Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 12:1 | Then Iob answered, and sayde, |
| 12:2 | In deede because that ye are the people onely, wisedome must dye with you. |
| 12:3 | But I haue vnderstanding aswel as you, and am not inferior vnto you: yea, who knoweth not such things? |
| 12:4 | I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth vpon God, and he heareth him: the iust and the vpright is laughed to scorne. |
| 12:5 | Hee that is readie to fall, is as a lampe despised in the opinion of the riche. |
| 12:6 | The tabernacles of robbers doe prosper, and they are in safetie, that prouoke God, whome God hath enriched with his hand. |
| 12:7 | Aske now the beasts, and they shall teach thee, and the foules of the heauen, and they shall tell thee: |
| 12:8 | Or speake to the earth, and it shall shewe thee: or the fishes of the sea, and they shall declare vnto thee. |
| 12:9 | Who is ignorant of all these, but that the hande of the Lord hath made these? |
| 12:10 | In whose hande is the soule of euery liuing thing, and the breath of all mankinde. |
| 12:11 | Doeth not the eares discerne the words? and the mouth taste meate for it selfe? |
| 12:12 | Among the ancient is wisedome, and in the length of dayes is vnderstanding. |
| 12:13 | With him is wisedome and strength: he hath counsell and vnderstanding. |
| 12:14 | Beholde, he will breake downe, and it can not be built: he shutteth a man vp, and he can not be loosed. |
| 12:15 | Beholde, he withholdeth the waters, and they drie vp: but when he sendeth them out, they destroy the earth. |
| 12:16 | With him is strength and wisedome: hee that is deceiued, and that deceiueth, are his. |
| 12:17 | He causeth the counsellers to goe as spoyled, and maketh the iudges fooles. |
| 12:18 | He looseth the collar of Kings, and girdeth their loynes with a girdle. |
| 12:19 | He leadeth away the princes as a pray, and ouerthroweth the mightie. |
| 12:20 | He taketh away the speach from the faithfull counsellers, and taketh away the iudgement of the ancient. |
| 12:21 | He powreth contempt vpon princes, and maketh the strength of the mightie weake. |
| 12:22 | He discouereth the deepe places from their darkenesse, and bringeth foorth the shadowe of death to light. |
| 12:23 | He increaseth the people, and destroyeth them: he inlargeth the nations, and bringeth them in againe. |
| 12:24 | He taketh away the heartes of the that are the chiefe ouer the people of the earth, and maketh them to wander in the wildernes out of the way. |
| 12:25 | They grope in the darke without light: and he maketh the to stagger like a drunken man. |
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.