Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 17:1 | And Eliiah the Tishbite one of the inhabitats of Gilead sayde vnto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liueth, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dewe nor rayne these yeeres, but according to my worde. |
| 17:2 | And the worde of the Lord came vnto him, saying, |
| 17:3 | Go hence, and turne thee Eastwarde, and hide thy selfe in the riuer Cherith, that is ouer against Iorden, |
| 17:4 | And thou shalt drinke of the riuer: and I haue comanded the rauens to feede thee there. |
| 17:5 | So he went and did according vnto the word of the Lord: for he went, and remained by the riuer Cherith that is ouer against Iorden. |
| 17:6 | And the rauens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the euening, and he dranke of the riuer. |
| 17:7 | And after a while the riuer dryed vp, because there fell no rayne vpon the earth. |
| 17:8 | And the worde of the Lord came vnto him, saying, |
| 17:9 | Vp, and get thee to Zarephath, which is in Zidon, and remaine there: beholde, I haue commanded a widow there to sustaine thee. |
| 17:10 | So he arose, and went to Zarephath: and when he came to the gate of the citie, beholde, the widowe was there gathering stickes: and he called her, and sayde, Bring me, I pray thee, a litle water in a vessel, that I may drinke. |
| 17:11 | And as she was going to fet it, he called to her, and sayde, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsell of bread in thine hand. |
| 17:12 | And shee sayde, As the Lord thy God liueth, I haue not a cake, but euen an handfull of meale in a barrel, and a litle oyle in a cruse: and behold, I am gathering a fewe stickes for to go in, and dresse it for me and my sonne, that we may eate it, and dye. |
| 17:13 | And Eliiah said vnto her, Feare not, come, do as thou hast sayd, but make me thereof a litle cake first of all, and bring it vnto mee, and afterward make for thee, and thy sonne. |
| 17:14 | For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The meale in the barrel shall not be wasted, neither shall the oyle in the cruse be diminished, vnto the time that the Lord send rayne vpon the earth. |
| 17:15 | So she went, and did as Eliiah sayd, and she did eate: so did he and her house for a certaine time. |
| 17:16 | The barrell of the meale wasted not, nor the oyle was spent out of the cruse, according to the worde of the Lord, which he spake by the hand of Eliiah. |
| 17:17 | And after these things, the sonne of the wife of the house fell sicke, and his sicknesse was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. |
| 17:18 | And she said vnto Eliiah, What haue I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come vnto me to call my sinne to remembrance, and to slay my sonne? |
| 17:19 | And he said vnto her, Giue me thy sonne. and he tooke him out of her bosome, and caryed him vp into a chamber, where he abode, and laid him vpon his owne bed. |
| 17:20 | Then he called vnto the Lord, and sayde, O Lord my God, hast thou punished also this widowe, with whome I soiourne, by killing her sonne? |
| 17:21 | And he stretched himselfe vpon the childe three times, and called vnto the Lord, and saide, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this childes soule come into him againe. |
| 17:22 | Then the Lord heard the voyce of Eliiah, and the soule of the child came into him againe, and he reuiued. |
| 17:23 | And Eliiah tooke the childe, and brought him downe out of the chamber into the house, and deliuered him vnto his mother, and Eliiah sayd, Behold, thy sonne liueth. |
| 17:24 | And the woman saide vnto Eliiah, Now I knowe that thou art a man of God, and that the worde of the Lord in thy mouth is true. |
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.