Ram his firstborn, Bunah, Oren, Ozem, and Ahijah. Jerahmeel had another wife named Atarah, who was the mother of Onam.
“Jerahmeel had also another wife, whose name was Atarah,.... Distinct from his wife before named; or "another woman", which is a phrase for an harlot or concubine, Jdg 11:2 which she might be, as Kimchi observes; though the former seems best: she was the mother…”
The son of Appaim: Ishi. The son of Ishi: Sheshan. The son of Sheshan: Ahlai.
“And the sons of Appaim; Ishi. And the sons of Ishi: Sheshan,.... Though they had each of them but one son, yet the plural number is used, their posterity being included, as in 1Ch 2:8 and so in the next clause: and the children of…”
The sons of Jonathan: Peleth and Zaza. These were the descendants of Jerahmeel.
“And the sons of Jonathan; Peleth and Zaza,.... Of whom no mention is made elsewhere: these were the sons of Jerahmeel; not only his immediate sons, but their posterity, called from him Jerahmeelites, 1Sa 27:10.”
Sheshan had no sons, but only daughters; but he did have an Egyptian servant named Jarha.
“Now Sheshan had no sons, but daughters,.... And but one of that sort, whose name was Ahlai, 1Ch 2:31 the plural being put here for the singular; or, if that is the name of a son, as some think, he died in his father's lifetime…”
The sons of Hebron:
“And the sons of Hebron: Korah, and Tappuah, and Rekem, and Shema. One of these, Tappuah, is the name of a city in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:34 and there is also Bethtappuah in the same tribe, 1Ch 2:53 which one, or both, might…”
Korah, Tappuah, Rekem, and Shema. Shema was the father of Raham the father of Jorkeam, and Rekem was the father of Shammai.
“And Shema begat Raham, the father of Jorkoam,.... Which Hillerus (s) takes to be the name of a city in the tribe of Judah; and Jarchi's note is, that wherever the word "father" is here used, it is to be understood of the prince of…”
The son of Shammai was Maon, and Maon was the father of Beth-zur.
“And the son of Shammai was Maon,.... Who gave name to a city in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:55 see 1Sa 23:24.”
The sons of Jahdai: Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah, and Shaaph.
“And the sons of Jahdai,.... Who is not mentioned by this name before; perhaps the same with Moza, who might have two names, though, according to Hillerus (t), he was the son of Moza; some take it to be the name of another of Caleb's…”
Caleb’s concubine Maacah was the mother of Sheber and Tirhanah.
“Maachah, Caleb's concubine,.... Another concubine of his: bare Sheber, and Tirhanah; or of whom Caleb begot those two; for the verb is masculine; so Kimchi.”
She was also the mother of Shaaph father of Madmannah, and of Sheva father of Machbenah and Gibea. Caleb’s daughter was Acsah.
“She bare also Shaaph the father of Madmannah,.... Prince of a place so called, in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:31.”
These were the descendants of Caleb. The sons of Hur the firstborn of Ephrathah:
“These were the sons of Caleb the son of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah,.... This is another Caleb, the grandson of Caleb the son of Hezron, called after his name; he was the son of Hur, the firstborn of his wife Ephratah, 1Ch 2:19.”
Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim, Salma the father of Bethlehem, and Hareph the father of Beth-gader.
“Salma the father of Bethlehem,.... Or prince of Bethlehem, as the Targum; not the same as in 1Ch 2:11 he was the son of Nahshon, this of the younger Caleb: Hareph, the father of Bethgader; prince of a place of that name called Gedor, 1Ch…”
