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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. Painted by George Vertue. The file is marked public domain. This site's record does not give the artist's death year, which is what settles the painting's own rights. The file record

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.

Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748)

Undated in the archive this site cites.

The rest of the quotation

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…

Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

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:

Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

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.

Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

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.

Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

Undated in the archive this site cites.

The rest of the quotation

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

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

Exodus 34:25Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to Me along with anything leavened, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Feast remain until morning.

Thou shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven,.... That is, not kill the passover, while there was any leaven in their houses; so the Targum of Jonathan; see Gill on Exo 23:18.

Exodus 34:35Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

and the Israelites would see that the face of Moses was radiant.

And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses's face shone,.... That is, not only when he came down from the mount, but whenever he came out of the tabernacle, where he had been inquiring of God, and conversing…

Exodus 35:13Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

the table with its poles, all its utensils, and the Bread of the Presence;

The table and his staves, and all his vessels,.... The table of shewbread, and all things appertaining to it: and the shewbread; which is mentioned for the sake of the table, and to show what was intended, and the use of it; for otherwise the…

Exodus 35:15Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

the altar of incense with its poles; the anointing oil and fragrant incense; the curtain for the doorway at the entrance to the tabernacle;

And the incense altar, and his staves,.... Which were overlaid with gold; hence this altar was called the golden altar, of which see Exo 30:1. and the anointing oil and sweet incense; each of which were made of various spices, see Exo 30:23.

Exodus 35:16Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grate, its poles, and all its utensils; the basin with its stand;

The altar of burnt offering with his brazen grate, his staves, and all his vessels,.... Of which see Exo 27:1. the laver and his foot; Aben Ezra here observes that it had no staves, and conjectures it was carried in wagons when removed.

Exodus 35:19Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

and the woven garments for ministering in the holy place—both the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons to serve as priests.”

The cloths of service, to do service in the holy place,.... To wrap up the various vessels of the tabernacle, when removed from place to place; see Exo 31:10 or the priests' vestments, in which they did their service, and therefore it follows, by way…

Exodus 35:28Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

as well as spices and olive oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense.

And spice and oil,.... Such excellent spices and precious oil, pure oil olive, as the common people had not, and which they brought out of Egypt; the one was for the light: for the light of the candlestick only; the oil, and other spices: were…

Exodus 36:7Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

since what they already had was more than enough to perform all the work.

For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it,.... The gold, silver, brass, and precious stones, the wood and yarn, which had been already brought in, were sufficient for everything they were ordered to make: and too much; a great…

Exodus 37:1Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

Bezalel went on to construct the ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.

And Bezaleel made the ark of shittim wood,.... Jarchi says, because he gave his mind to this work more than the rest of the wise men, it is called by his name.

Exodus 38:23Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

With him was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, designer, and embroiderer in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen.

And with him was Aholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan,.... Of him see Exo 31:6. an engraver; of precious stones, as those in the ephod and breastplate: and a cunning workman; in devising and working curious figured works, either in weaving or…

Exodus 38:29Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

The bronze from the wave offering totaled 70 talents and 2,400 shekels.

And the brass of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand four hundred shekels. Which, according to Paris weight, were 6177 pounds, ten ounces, two drachms, and sixty four grains (w): this might be had from the neighbouring mountains of Arabia, where it is…

Exodus 40:2Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

“On the first day of the first month you are to set up the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting.

On the first day of the first month,.... Which was the month Nisan, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it; which was the month the children of Israel came out of Egypt, out of which they had now been a whole year, excepting fourteen days…

Exodus 40:6Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

Place the altar of burnt offering in front of the entrance to the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting.

And thou shall set the altar of the burnt offering,.... Where the sacrifices of the people were to be brought, and offered up by the priests; and this was to be set up in the open court, as it was proper it should, both because…

Exodus 40:19Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

Then he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering over the tent, just as the LORD had commanded him.

And he spread abroad the tent over the tabernacle,.... Which were curtains of goats' hair: and put the covering of the tent above upon it; which was of rams' skins died red, and over that another covering of badgers' skins: as the Lord commanded Moses…

Exodus 40:23Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

He arranged the bread on it before the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded him.

And he set the bread in order upon it before the Lord,.... The shewbread, the twelve cakes of it, in two rows, six in a row: as the Lord had commanded Moses: Exo 25:30.

Exodus 40:26Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

Moses placed the gold altar in the Tent of Meeting, in front of the veil,

And he put the golden altar,.... The altar of incense; so called because it was overlaid with gold, and to distinguish it from the altar of burnt offering, which was covered with brass: to this altar there is an allusion in Rev 8:3.

Exodus 40:29Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

He placed the altar of burnt offering near the entrance to the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, just as…

And he put the altar of burnt offering by the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation,.... Of which see Exo 40:6.

Exodus 40:30Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

He placed the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing;

And he set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar,.... Of which position, see Exo 30:18.

Exodus 40:31Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

and from it Moses, Aaron, and his sons washed their hands and feet.

And Moses, and Aaron, and his sons, washed their hands and their feet thereat. This laver was for the priests, and Moses, officiating as a priest, washed in it, with Aaron, and his sons, whom he was now about to consecrate to the priest's office…