Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 57:1 | To him that excelleth. Destroy not. A Psalme of David on Michtam. When he fled from Saul in the cave. Have mercie vpon me, O God, haue mercie vpon me: for my soule trusteth in thee, and in the shadowe of thy wings wil I trust, till these afflictions ouerpasse. |
| 57:2 | I will call vnto the most high God, euen to the God, that performeth his promise toward me. |
| 57:3 | He will send from heauen, and saue me from the reproofe of him that would swallowe me. Selah. God wil send his mercy, and his trueth. |
| 57:4 | My soule is among lions: I lie among the children of men, that are set on fire: whose teeth are speares and arrowes, and their tongue a sharpe sworde. |
| 57:5 | Exalt thy selfe, O God, aboue the heauen, and let thy glory be vpon all the earth. |
| 57:6 | They haue layd a net for my steps: my soule is pressed downe: they haue digged a pit before me, and are fallen into the mids of it. Selah. |
| 57:7 | Mine heart is prepared, O God, mine heart is prepared: I will sing and giue prayse. |
| 57:8 | Awake my tongue, awake viole and harpe: I wil awake early. |
| 57:9 | I will prayse thee, O Lord, among the people, and I wil sing vnto thee among the nations. |
| 57:10 | For thy mercie is great vnto the heauens, and thy trueth vnto the cloudes. |
| 57:11 | Exalt thy selfe, O God, aboue the heauens, and let thy glory be vpon all the earth. |
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.