Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 43:1 | Judge me, O God, and defend my cause against the vnmercifull people: deliuer mee from the deceitfull and wicked man. |
| 43:2 | For thou art the God of my strength: why hast thou put me away? why goe I so mourning, when the enemie oppresseth me? |
| 43:3 | Sende thy light and thy trueth: let them leade mee: let them bring mee vnto thine holy Mountaine and to thy Tabernacles. |
| 43:4 | Then wil I go vnto the altar of God, euen vnto the God of my ioy and gladnes: and vpon the harpe wil I giue thanks vnto thee, O God, my God. |
| 43:5 | Why art thou cast downe, my soule? and why art thou disquieted within mee? waite on God: for I will yet giue him thankes, he is my present helpe, and my God. |
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.