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.
The rest of the quotation
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
On the east side the border was the Jordan. These were the borders around the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.
“And Jordan was the border of it on the east side,.... It had Jordan on the east, Dan on the west, Judah on the south, and Joseph or Ephraim on the north: this was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin, by the coasts thereof…”
Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz, Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,
“And Betharabah,.... Of the first of these; see Gill on Jos 15:6, and Zemaraim; one of the sons of Canaan was named Zemira, Gen 10:18; by whom this city Zemaraim might be built, or however have its name given it, in memory of him; there…”
Avvim, Parah, Ophrah,
“And Avim, and Parah,.... Of the two first of these we read nowhere else: and Ophrah is not the same with Ophrah in Jdg 6:11; that belonged to the tribe of Manasseh, but rather that which was in the land of Shuah, 1Sa 13:17.”
Chephar-ammoni, Ophni, and Geba—twelve cities, along with their villages.
“And Chepharhaammonai, and Ophni,.... Of the two first of these no mention is made elsewhere: and Gaba is the same with Gibeah, a well known place, because of the foul fact committed there, which had like to have been the ruin of this tribe, Jdg…”
Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,
“Gibeon,.... Gibeon is the place from whence the Gibeonites came, who deceived Joshua, Jos 9:3. Jerom says (p), in his time there was a village shown of this name, four miles from Bethel to the east, near Ramah, next mentioned: and Ramah, which Jerom relates…”
Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah,
“And Mizpeh,.... Frequent mention is made of Mizpeh in Scripture; according to Fuller (t), it was about eight miles from Gibeah; it was near Ramathon, which Josephus says (u) was forty furlongs from Jerusalem: and Chephirah was one of the cities subject to Gibeon, Jos…”
Their inheritance lay within the territory of Judah and included Beersheba (or Sheba), Moladah,
“And they had in their inheritance Beersheba and Sheba,.... Or, Beersheba, that is, Sheba; for so the particle "vau" is sometimes used (z), and must be so used here; or otherwise, instead of thirteen, it will appear that there are fourteen cities, contrary to the…”
Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen—thirteen cities, along with their villages.
“And Bethlebaoth, and Sharuhen,.... Whether the first is the same with Lebaoth, a city of Judah, Jos 15:32; and with the Bethleptepha of Josephus (b), and the Betholene of Pliny (c), is not certain: in this place secret to have been an idol temple of…”
Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan—four cities, along with their villages,
“Ain, Remmon,.... Of the two first, which were cities of Judah; see Gill on Jos 15:32, and Ether, and Ashan; of the two last; see Gill on Jos 19:42, four cities and their villages; Ain, Remmon, therefore, could not be one city, at this time…”
From Sarid it turned eastward along the border of Chisloth-tabor and went on to Daberath and up to Japhia.
“And turned from Sarid eastward,.... This describes the southern border, going on from west to east: towards the sunrising, unto the border of Chislothtabor; this Jerom places in the tribe of Issachar, it bordered on both tribes; and he says (l), that in his time…”
From there it crossed eastward to Gath-hepher and to Eth-kazin; it extended to Rimmon and curved around toward Neah.
“And from thence passeth on along on the east to Gittahhepher,.... Which was the native place of Jonah the prophet, 2Ki 14:25; and where Jerom says (r) his grave was shown, and was a small village in his time two miles from Sippore, then called…”
Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath,
“And Hapharaim,.... The first of these is by Jerom (y) called Aphraim, a city of the tribe of Issachar; and adds, there is at this day a village called Affarea, six miles from Legion to the north: and Shion; of Seon or Soen, the same…”
Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez,
“And Rabbith,.... The first of these Jerom calls (a) Rabboth in the tribe of Issachar: and Kishion, as Masius notes, seems to given name to the river Kishon near it; some take it to be the same with Kedesh, 1Ch 6:72, and Abez, of which…”
Remeth, En-gannim, En-haddah, and Beth-pazzez.
“And Remeth,.... Remeth seems to be the same with Jarmuth, Jos 21:29; and with Ramoth, 1Ch 6:73, and Engannim seems to be the same with Anem in 1Ch 6:73, there were several of this name, which seem to have been places full of gardens, and…”
The border reached Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth-shemesh, and ended at the Jordan. There were sixteen cities, along with their villages.
“And the coast reacheth to Tabor,.... Tabor was the name of a mountain in those parts; it is generally supposed to be the mountain on which our Lord was transfigured, though it is not sufficiently evident; See Gill on Jer 46:18.”
Their territory included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph,
“And their border was Helkath,.... Helkath seems to be the same with Hukok, 1Ch 6:75; and according to Masius it lay ten or twelve miles above Ptolemais: and Hali, of which we read nowhere else.”
Adamah, Ramah, Hazor,
“And Adamah,.... Adamah is different from Adami, Jos 19:33; and may seem to confirm the notion of some, that Nekeb there is an epithet of it, and so distinguishes it from Adamah here: and Ramah; of Ramah, as there were several places of this name…”
Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor,
“And Kedesh,.... This is Kedesh in Galilee, in Mount Naphtali, to distinguish it from others of the same name; it was one of the cities of refuge, Jos 20:7.”
This was the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Naphtali, including these cities and their villages.
“This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Naphtali,.... Which Josephus (o) thus describes;"the country to the east, as far as Damascus the city, and upper Galilee, the Naphtalites took, unto Mount Lebanon, and the fountains of Jordan, which flow out of…”
Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah,
“And Shaalabbin,.... The first of these is the same with Shaalbim, Jdg 1:35; and which Jerom (r) calls Selab, in the tribe of Dan; and which he says was in his day shown a large village on the borders of Sebaste, by the name of…”
Elon, Timnah, Ekron,
“And Elon,.... Of Elon no mention is made elsewhere: and Thimnathah is a different place from Timnah in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:10.”
Jehud, Bene-berak, Gath-rimmon,
“And Jehud,.... Of Jehud no mention is made elsewhere: and Beneberak signifies sons of lightning; see Mar 3:17.”
Me-jarkon, and Rakkon, including the territory across from Joppa.
“And Mejarkon, and Rakkon,.... Of the two first of these we read no where else. with the border before Japho; Japho is the same with Joppa, now called at this day Jaffa, a port in the Mediterranean sea, famous for being the place where Jonah…”
Anathoth, and Almon—four cities, together with their pasturelands.
“Anathoth with her suburbs,.... This is not mentioned among the cities of Benjamin, Jos 18:11; it was the native place of the Prophet Jeremiah; see Gill on Jer 1:1; it lay about two or three miles north of Jerusalem; three, says, Jerom (k).”
The remaining Kohathite clans of the Levites were allotted these cities:
“And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites,.... Who were not priests: which remained of the children of Kohath; these are the children of Moses, as Jarchi says, and those that descended from Kohath in the lines of Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel: even…”