Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 36:1 | To him that excelleth. A Psalme of Dauid, the servant of the Lord. Wickedness sayeth to the wicked man, euen in mine heart, that there is no feare of God before his eyes. |
| 36:2 | For hee flattereth himselfe in his owne eyes, while his iniquitie is foud worthy to be hated. |
| 36:3 | The wordes of his mouth are iniquitie and deceit: hee hath left off to vnderstand and to doe good. |
| 36:4 | Hee imagineth mischiefe vpon his bed: he setteth himselfe vpon a way, that is not good, and doeth not abhorre euill. |
| 36:5 | Thy mercy, O Lord, reacheth vnto the heauens, and thy faithfulnesse vnto the cloudes. |
| 36:6 | Thy righteousnesse is like the mightie moutaines: thy iudgements are like a great deepe: thou, Lord, doest saue man and beast. |
| 36:7 | How excellent is thy mercy, O God! therefore the children of men trust vnder the shadowe of thy wings. |
| 36:8 | They shall be satisfied with the fatnesse of thine house, and thou shalt giue them drinke out of the riuer of thy pleasures. |
| 36:9 | For with thee is the well of life, and in thy light shall we see light. |
| 36:10 | Extend thy louing kindnes vnto them that knowe thee, and thy righteousnesse vnto them that are vpright in heart. |
| 36:11 | Let not ye foote of pride come against me, and let not the hand of ye wicked men moue me. |
| 36:12 | There they are fallen that worke iniquity: they are cast downe, and shall not be able to rise. |
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.