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
It will be just like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
“Even thus shall it be in the day when the son of man is revealed. In his power, when he comes to avenge himself on the Jews; and when he is revealed from heaven in flaming fire, at the last day.”
Whoever tries to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it.
“Whosoever shall seek to save his life,.... By fleeing to some strong hold, or by continuing in the metropolis, and strongest city in the nation, Jerusalem: shall lose it: there he will be in the greatest danger: and whosoever shall lose his life; or expose…”
I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed: one will be taken and the other left.
“I tell you, in that night,.... Of affliction and calamity, that shall be upon the Jewish nation, and which is before called that day, Luk 17:31 and therefore is not to be understood literally of the night: there shall be two men in one bed…”
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray at all times and not lose heart:
“And he spoke a parable unto them,.... To his own disciples, as the Ethiopic version reads, in order to encourage them to prayer, with perseverance in it; since such sore times of trial and affliction were coming upon the Jews, of which he had spoken…”
And there was a widow in that town who kept appealing to him, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’
“And there was a widow in that city,.... Poor and helpless, and none among men to counsel, direct, and assist her, and take her part: now as in the accommodation of this parable, the elect of God answer to this widow; such an one is…”
I tell you, He will promptly carry out justice on their behalf. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”
“I tell you that he will avenge them speedily,.... As he did in a few years after the death of Christ, when God's elect among the Jews were singled out, and gathered in from them, and were delivered from their persecutors, and saved from temporal…”
I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’
“I fast twice in the week,.... Not "on the sabbath", as the words may be literally rendered, and as they are in the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions; for the sabbath was not a fasting, but a feasting day with the Jews; for they were…”
I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
“I tell you that this man,.... The publican that so freely owned himself to be a sinner, and by his carriage acknowledged he was unworthy of any favour; and who was treated with so much contempt by the Pharisee: went down to his house; from…”
Then a certain ruler asked Him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“And a certain ruler asked him,.... A young man, Mat 19:20 a ruler among the Jews, a civil magistrate, and a very rich man; he ran after Jesus, and overtook him in the way, as he was going towards Jericho, Mar 10:17 saying, good master…”
“Why do you call Me good?” Jesus replied. “No one is good except God alone.
“And Jesus said unto him,.... In answer to his question, beginning with the character he gave him: why callest thou me good?”
You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother.’”
“Thou knowest the commandments,.... The ten commandments given to Moses, and delivered to people; and which they were careful to teach their children; though five are only here mentioned, and not in the order in which they stand: suggesting hereby that these must be kept…”
Seeing the man’s sadness, Jesus said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!
“And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful,.... As he might, by his looks and gestures; and perceived that he was determined not to part with his possessions, and follow him: he said to his disciples, how hardly shall they that have riches enter…”
will fail to receive many times more in this age—and in the age to come, eternal life.”
“Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time,.... Not more houses, parents, brethren, &c. but that which is abundantly preferable to them; such comfort, peace, satisfaction, and pleasure, as are not to be found in such enjoyments: and in the world to come…”
He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon.
“For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles,.... As he was by the chief priests, Scribes, and elders, to Pilate, the Roman governor, and by him to the soldiers: and shall be mocked; as he was by the latter, when they crowned him with thorns…”
They will flog Him and kill Him, and on the third day He will rise again.”
“And they shall scourge him,.... As he was by Pilate's order, before he was crucified: and put him to death; a shameful, and a painful one, the death of the cross: and the third day he shall rise again; as he accordingly did.”
As Jesus drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting beside the road, begging.
“And it came to pass that as he was come nigh unto Jericho,.... Which lay in his way to Jerusalem; a certain blind man sat by the way side begging: this was not blind Bartimaeus, nor his companion, for they were cured by Christ as…”
“Jesus of Nazareth is passing by,” they told him.
“And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. Some of the company answered him, that Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth, so much talked of, and said to be the Messiah, who was become so famous for his doctrines and miracles, for healing diseases…”
“Receive your sight!” Jesus replied. “Your faith has healed you.”
“And Jesus said unto him, receive thy sight,.... Be it to thee as thou desirest, look up and see: thus by a word speaking, and power going along with it, without making use of any means, he fulfilled his desire.”
Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, glorifying God. And all the people who saw this gave praise to God.
“And immediately he received his sight,.... As soon as ever the word was gone out of Christ's mouth, virtue went forth from him, and cured the man of his blindness; his eyes were at once opened, and he saw as other men; and followed him…”
And there was a man named Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, who was very wealthy.
“And behold there was a man named Zacchaeus,.... Or זכאי, "Zaccai", a name in use among the Jews; see Ezr 2:9. We often read of רבי זכאי, "Rabbi Zaccai", or "Zacchaeus" (a), and very frequently of R.”
And all who saw this began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinful man!”
“And when they saw it,.... The Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions read, "when they all saw this"; that is, as the Persic version, rather paraphrasing than translating, says, "the men and the multitude that were with him"; the "pharisaical" sort, the priests and Levites…”
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will repay it…
“And Zacchaeus stood,.... Before Christ, in respect to him, and reverence of him; and in the presence of others, to make a public confession before them, and that they might all hear it, when come to his own house: and said unto the Lord; that…”
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham.
“And Jesus said unto him,.... The Persic version reads, "Jesus said to the multitude, and to his disciples"; to which well enough agree the following words: this day is salvation come to this house: to the master of it, and it may be to others…”
And to this one he said, ‘You shall have authority over five cities.’
“And he said likewise to him,.... He commended him as a good and faithful servant, though this is not expressed; and added, be thou over five cities; which does not denote any inequality of glory in Christ's ministers, who will all shine as the firmament…”
Why then did you not deposit my money in the bank, and upon my return I could have collected it with interest?’
“Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank,.... Or "on the table", at which the bankers sat, and received and delivered money on interest.”