Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 64:1 | To him that excelleth. A Psalme of David. Heare my voyce, O God, in my prayer: preserue my life from feare of the enemie. |
| 64:2 | Hide me from the conspiracie of the wicked, and from the rage of the workers of iniquitie. |
| 64:3 | Which haue whette their tongue like a sword, and shot for their arrowes bitter wordes. |
| 64:4 | To shoote at the vpright in secrete: they shoote at him suddenly, and feare not. |
| 64:5 | They encourage themselues in a wicked purpose: they commune together to lay snares priuilie, and say, Who shall see them? |
| 64:6 | They haue sought out iniquities, and haue accomplished that which they sought out, euen euery one his secret thoughtes, and the depth of his heart. |
| 64:7 | But God will shoote an arrowe at them suddenly: their strokes shalbe at once. |
| 64:8 | They shall cause their owne tongue to fall vpon them: and whosoeuer shall see them, shall flee away. |
| 64:9 | And all men shall see it, and declare the worke of God, and they shall vnderstand, what he hath wrought. |
| 64:10 | But the righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and trust in him: and all that are vpright of heart, shall reioyce. |
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.