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
They also demolished the sacred pillar of Baal. Then they tore down the temple of Baal and made it into a latrine, which it is to this day.
“And they broke down the temple of Baal,.... Which some take to be Belus, others Saturn, others the sun, which seems most probable: and broke down the house of Baal; his temple, demolished it: and made it a draught house until this day; a common…”
And Jehu rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria, and his son Jehoahaz reigned in his place.
“And Jehu slept with his fathers,.... Died as they did: and they buried him in Samaria; where Omri and Ahab, his predecessors, were buried, 1Ki 16:28. and Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead; who reigned seventeen years, 2Ki 13:1.”
Then the priest gave to the commanders of hundreds the spears and shields of King David from the house of the LORD.
“And to the captains over hundreds did the priest give King David's spears and shields, that were in the temple of the Lord.”
Joash was seven years old when he became king.
“Seven years old was Jehoash when he began to reign. Being a year old when his father was killed and having been hid six years in the temple.”
In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba.
“In the seventh year of Jehu Jehoash began to reign,.... So that he reigned twenty one or twenty two years contemporary with Jehu's reign, for Jehu reigned twenty eight years: and forty years reigned he in Jerusalem; the same number of years David and Solomon…”
And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the days he was instructed by Jehoiada the priest.
“And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days,.... Worshipping the only true God, and ruling and walking according to the law of God: wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him; and so long as he observed his instructions…”
By the twenty-third year of the reign of Joash, however, the priests had not yet repaired the damage to the temple.
“But it was so, that in the twenty and third year of King Jehoash, the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house.”
masons, and stonecutters. They also purchased timber and dressed stone to repair the damage to the house of the LORD, and they paid the other expenses of the temple repairs.
“And to masons, and hewers of stone,.... Which they cut out of the mountain, and the masons repaired the stone walls with: and to buy timber; felled in Lebanon: and hewed stone; fitted for building with: to repair the breaches of the house of the…”
So the LORD gave Israel a deliverer, and they escaped the power of the Arameans. Then the people of Israel lived in their own homes as they had before.
“And the Lord gave Israel a saviour,.... Not an angel sent by him, nor a captain raised up among them, nor the prophet Elisha, who predicted their deliverance, nor Jehoahaz himself, but his son Joash, 2Ki 13:25.”
Nevertheless, they did not turn away from the sins that the house of Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit, but they continued to walk in them.
“Nevertheless, they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin, but walked therein,....”
And Jehoahaz rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. And his son Jehoash reigned in his place.
“And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers,.... Died, as they did: and they buried him in Samaria; where Omri, and all the kings of Israel, that descended from him, were buried: and Joash his son reigned in his stead; of whom a short account is given…”
Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.”
“And he said unto the king of Israel, put thine hand upon the bow, and he put his hand upon it,....”
And Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz.
“But Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. That he reigned alone, at least, before he took his son Joash to reign with him.”
But the LORD was gracious to Israel and had compassion on them, and He turned toward them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
“And the Lord was gracious to them,.... To Israel, notwithstanding their apostasy from him, and the idolatry of the calves they were guilty of: and had compassion on them; being in oppression and distress: and had respect unto them; looked upon them with an eye…”
When Hazael king of Aram died, his son Ben-hadad reigned in his place.
“So Hazael the king of Syria died, and Benhadad his son reigned in his stead. This was Benhadad the third; the first of this name was of the Damascene kings; but though the kingdom was now in another family, yet this name, being respectable with…”
In the second year of the reign of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz over Israel, Amaziah son of Joash became king of Judah.
“In the second year of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel reigned Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah.”
And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not as his father David had done. He did everything as his father Joash had done.
“And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,..... At least externally, and at the beginning of his reign: yet not like David his father; not with a perfect heart, with that sincerity and uprightness as he did, see 2Ch 25:2…”
Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away, and the people continued sacrificing and burning incense on the high places.
“Howbeit the high places were not taken away,.... Though he first did that which was right before God; nor did his father take them away; see 2Ki 12:3.”
Yet he did not put the sons of the murderers to death, but acted according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the LORD…
“But the children of the murderers he slew not,.... Which is an instance of his clemency and goodness, and of his strict regard to justice, and to the law of God; though he might fear, these, being spared, would one time or other revenge their…”
And Judah was routed before Israel, and every man fled to his home.
“And Judah was put to the worse before Israel,.... Could not face them; but, as Josephus (d) says, a sudden fear and consternation seized them, and before they joined battle with the Israelites, turned their backs: and they fled every man to their tents; to…”
And Jehoash rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. And his son Jeroboam reigned in his place.
“And Jehoash slept with his fathers,.... Died as they died: and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; where they were: and Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead; which was Jeroboam the second.”
Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived for fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel.
“And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years. Which, with the fourteen he reigned contemporary with him, made the twenty nine years he reigned, 2Ki 14:2.”
As for the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
“And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?”
And conspirators plotted against Amaziah in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But men were sent after him to Lachish, and they killed him there.
“Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem,.... Against Amaziah; the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the principal men of it; perhaps those whose sons the king of Israel had carried away as hostages, which they imputed to the ill conduct of Amaziah, as well as…”
They carried him back on horses and buried him in Jerusalem with his fathers in the City of David.
“And they brought him on horses,.... That is, in a chariot or hearse drawn by horses; though the Jews (h) suppose he was carried on horses, and that because he worshipped the gods of the Edomites, who were themselves carried on horses; and he was…”