Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 102:1 | A prayer of the afflicted, when he shall be in distresse, and pour forth his meditation before the Lord. O Lord, heare my prayer, and let my crye come vnto thee. |
| 102:2 | Hide not thy face from me in the time of my trouble: incline thine eares vnto me: when I call, make haste to heare me. |
| 102:3 | For my dayes are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burnt like an herthe. |
| 102:4 | Mine heart is smitten and withereth like grasse, because I forgate to eate my bread. |
| 102:5 | For the voyce of my groning my bones doe cleaue to my skinne. |
| 102:6 | I am like a pelicane of the wildernesse: I am like an owle of the deserts. |
| 102:7 | I watch and am as a sparrowe alone vpon the house top. |
| 102:8 | Mine enemies reuile me dayly, and they that rage against me, haue sworne against me. |
| 102:9 | Surely I haue eaten asshes as bread, and mingled my drinke with weeping, |
| 102:10 | Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast heaued me vp, and cast me downe. |
| 102:11 | My dayes are like a shadowe that fadeth, and I am withered like grasse. |
| 102:12 | But thou, O Lord, doest remaine for euer, and thy remembrance from generation to generation. |
| 102:13 | Thou wilt arise and haue mercy vpon Zion: for the time to haue mercie thereon, for the appointed time is come. |
| 102:14 | For thy seruants delite in the stones thereof, and haue pitie on the dust thereof. |
| 102:15 | Then the heathen shall feare the Name of the Lord, and all the Kings of the earth thy glory, |
| 102:16 | When the Lord shall build vp Zion, and shall appeare in his glory, |
| 102:17 | And shall turne vnto the prayer of the desolate, and not despise their prayer. |
| 102:18 | This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people, which shalbe created, shall prayse the Lord. |
| 102:19 | For he hath looked downe from the height of his Sanctuarie: out of the heauen did the Lord beholde the earth, |
| 102:20 | That he might heare the mourning of the prisoner, and deliuer the children of death: |
| 102:21 | That they may declare the Name of the Lord in Zion, and his prayse in Ierusalem, |
| 102:22 | When the people shalbe gathered together, and the kingdomes to serue the Lord. |
| 102:23 | He abated my strength in the way, and shortened my dayes. |
| 102:24 | And I sayd, O my God, take me not away in the middes of my dayes: thy yeeres endure from generation to generation. |
| 102:25 | Thou hast aforetime layde the foundation of the earth, and the heauens are the worke of thine hands. |
| 102:26 | They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: euen they all shall waxe olde as doeth a garment: as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. |
| 102:27 | But thou art the same, and thy yeeres shall not fayle. |
| 102:28 | The children of thy seruants shall continue, and their seede shall stand fast in thy sight. |
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
The Geneva Bible is one of the most influential and historically significant translations of the Bible into English, preceding the King James translation by 51 years. It was the primary Bible of 16th century Protestantism and was the Bible used by William Shakespeare, Oliver Cromwell, John Knox, John Donne, and John Bunyan. The language of the Geneva Bible was more forceful and vigorous and because of this, most readers strongly preferred this version at the time.
The Geneva Bible was produced by a group of English scholars who, fleeing from the reign of Queen Mary, had found refuge in Switzerland. During the reign of Queen Mary, no Bibles were printed in England, the English Bible was no longer used in churches and English Bibles already in churches were removed and burned. Mary was determined to return Britain to Roman Catholicism.
The first English Protestant to die during Mary's turbulent reign was John Rogers in 1555, who had been the editor of the Matthews Bible. At this time, hundreds of Protestants left England and headed for Geneva, a city which under the leadership of Calvin, had become the intellectual and spiritual capital of European Protestants.
One of these exiles was William Whittingham, a fellow of Christ Church at Oxford University, who had been a diplomat, a courtier, was much traveled and skilled in many languages including Greek and Hebrew. He eventually succeeded John Knox as the minister of the English congregation in Geneva. Whittingham went on to publish the 1560 Geneva Bible.
This version is significant because, it came with a variety of scriptural study guides and aids, which included verse citations that allow the reader to cross-reference one verse with numerous relevant verses in the rest of the Bible, introductions to each book of the Bible that acted to summarize all of the material that each book would cover, maps, tables, woodcut illustrations, indices, as well as other included features, all of which would eventually lead to the reputation of the Geneva Bible as history's very first study Bible.