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
When Jehoiada was old and full of years, he died at the age of 130.
“But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died,.... A very old man; few at this time arrived to such an age; he was a rare instance: One hundred and thirty years old was he when he died; the oldest man we…”
But they conspired against Zechariah, and by order of the king, they stoned him in the courtyard of the house of the LORD.
“And they conspired against him,.... Consulted together to take away his life, and got the order of the king to do it: and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord; where he had…”
Those who conspired against Joash were Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonitess and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabitess.
“And these are they that conspired against him, Zabad the son of Shimeah an Ammonitess,.... Called Jozachar, the son of Shimeah, 2Ki 12:21, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess; called in the same place the son of Shomer.”
He also hired 100,000 mighty warriors from Israel for a hundred talents of silver.
“He hired also one hundred thousand mighty men of valour out of Israel,.... The ten tribes, judging his own army not sufficient for his expedition against the Edomites he was meditating: for one hundred talents of silver; which amounted to 35,300 pounds sterling, and according…”
Amaziah, however, summoned his strength and led his troops to the Valley of Salt, where he struck down 10,000 men of Seir,
“And Amaziah strengthened himself, and led forth his people,.... To go to war with the Edomites; not discouraged by the dismission of the hired troops, but trusting in the promise and power of God, he went forth with boldness and intrepidity: and went to the…”
Uzziah supplied the entire army with shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows, and slingstones.
“And Uzziah prepared for them throughout all the host,.... For every soldier in the army: shields and spears; defensive and offensive weapons, the one to cover and protect their bodies, the other to push and pierce their enemies: and helmets, and habergeons; the first of…”
And in Jerusalem he made skillfully designed devices to shoot arrows and catapult large stones from the towers and corners.
“And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers, and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal,.... Such as with the Romans were called "catapultae", "ballistae" (u), "scorpiones" (w), &c.”
Then Azariah the priest, along with eighty brave priests of the LORD, went in after him.
“And Azariah the priest went in after him,.... To hinder him from doing it, and to persuade him to go out. This was the high priest, as appears from 2Ch 26:20 and is thought to be the same that is spoken of in 1Ch 6:10.”
And Uzziah rested with his fathers and was buried near them in a field of burial that belonged to the kings; for the people said, “He was a leper.”
“So Uzziah slept with his fathers,.... Died as they did, the same year, according to Dr. Lightfoot (e), in which he was smitten with the leprosy; and in the year of his death it was Isaiah had the vision related in Isa 6:1, &c.”
And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Uzziah had done. In addition, he did not enter the temple of the LORD.
“And he did that which was right,.... See Gill on 2Ki 15:34, howbeit, he entered not into the temple of the Lord; to burn incense, as his father did; he did according to his good ways, but not his evil ones: and the people did…”
Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the house of the LORD, and he worked extensively on the wall at the hill of Ophel.
“He built the high gate in the house of the Lord,.... See the note on 2Ki 15:35. and on the wall of Ophel he built much; which Kimchi interprets an high place; it was the eastern part of Mount Zion.”
He also built cities in the hill country of Judah and fortresses and towers in the forests.
“Moreover, he built cities in the mountains of Judah,.... In the mountainous part of it, the hill country of Judea, Luk 1:65, and in the forests he built castles and towers; for the safety of travellers, and of shepherds and their flocks, see 2Ch 26:10.”
As for the rest of the acts of Jotham, along with all his wars and his ways, they are indeed written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and…
“Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars,.... Not only with the Ammonites, but with the Syrians, and ten tribes, see 2Ki 15:37.”
Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years.
“Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign,.... These verses are much the same with 2Ki 16:2, only in 2Ch 28:2 it is said, he made also molten images for Baalim; the several Baals or idols of the nations round about, as well…”
For in one day Pekah son of Remaliah killed 120,000 valiant men in Judah. This happened because they had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers.
“For Pekah son of Remaliah,.... Who was at this time king of Israel: slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, which were all valiant men; a great slaughter to be made at one time, and of valiant men, but not so…”
Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the son of the king, Azrikam the governor of the palace, and Elkanah the second to the king.
“And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king's son,.... Who therefore must have escaped being burnt in the valley of Hinnom, or only was caused to pass through the fire there, 2Ch 28:3, and Azrikam the governor of the house; steward or…”
And now you intend to reduce to slavery the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem. But are you not also guilty before the LORD your God?
“And now ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you,.... As seemed by taking and bringing captive such a number of them, contrary to the law, Lev 25:39.”
The Edomites had again come and attacked Judah and carried away captives.
“For again the Edomites had come,.... As in the days of Jehoshaphat, 2Ch 20:10, and smitten Judah, and carried away captives; taking the advantage of the weak and low condition Ahaz was in, and which was the reason of his sending to the king of…”
Then Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came to Ahaz but afflicted him rather than strengthening him.
“And Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria came unto him,.... Not to Jerusalem, but to Damascus, where he made a diversion in his favour, and took that city, and where Ahaz met him, 2Ki 16:9.”
In the time of his distress, King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD.
“And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord,.... By increasing his idolatries, as appears by what he did, in imitation of what he saw at Damascus, where he had an interview with the king of Assyria, 2Ki 16:10…”
Then Ahaz gathered up the articles of the house of God, cut them into pieces, shut the doors of the house of the LORD, and set up altars of his…
“And gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God,....”
In every city of Judah he built high places to offer incense to other gods, and so he provoked the LORD, the God of his fathers.
“And in every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto the gods,.... The gods of Damascus, and other idols; this he did to prevent their coming to Jerusalem to worship.”
In the first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah opened and repaired the doors of the house of the LORD.
“He in the first year of his reign, in the first month,.... And, as appears from 2Ch 29:17, on the first day of the month: opened the doors of the house of the Lord; which his father had shut, 2Ch 28:24.”
For behold, this is why our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and daughters and wives are in captivity.
“For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword,.... Of the kings of Syria and Israel, even great numbers of them, 2Ch 28:5.”
Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that His fierce anger will turn away from us.
“Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel,.... To renew one, as Asa and Jehoiada had done, promising to serve the Lord, and worship him according to his will: that his fierce wrath might be turned from…”