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
The men of Sidon and Arvad were your oarsmen. Your men of skill, O Tyre, were there as your captains.
“The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners,.... Zidon was a city in Phoenicia, near to Tyre, and older than that, by whose inhabitants it was built; see the notes on Isa 23:2 and Arvad was an island in Phoenicia, to the south of…”
The elders of Gebal were aboard as shipwrights, repairing your leaks. All the ships of the sea and their sailors came alongside to barter for your merchandise.
“The ancients of Gebal,.... A promontory of the Phoenicians, the same with the Gabale of Pliny (n), and with the land of the Giblites, Jos 13:5.”
Tarshish was your merchant because of your great wealth of goods; they exchanged silver, iron, tin, and lead for your wares.
“Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches,.... Some understand this of the sea, which is sometimes called Tarshish; so Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it here: and the Targum, "from the sea, or they of the sea bring merchandise…”
Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your merchants. They exchanged slaves and bronze utensils for your merchandise.
“Javan designs Greece, as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render it; especially that part of it called Ionia, from Javan the son of Japheth, Gen 10:2 and Tubal, and Meshech, were also sons of Japheth; the former are the Iberi and Albanians, as Jerom…”
Dedan was your merchant in saddlecloths for riding.
“Dedan was thy merchant in precious cloths for chariots. Or, "cloths of freedom" (u); such as freemen and even nobles wore; and yet so extravagant were the Tyrians, that they bought these to line or cover their chariots with; this is different from the Dedan…”
Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your customers, trading in lambs, rams, and goats.
“Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar,.... Arabia was a large country, divided into three parts, Arabia Deserts, or the desert; Arabia Petraea, or the rocky; and Arabia Felix, or the happy.”
Haran, Canneh, and Eden traded with you, and so did the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad.
“Haran, and Canneh, and Eden,.... Haran was a city of Mesopotamia, the same with Haran, where Abraham dwelt awhile, Act 7:2, the Charrae of the Parthians, famous for the defeat of Crassus.”
As they wail and mourn over you, they will take up a lament for you: ‘Who was ever like Tyre, silenced in the middle of the sea?
“And in their wailing they shall takes up a lamentation for thee,.... A mournful song, such as was used at funerals, or in times of calamity; and so the Vulgate Latin version renders it: and lament over thee; saying the following ditty; what city is…”
Those who trade among the nations hiss at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.’”
“The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee,.... As Tyre had done at Jerusalem, Eze 26:2 as she hoped to make better markets upon the fall of Jerusalem, and therefore rejoiced at it; so these merchants upon her fall will hope that her trade…”
Behold, you are wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you!
“Behold; thou art wiser than Daniel,.... That is, in his own opinion; or it is ironically said. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it by way of interrogation, "art thou not wiser than Daniel?"”
They will bring you down to the Pit, and you will die a violent death in the heart of the seas.
“They shall bring thee down to the pit,.... Or, "to corruption" (k); to the grave, the pit of corruption and destruction; so antichrist shall go into perdition, into the bottomless pit from whence he came, Rev 17:8, and thou shalt die the deaths of them…”
By the multitude of your iniquities and the dishonesty of your trading you have profaned your sanctuaries. So I made fire come from within you, and it consumed you.
“Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities,.... Or, "thy palaces", as Kimchi; the palace of the king, and the palaces of the nobles, where much iniquity was committed, and which was the cause of their being defiled or destroyed by the…”
And there they will dwell securely, build houses, and plant vineyards. They will dwell securely when I execute judgments against all those around them who treat them with contempt.
“And they shall dwell safely therein,.... There being none to make them afraid, all their enemies being destroyed, and they also under the protection of Christian princes: and they shall build houses and plant vineyards; signifying their continuance in their land, and their enjoyment of…”
In the tenth year, on the twelfth day of the tenth month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
“In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month,.... In the tenth year Jeconiah's captivity, and Zedekiah's reign.”
“Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.
“Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt,.... Pharaoh was a name common to all the kings of Egypt; the name of this king was Pharaohhophra, Jer 44:30, and who, by Herodotus (x), is called Apries: and prophesy against him, and against…”
I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your streams.
“And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee, and all the fish of thy rivers,.... Where fish in common cannot live, but die as soon almost as out of the water, and on dry land, excepting those that are of the amphibious kind.”
Then all the people of Egypt will know that I am the LORD. For you were only a staff of reeds to the house of Israel.
“And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord,.... Who could eject their king from his kingdom, and deliver him into the hands of his enemy; though he thought no God could, as he boastingly said, before observed: because they have…”
The land of Egypt will become a desolate wasteland. Then they will know that I am the LORD. Because you said, ‘The Nile is mine; I made it,’
“And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste,.... Men few or none being left in it, to till it, nor cattle found upon it: and they shall know that I am the Lord; by these judgments executed upon them, now foretold; and which…”
I will restore Egypt from captivity and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin. There they will be a lowly kingdom.
“And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt,.... For what is done by men, under the direction and influence of divine Providence, is said to be done by the Lord, as this was, though by the means of Cyrus: and will cause them to…”
In the twenty-seventh year, on the first day of the first month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
“And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year,.... Of Jeconiah's captivity; or of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, as Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abendana, from Seder Olam Rabba (z), observe; though it was in the thirty fifth year of his reign that Tyre was…”
Cush, Put, and Lud, and all the various peoples, as well as Libya and the men of the covenant land, will fall with Egypt by the sword.
“Ethiopia, Lybia, and Lydia,.... Or, "Cush, Phut, and Lud". Cush and Phut were both sons of Ham, from whom Egypt is sometimes called the land of Ham; and Lud or Ludim was the son of Mizraim, the son of Ham, the common name of Egypt…”
They will be desolate among desolate lands, and their cities will lie among ruined cities.
“And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate,.... Or among them, shall be ranked with them, and be as desolate as they are; as Judea and other countries, ravaged by the same enemy: and her cities shall be in…”
On that day messengers will go out from Me in ships to frighten Cush out of complacency. Anguish will come upon them on the day of Egypt’s doom.
“In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships,.... Either by the river Nile, or by the Red sea, to Arabia Felix, which some think is meant by Ethiopia.”
This is what the Lord GOD says: I will put an end to the hordes of Egypt by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
“Thus saith the Lord God, I will make the multitude of Egypt to cease,.... The vast numbers of people that inhabited Egypt; some of its cities were very populous, especially the city No, after mentioned; but now the numbers should be greatly lessened, and the…”
I will lay waste Pathros, set fire to Zoan, and execute judgment on Thebes.
“And I will make Pathros desolate,.... A country in Egypt; See Gill on Eze 29:14, perhaps it was the first place that Nebuchadnezzar entered, and so went from place to place in the order hereafter mentioned: and I will set fire in Zoan; or Tunis…”