Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 23:1 | When Sarah was an hundreth twentie and seuen yeere olde (so long liued she). |
| 23:2 | Then Sarah dyed in Kiriath-arba: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan. and Abraham came to mourne for Sarah and to weepe for her. |
| 23:3 | Then Abraham rose vp from the sight of his corps, and talked with the Hittites, saying, |
| 23:4 | I am a stranger, and a forreiner among you, giue me a possession of buriall with you, that I may burie my dead out of my sight. |
| 23:5 | Then the Hittites answered Abraham, saying vnto him, |
| 23:6 | Heare vs, my lorde: thou art a prince of God among vs: in the chiefest of our sepulchres bury thy dead: none of vs shall forbid thee his sepulchre, but thou mayest bury thy dead therein. |
| 23:7 | Then Abraham stoode vp, and bowed him selfe before the people of the land of the Hittites. |
| 23:8 | And he communed with them, saying, If it be your minde, that I shall bury my dead out of my sight, heare me, and intreate for me to Ephron the sonne of Zohar, |
| 23:9 | That he would giue me ye caue of Machpelah, which he hath in the ende of his field: that he would giue it me for as much money as it is worth, for a possession to bury in among you. |
| 23:10 | (For Ephron dwelt among the Hittites) Then Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of all the Hittites that went in at the gates of his citie, saying, |
| 23:11 | No, my Lord, heare me: the fielde giue I thee, and the caue, that therein is, I giue it thee: euen in the presence of the sonnes of my people giue I it thee, to bury thy dead. |
| 23:12 | Then Abraham bowed himselfe before the people of the land, |
| 23:13 | And spake vnto Ephron in the audience of the people of the countrey, saying, Seeing thou wilt giue it, I pray thee, heare me, I will giue the price of the fielde: receiue it of me, and I will bury my dead there. |
| 23:14 | Ephron then answered Abraham, saying vnto him, |
| 23:15 | My lord, hearken vnto me: ye land is worth foure hundreth shekels of siluer: what is that betweene me and thee? bury therefore thy dead. |
| 23:16 | So Abraham hearkened vnto Ephron, and Abraham weyed to Ephron the siluer, which he had named, in the audience of the Hittites, euen foure hundreth siluer shekels of currant money among marchants. |
| 23:17 | So the fielde of Ephron which was in Machpelah, and ouer against Mamre, euen the field and the caue that was therein, and all the trees that were in the fielde, which were in all the borders round about, was made sure |
| 23:18 | Vnto Abraham for a possession, in ye sight of the Hittites, euen of all that went in at the gates of his citie. |
| 23:19 | And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the caue of the fielde of Machpelah ouer against Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan. |
| 23:20 | Thus the fielde and the caue, that is therein, was made sure vnto Abraham for a possession of buriall by the Hittites. |
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.