Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 147:1 | Praise ye the Lord, for it is good to sing vnto our God: for it is a pleasant thing, and praise is comely. |
| 147:2 | The Lord doth builde vp Ierusalem, and gather together the dispersed of Israel. |
| 147:3 | He healeth those that are broken in heart, and bindeth vp their sores. |
| 147:4 | He counteth the nomber of the starres, and calleth them all by their names. |
| 147:5 | Great is our Lord, and great is his power: his wisdome is infinite. |
| 147:6 | The Lord relieueth the meeke, and abaseth the wicked to the ground. |
| 147:7 | Sing vnto the Lord with prayse: sing vpon the harpe vnto our God, |
| 147:8 | Which couereth the heauen with cloudes, and prepareth raine for the earth, and maketh the grasse to growe vpon the mountaines: |
| 147:9 | Which giueth to beasts their foode, and to the yong rauens that crie. |
| 147:10 | He hath not pleasure in the strength of an horse, neither delighteth he in the legs of man. |
| 147:11 | But the Lord deliteth in them that feare him, and attende vpon his mercie. |
| 147:12 | Prayse the Lord, O Ierusalem: prayse thy God, O Zion. |
| 147:13 | For he hath made the barres of thy gates strong, and hath blessed thy children within thee. |
| 147:14 | He setteth peace in thy borders, and satisfieth thee with the floure of wheate. |
| 147:15 | He sendeth foorth his commandement vpon earth, and his worde runneth very swiftly. |
| 147:16 | He giueth snowe like wooll, and scattereth the hoare frost like ashes. |
| 147:17 | He casteth foorth his yce like morsels: who can abide the colde thereof? |
| 147:18 | He sendeth his worde and melteth them: he causeth his winde to blowe, and the waters flowe. |
| 147:19 | He sheweth his word vnto Iaakob, his statutes and his iudgements vnto Israel. |
| 147:20 | He hath not dealt so with euery nation, neither haue they knowen his iudgements. Prayse ye the Lord. |
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.