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 king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one;
“The king of Taanach, one,.... It was in the tribe of Manasseh, Jos 17:11; Jerom says (q), in his time it was a large village, distant from Legion on the plain of Esdraelon three miles: the king of Megiddo, one; which belonged to the same…”
the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one;
“The king of Kedesh, one,.... Which afterwards fell to the tribe of Naphtali, and was one of the cities of refuge, Jos 19:37; it was situated in upper Galilee on Mount Naphtali, four miles from the city of Sephet, and as many from Capernaum, and…”
and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the border of the Ammonites;
“And all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, which reigned in Heshbon,.... A city he took from the Moabites, and made it his royal seat, Num 21:26, unto the border of the children of Ammon; which was the river Jabbok, Deu 3:16.”
also Gilead and the territory of the Geshurites and Maacathites, all of Mount Hermon, and all Bashan as far as Salecah—
“And Gilead,.... The land of Gilead, which was part of the kingdom of Og, half of which was given to Reuben, and the other half to Gad: and the border of the Geshurites and Maachathites; of which see Deu 3:14, and all Mount Hermon; called…”
the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who had reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei and had remained as a remnant of the Rephaim.
“All the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei,.... See Gill on Jos 12:4, who remained of the remnant of the giants; was descended from those that remained in Ashtaroth, after the rest were cut off by Chedorlaomer, Gen 14:5…”
but the Israelites did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites. So Geshur and Maacath dwell among the Israelites to this day.
“Nevertheless, the children of Israel expelled not the Geshurites, nor the Maachathites,.... Neither in the times of Moses, nor in the times of Joshua: but the Geshurites and the Maachathites dwell among the Israelites until this day: in full possession of their cities unmolested; yea…”
To the tribe of Levi, however, Moses had given no inheritance. The offerings made by fire to the LORD, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, just as He had…
“Only unto the tribe of Levi he gave none inheritance,.... Neither the Lord, nor Moses by his order, nor did he appoint any inheritance for them, either beyond Jordan, or on this side it, for the Lord was to be their inheritance, Num 18:20; the…”
to Heshbon and all its cities on the plateau, including Dibon, Bamoth-baal, Beth-baal-meon,
“Heshbon, and all her cities that are in the plain,.... Which was by Medeba, and reached to Dibon: Dibon, and Bamothbaal, and Bethbaalmeon; Dibon was rebuilt by Gad, though it belonged to Reuben, and perhaps was inhabited by both, being on the borders of each…”
Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath,
“And Jahazah,.... Called Jahaz, Num 21:23, where the battle was fought between Sihon and Israel: and Kedemoth; near to which was a wilderness, which took its name from it, from whence Moses sent messengers with words of peace to Sihon, Deu 2:26, and Mephaath; thought…”
Beth-peor, the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth-jeshimoth—
“And Bethpeor,.... So called from Peor, the idol of the Moabites, and where very likely there had been a temple built to the honour of it; over against this place was a valley, where Israel abode some time, Deu 3:29, and Ashdodpisgah; of which see…”
This is what Moses had given to the clans of the half-tribe of Manasseh, that is, to half the tribe of the descendants of Manasseh:
“And Moses gave inheritance unto the half tribe of Manasseh,.... Whether at their request or of himself, there being land enough for them, and the two tribes of Gad and Reuben, is not certain: and this is the possession of the half tribe of Manasseh…”
To the tribe of Levi, however, Moses had given no inheritance. The LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, just as He had promised them.
“But unto the tribe of Levi Moses gave not any inheritance,.... Neither on the other side Jordan, nor did he order them any in Canaan; but expressly declared they were to have no part in the division of it, though they were his own tribe…”
Now these are the portions that the Israelites inherited in the land of Canaan, as distributed by Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families…
“And these are the countries which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan,.... Of which an exact account is given in the following chapters, particularly in the Jos 15:1, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads…”
Their southern border started at the bay on the southern tip of the Salt Sea,
“And their south border was from the shore of the salt sea,.... Sometimes called the dead sea, the sea of Sodom, and the lake Asphaltites, which, as Jarchi observes, was southeast of the land of Israel: from the bay that looketh southward; or the "tongue"…”
The eastern border was the Salt Sea as far as the mouth of the Jordan.
“And the east border was the salt sea, even unto the end of Jordan,.... To the place where Jordan fell into it; so that this border was the whole length of the salt sea, which Josephus says (y) was five hundred eighty furlongs; and, according…”
From there the border went up the Valley of Hinnom along the southern slope of the Jebusites (that is, Jerusalem) and ascended to the top of the hill that faces…
“And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom,.... Which belonged to a man of that name formerly; and was near Jerusalem, placed by Jerom (l) to the east of it; but Reland (m) rather thinks it is to the south.”
So Othniel son of Caleb’s brother Kenaz captured the city, and Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him in marriage.
“And Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it,.... The relation of Othniel to Caleb is a little intricate, and, as it is understood, occasions objections to the marriage of Caleb's daughter to him; it seems, at first sight, that he was…”
Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur, Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah,
“And Kinah,.... Of this city we read of nowhere else: and Dimonah; the second city is thought to be the same with Dibon, Neh 11:25; and Jerom (b) observes, that a place elsewhere was indifferently called in his time Dibon and Dimon; and Adadah; the…”
Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan,
“And Kedesh,.... The first of these cities seems to be Kadeshbarnea, which was to the south of the land, and on the borders of Edom, from whence the spies were sent, Num 32:8, and Hazor is another city from that which is mentioned, Jos 11:1…”
Ziph, Telem, Bealoth,
“Ziph,.... Ziph was of the tribe of Judah in the south, on the borders of Eleutheropolis, as Jerom says (d) and was eight miles from Hebron to the east; and in his time a village was shown, where David was hid; but that Ziph seems…”
Amam, Shema, Moladah,
“Amam,.... Of Amam we read nowhere else: and Shema is thought by some to be the same with Sheba, though wrongly, given afterwards to the tribe of Simeon, as was also Moladah, mentioned with it, Jos 19:2, and Moladah; it is also spoken of in…”
Hazar-gaddah, Heshmon, Beth-pelet,
“And Hazargaddah,.... The first of these, it is probable, is the same, Jerom (g) calls Gadda, in the tribe of Judah, which was in his day a village in the extreme borders of Daroma to the east, hanging over the dead sea: and Heshmon is…”
Baalah, Iim, Ezem,
“Baalah,.... Baalah was given to the tribe of Simeon, Jos 19:3; for Baalah is the same with Balah there, as it is with Bilba, 1Ch 4:29; though according to the Jerusalem Talmud (i) it is the same with Baalah, given to the tribe of Dan…”
Eltolad, Chesil, Hormah,
“And Eltolad,.... The first of these cities is called Tolad, 1Ch 4:29, and Chesil seems to be the same with Bethul and Bethuel, Jos 19:4 1Ch 4:30; and here the Greek version calls it Baithel: and Hormah is the same with Zephath, Jdg 1:17.”
Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah,
“And Ziklag,.... Ziklag was also given to the tribe of Simeon, Jos 19:5, it was in the bands of the king of Gath, in the times of David, who gave it to him; it bordered on the Amalekites, and is placed by Jerom (c) in…”