Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 31:1 | And when all these thinges were finished, all Israel that were found in the cities of Iudah, went out and brake the images, and cut downe the groues, and brake downe the hie places, and the altars thorowout all Iudah and Beniamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, vntil they had made an ende: afterwarde all the children of Israel returned euery man to his possession, into their owne cities. |
| 31:2 | And Hezekiah appoynted the courses of the Priests and Leuites by their turnes, euery man according to his office, both Priestes and Leuites, for the burnt offring and peace offrings, to minister and to giue thankes, and to prayse in the gates of the tentes of the Lord. |
| 31:3 | (And the Kings portion was of his owne substance for the burnt offrings, euen for ye burnt offrings of the morning and of the euening, and the burnt offrings for the Sabbaths, and for the new moones, and for the solemne feastes, as it is written in the Law of the Lord) |
| 31:4 | He commanded also the people that dwelt in Ierusalem, to giue a part to the Priestes, and Leuites, that they might be encouraged in the Law of the Lord. |
| 31:5 | And when the commandement was spread, the children of Israel brought abundance of first fruites, of corne, wine, and oyle, and honie, and of all the increase of the fielde, and the tithes of all things brought they abundantly. |
| 31:6 | And the children of Israel and Iudah that dwelt in ye cities of Iudah, they also brought the tithes of bullockes and sheepe, and the holy tithes which were consecrate vnto the Lord their God, and laide them on many heapes. |
| 31:7 | In the thirde moneth they beganne to lay the foundation of the heapes, and finished them in the seuenth moneth. |
| 31:8 | And when Hezekiah and the princes came, and saw the heapes, they blessed the Lord and his people Israel. |
| 31:9 | And Hezekiah questioned with the Priests and the Leuites concerning the heapes. |
| 31:10 | And Azariah the chiefe Priest of the house of Zadok answered him, and sayde, Since the people beganne to bring the offrings into the house of the Lord, we haue eaten and haue bene satisfied, and there is left in abundance: for the Lord hath blessed his people, and this abundance that is left. |
| 31:11 | And Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of the Lord: and they prepared them, |
| 31:12 | And caryed in the first fruites, and the tithes, and the dedicate things faithfully: and ouer them was Conaniah the Leuite, the chiefe, and Shimei his brother the seconde. |
| 31:13 | And Iehiel, and Azariah, and Nahath, and Asahel, and Ierimoth, and Iozabad, and Eliel, and Ismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah were ouerseers by the appointment of Conaniah, and Shimei his brother, and by the commandement of Hezekiah the King, and of Azariah the chiefe of the house of God. |
| 31:14 | And Kore the sonne of Imnah the Leuite porter towarde the East, was ouer the things that were willingly offred vnto God, to distribute the oblations of the Lord, and the holy things that were consecrate. |
| 31:15 | And at his hande were Eden, and Miniamin, and Ieshua, and Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shechaniah, in the cities of the Priestes, to distribute with fidelitie to their brethren by courses, both to the great and small, |
| 31:16 | Their daily portion: beside their generation being males from three yeere olde and aboue, euen to all that entred into the house of the Lord to their office in their charge, according to their courses: |
| 31:17 | Both to the generation of the Priestes after the house of their fathers, and to the Leuites from twentie yeere olde and aboue, according to their charge in their courses: |
| 31:18 | And to the generation of all their children, their wiues, and their sonnes and their daughters throughout all ye Congregation: for by their fidelitie are they partakers of the holy things. |
| 31:19 | Also to the sonnes of Aaron, the Priestes, which were in the fieldes and suburbes of their cities, in euery citie the men that were appointed by names, shoulde giue portions to all the males of the Priestes, and to all the generation of the Leuites. |
| 31:20 | And thus did Hezekiah throughout al Iudah, and did well, and vprightly, and truely before the Lord his God. |
| 31:21 | And in all the workes that he began for the seruice of the house of God, both in the Law and in the commandements, to seeke his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered. |
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.