Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 19:1 | To him that excelleth. A Psalme of Dauid. The heauens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth ye worke of his hands. |
| 19:2 | Day vnto day vttereth the same, and night vnto night teacheth knowledge. |
| 19:3 | There is no speach nor language, where their voyce is not heard. |
| 19:4 | Their line is gone forth through all the earth, and their words into the endes of the world: in them hath he set a tabernacle for the sunne. |
| 19:5 | Which commeth forth as a bridegrome out of his chamber, and reioyceth like a mightie man to runne his race. |
| 19:6 | His going out is from the ende of the heauen, and his compasse is vnto the endes of ye same, and none is hid from the heate thereof. |
| 19:7 | The Lawe of the Lord is perfite, conuerting the soule: the testimonie of the Lord is sure, and giueth wisedome vnto the simple. |
| 19:8 | The statutes of the Lord are right and reioyce the heart: the commandement of the Lord is pure, and giueth light vnto the eyes. |
| 19:9 | The feare of the Lord is cleane, and indureth for euer: the iudgements of the Lord are trueth: they are righteous altogether, |
| 19:10 | And more to be desired then golde, yea, then much fine golde: sweeter also then honie and the honie combe. |
| 19:11 | Moreouer by them is thy seruant made circumspect, and in keeping of them there is great reward. |
| 19:12 | Who can vnderstand his faultes? clense me from secret fautes. |
| 19:13 | Keepe thy seruant also from presumptuous sinnes: let them not reigne ouer me: so shall I be vpright, and made cleane from much wickednes. |
| 19:14 | Let the wordes of my mouth, and the meditation of mine heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. |
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.