Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 4:1 | Afterward the man knew Heuah his wife, which conceiued and bare Kain, and said, I haue obteined a man by the Lord. |
| 4:2 | And againe she brought foorth his brother Habel, and Habel was a keeper of sheepe, and Kain was a tiller of the ground. |
| 4:3 | And in processe of time it came to passe, that Kain brought an oblation vnto the Lord of the fruite of the ground. |
| 4:4 | And Habel also him selfe brought of the first fruites of his sheepe, and of the fat of them, and the Lord had respect vnto Habel, and to his offering, |
| 4:5 | But vnto Kain and to his offering he had no regarde: wherefore Kain was exceeding wroth, and his countenance fell downe. |
| 4:6 | Then ye Lord said vnto Kain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance cast downe? |
| 4:7 | If thou do well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sinne lieth at the doore: also vnto thee his desire shalbe subiect, and thou shalt rule ouer him. |
| 4:8 | Then Kain spake to Habel his brother. And when they were in the fielde, Kain rose vp against Habel his brother, and slewe him. |
| 4:9 | Then the Lord said vnto Kain, Where is Habel thy brother? Who answered, I cannot tell. Am I my brothers keeper? |
| 4:10 | Againe he said, What hast thou done? the voyce of thy brothers blood cryeth vnto me from the earth. |
| 4:11 | Now therefore thou art cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receiue thy brothers blood from thine hand. |
| 4:12 | When thou shalt till the grounde, it shall not henceforth yeelde vnto thee her strength: a vagabond and a runnagate shalt thou be in the earth. |
| 4:13 | Then Kain said to the Lord, My punishment is greater, then I can beare. |
| 4:14 | Behold, thou hast cast me out this day from the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid, and shalbe a vagabond, and a runnagate in the earth, and whosoeuer findeth me, shall slay me. |
| 4:15 | Then the Lord said vnto him, Doubtlesse whosoeuer slayeth Kain, he shalbe punished seue folde. And the Lord set a marke vpon Kain, lest any man finding him should kill him. |
| 4:16 | Then Kain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod towarde the Eastside of Eden. |
| 4:17 | Kain also knewe his wife, which conceiued and bare Henoch: and he built a citie, and called the name of the citie by ye name of his sonne, Henoch. |
| 4:18 | And to Henoch was borne Irad, and Irad begate Mehuiael, and Mehuiael begate Methushael, and Methushael begate Lamech. |
| 4:19 | And Lamech tooke him two wiues: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. |
| 4:20 | And Adah bare Iabal, who was the father of such as dwell in the tents, and of such as haue cattell. |
| 4:21 | And his brothers name was Iubal, who was the father of all that play on the harpe and organes. |
| 4:22 | And Zillah also bare Tubal-kain, who wrought cunningly euery craft of brasse and of yron: and the sister of Tubal-kain was Naamah. |
| 4:23 | Then Lamech saide vnto his wiues Adah and Zillah, Heare my voyce, ye wiues of Lamech: hearken vnto my speach: for I would slay a man in my wound, and a yong man in mine hurt. |
| 4:24 | If Kain shalbe auenged seuen folde, truely Lamech, seuentie times seuen folde. |
| 4:25 | And Adam knewe his wife againe, and she bare a sonne, and she called his name Sheth: for God, saide she, hath appointed me another seede for Habel, because Kain slewe him. |
| 4:26 | And to ye same Sheth also there was borne a sonne, and he called his name Enosh. Then beganne men to call vpon the name of the Lord. |
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.