Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 1:1 | Then Salomon the sonne of Dauid was confirmed in his kingdome: and the Lord his God was with him, and magnified him highly. |
| 1:2 | And Salomon spake vnto all Israel, to the captaines of thousandes, and of hundreths, and to the iudges, and to all the gouernours in all Israel, euen the chiefe fathers. |
| 1:3 | So Salomon and all the Congregation with him went to the hie place that was at Gibeon: for there was the Tabernacle of the Congregation of God which Moses the seruant of the Lord had made in the wildernesse. |
| 1:4 | But the Arke of God had Dauid brought vp from Kiriath-iearim, when Dauid had made preparation for it: for he had pitched a tent for it in Ierusalem. |
| 1:5 | Moreouer the brasen altar that Bezaleel the sonne of Vri, the sonne of Hur had made, did hee set before the Tabernacle of the Lord: and Salomon and the Congregation sought it. |
| 1:6 | And Salomon offred there before the Lord vpon the brasen altar that was in the Tabernacle of the Congregation: euen a thousand burnt offrings offred he vpon it. |
| 1:7 | The same night did God appeare vnto Salomon, and sayde vnto him, Aske what I shall giue thee. |
| 1:8 | And Salomon sayde vnto God, Thou hast shewed great mercy vnto Dauid my father and hast made me to reigne in his stead. |
| 1:9 | Nowe therefore, O Lord God, let thy promise vnto Dauid my father be true: for thou hast made mee King ouer a great people, like to the dust of the earth. |
| 1:10 | Giue me now wisdome and knowledge, that I may go out and go in before this people: for who can iudge this thy great people? |
| 1:11 | And God sayde to Salomon, Because this was in thine heart, and thou hast not asked riches, treasures nor honour, nor the liues of thine enemies, neither yet hast asked long life, but hast asked for thee wisdome and knowledge that thou mightest iudge my people, ouer whome I haue made thee King, |
| 1:12 | Wisdome and knowledge is granted vnto thee, and I will giue thee riches and treasures and honour, so that there hath not bene the like among the Kings which were before thee, neither after thee shall there be the like. |
| 1:13 | Then Salomon came from the hie place, that was at Gibeon, to Ierusalem from before the Tabernacle of the Congregation, and reigned ouer Israel. |
| 1:14 | And Salomon gathered the charets and horesemen: and he had a thousand and foure hundreth charets, and twelue thousande horsemen, whome he placed in the charet cities, and with the King at Ierusalem. |
| 1:15 | And the King gaue siluer and gold at Ierusalem as stones, and gaue cedar trees as the wilde figge trees, that are abundantly in the playne. |
| 1:16 | Also Salomon had horses brought out of Egypt and fine linen: the Kings marchants receiued the fine linen for a price. |
| 1:17 | They came vp also and brought out of Egypt some charet, worth sixe hundreth shekels of siluer, that is an horse for an hundreth and fiftie: and thus they brought horses to all the Kings of the Hittites, and to the Kings of Aram by their meanes. |
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.