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.
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…
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.
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
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
You are to take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar, on the four corners of the ledge, and all around the rim…
“And thou shalt take of the blood thereof,.... Ezekiel being a priest. This must be understood in a visionary way; for, as Kimchi observes, Ezekiel did not live to come up out of the captivity, but died, and was buried in the land of Babylon…”
When you have finished the purification, you are to present a young, unblemished bull and an unblemished ram from the flock.
“When thou hast made an end of cleansing it,.... The altar, by the sacrifices of the bullock and the kid, on the first and second days; then, on the third day, thou shalt offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the…”
For seven days you are to provide a male goat daily for a sin offering; you are also to provide a young bull and a ram from the flock, both…
“Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin offering,.... By this it appears that the altar was seven days a consecrating and cleansing; and that on each day a goat was prepared and offered, typical of Christ, as before observed.”
At the end of these days, from the eighth day on, the priests are to present your burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar.
“And when these days are expired,.... The seven days of consecration, and all these rites and sacrifices observed: it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward; that is, on the first day of the week, or Lord's day, the Christian sabbath, the…”
And the LORD said to me, “This gate is to remain shut. It shall not be opened, and no man shall enter through it, because the LORD, the God of…
“Then said the Lord unto me, this gate shall be shut,.... In time to come, as Jarchi interprets it, in the latter day; it was shut, and it should continue to be shut: it shall not be opened; any more; though it has been, yet…”
They must not approach Me to serve Me as priests or come near any of My holy things or the most holy things.
“And they shall not come near unto me, to do the office of priest unto me,.... To bring the sacrifice to the altar, and offer it there; to sprinkle the blood, or burn the fat, or the incense; to intercede for the people, or bless…”
Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of all the work for the temple and everything to be done in it.
“But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house,.... To be watchmen or porters in it; to open and shut the doors of it; to sweep and keep it clean; to repair and mend it, and to do such like works, as…”
They alone shall enter My sanctuary and draw near to My table to minister before Me. They will keep My charge.
“They shall enter into my sanctuary,.... Both to officiate, and to participate, which strangers and uncircumcised persons might not do, Eze 44:9, and they shall come near to my table to minister unto me; which some understand of the altar of burnt offering, which was…”
In regard to their inheritance, I am their inheritance. You are to give them no possession in Israel, for I am their possession.
“And it shall be unto them for an inheritance,.... Either the sin offering, or the priesthood, and the perquisites belonging to it: or, they shall have an inheritance (r); but what shall it be?”
The priests may not eat any bird or animal found dead or torn by wild beasts.
“The priests shall not eat of anything that is dead of itself, or torn,.... They shall have no need to eat of such things, being plentifully provided for with better; nor will it become them so to do through avarice, not allowing themselves to enjoy…”
As the property of the city, you are to set aside an area 5,000 cubits wide and 25,000 cubits long, adjacent to the holy district.
“And ye shall appoint the possession of the city, Which is something distinct from the house or temple, which was as the frame of a city, being so large, and consisting of so many parts, Eze 40:2 and seems also different from the city in…”
And the priest is to take some of the blood from the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the ledge…
“And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering,.... An emblem of the blood of Christ, who was made sin for his people, and an offering for their sin; and which blood cleanses from all sin: and put it upon the posts…”
On the Sabbaths and New Moons the people of the land are also to bow in worship before the LORD at the entrance to that gateway.
“Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord,.... Publicly, and in a spiritual manner; attending the ministration of the word and ordinances with constancy and fervency; praying to God, praising his name, and hearing his word…”
On the day of the New Moon he shall offer a young, unblemished bull, six lambs, and a ram without blemish.
“And in the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock without blemish,.... This is also different from the law of Moses, which required two young bullocks and a ram, and seven lambs, Num 28:11, whereas here only one bullock: and six…”
Thus they shall provide the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil every morning as a regular burnt offering.’
“Thus shall they prepare,.... This shows that not a single person is meant in the preceding verses, but all the Lord's people; who are all priests unto God, and who are to offer up daily spiritual sacrifices unto him: the lamb, and the meat offering…”
In the four corners of the outer court there were enclosed courts, each forty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. Each of the four corner areas had the same dimensions.
“In the four corners of the court there were courts joined,.... To the side walls of the outward court, which met in right angles: or, "were made with chimneys" (r), as some render it; that the smoke of the fire of the kitchens in them…”
On the north side it will extend from the Great Sea by way of Hethlon through Lebo-hamath to Zedad, Berothah, and Sibraim (which is on the border between Damascus and…
“Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim,.... The line of the northern border should be drawn on by Hamath, the same with Antiochia in Syria, since called Epiphania, as Jerom observes, from Antiochus Epiphanies; and go on by Berothah, a city of Hadadezer king of Zobah, 2Sa 8:8, the…”
So the border will run from the Sea to Hazar-enan, along the northern border of Damascus, with the territory of Hamath to the north. This will be the northern boundary.
“And the border from the sea shall be Hazarenan, the border of Damascus,.... Which was the furthermost part and end of the northern border, as fixed by Moses, Num 34:9, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath; if this is carrying on the…”
And on the west side, the Great Sea will be the boundary up to a point opposite Lebo-hamath. This will be the western boundary.
“The west side also shall be the great sea from the border,.... From the border of Egypt, and the river of it, to the Mediterranean sea, is the west side of the land, and the western border of it; hence the western point is often…”
Ephraim will have one portion bordering the territory of Manasseh from east to west.
“And by the border of Manasseh, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Ephraim. Close to the tribe of Manasseh, and the inheritance of it, which is no more reckoned a half, but a whole tribe, and has an inheritance equal…”
Reuben will have one portion bordering the territory of Ephraim from east to west.
“And by the border of Ephraim, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Reuben. Who, through his sin, lost his birthright; but now, his sin being forgiven and forgotten, has a portion assigned him upon the border of Ephraim, and next…”
The special portion you set apart to the LORD shall be 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide.
“The oblation that ye shall offer to the Lord,.... That which belonged to the sanctuary, and to the priests, which was taken and separated for that use; which here, and in the following verses, is particularly and separately considered: shall be of five and twenty…”
It will be for the consecrated priests, the descendants of Zadok, who kept My charge and did not go astray as the Levites did when the Israelites went astray.
“It shall be for the priests that are sanctified,.... That are set apart by the Lord; called by him to this office, and sanctified with the gifts and graces of his Spirit; and so fitted and qualified for the work: of the sons of Zadok…”
It will be a special portion for them set apart from the land, a most holy portion adjacent to the territory of the Levites.
“And this oblation of the land that is offered shall be unto them a thing most holy,.... Be peculiarly theirs, and not converted to any other use; but be accounted most sacred, and not alienable, or made use of by other persons, or to other…”
The workers of the city who cultivate it will come from all the tribes of Israel.
“And they that serve the city shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel. Whether they be civil magistrates, or ministers of the word, they shall be of Israel, and be Israelites indeed; and shall be taken out of the several tribes; some…”
