Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 51:1 | To him that excelleth. A Psalme of David, when the Prophet Nathan came unto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba. Have mercie vpon me, O God, according to thy louing kindnes: according to the multitude of thy compassions put away mine iniquities. |
| 51:2 | Wash me throughly from mine iniquitie, and clense me from my sinne. |
| 51:3 | For I know mine iniquities, and my sinne is euer before me. |
| 51:4 | Against thee, against thee onely haue I sinned, and done euill in thy sight, that thou mayest be iust when thou speakest, and pure when thou iudgest. |
| 51:5 | Beholde, I was borne in iniquitie, and in sinne hath my mother conceiued me. |
| 51:6 | Beholde, thou louest trueth in the inwarde affections: therefore hast thou taught mee wisedome in the secret of mine heart. |
| 51:7 | Purge me with hyssope, and I shalbe cleane: wash me, and I shalbe whiter then snowe. |
| 51:8 | Make me to heare ioye and gladnes, that the bones, which thou hast broken, may reioyce. |
| 51:9 | Hide thy face from my sinnes, and put away all mine iniquities. |
| 51:10 | Create in mee a cleane heart, O God, and renue a right spirit within me. |
| 51:11 | Cast mee not away from thy presence, and take not thine holy Spirit from me. |
| 51:12 | Restore to me the ioy of thy saluation, and stablish me with thy free Spirit. |
| 51:13 | Then shall I teache thy wayes vnto the wicked, and sinners shalbe conuerted vnto thee. |
| 51:14 | Deliuer me from blood, O God, which art the God of my saluation, and my tongue shall sing ioyfully of thy righteousnes. |
| 51:15 | Open thou my lippes, O Lord, and my mouth shall shewe foorth thy praise. |
| 51:16 | For thou desirest no sacrifice, though I would giue it: thou delitest not in burnt offering. |
| 51:17 | The sacrifices of God are a contrite spirit: a contrite and a broken heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. |
| 51:18 | Bee fauourable vnto Zion for thy good pleasure: builde the walles of Ierusalem. |
| 51:19 | Then shalt thou accept ye sacrifices of righteousnes, euen the burnt offering and oblation: then shall they offer calues vpon thine altar. |
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.