Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 136:1 | Praise ye the Lord, because he is good: for his mercie endureth for euer. |
| 136:2 | Praise ye the God of gods: for his mercie endureth for euer. |
| 136:3 | Praise ye the Lord of lordes: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:4 | Which onely doeth great wonders: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:5 | Which by his wisedome made the heauens: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:6 | Which hath stretched out the earth vpon the waters: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:7 | Which made great lightes: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:8 | As the sunne to rule the day: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:9 | The moone and the starres to gouerne the night: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:10 | Which smote Egypt with their first borne, (for his mercie endureth for euer) |
| 136:11 | And brought out Israel from among them (for his mercie endureth for euer) |
| 136:12 | With a mightie hande and stretched out arme: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:13 | Which deuided the red Sea in two partes: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:14 | And made Israel to passe through the mids of it: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:15 | And ouerthrewe Pharaoh and his hoste in the red Sea: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:16 | Which led his people through the wildernes: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:17 | Which smote great Kings: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:18 | And slewe mightie Kings: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:19 | As Sihon King of the Amorites: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:20 | And Og the King of Bashan: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:21 | And gaue their land for an heritage: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:22 | Euen an heritage vnto Israel his seruant: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:23 | Which remembred vs in our base estate: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:24 | And hath rescued vs from our oppressours: for his mercie endureth for euer: |
| 136:25 | Which giueth foode to all flesh: for his mercie endureth for euer. |
| 136:26 | Praise ye the God of heauen: for his mercie endureth for euer. |
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.