Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 2:1 | Then there went a man of the house of Leui, and tooke to wife a daughter of Leui, |
| 2:2 | And the woman coceiued and bare a sonne: and when she saw that he was faire, she hid him three moneths. |
| 2:3 | But when she could no longer hide him, she tooke for him an arke made of reede, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and laide the childe therein, and put it among the bulrushes by the riuers brinke. |
| 2:4 | Now his sister stood a farre off, to wit what would come of him. |
| 2:5 | Then ye daughter of Pharaoh came downe to wash her in the riuer, and her maidens walked by the riuers side: and when shee sawe the arke among the bulrushes, she sent her maide to fet it. |
| 2:6 | Then she opened it, and sawe it was a childe: and beholde, the babe wept: so she had compassion on it, and sayde, This is one of the Ebrewes children. |
| 2:7 | Then said his sister vnto Pharaohs daughter, Shall I go and cal vnto thee a nurce of the Ebrew women to nurce thee the childe? |
| 2:8 | And Pharaohs daughter sayde to her, Goe. So the maide went and called the childes mother, |
| 2:9 | To whome Pharaohs daughter sayde, Take this childe away, and nurce it for me, and I wil reward thee. Then the woman tooke the childe and nurced him. |
| 2:10 | Nowe the childe grewe, and she brought him vnto Pharaohs daughter, and he was as her sonne, and she called his name Moses, because, said she, I drewe him out of the water. |
| 2:11 | And in those dayes, when Moses was growen, he went forth vnto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: also he sawe an Egyptian smiting an Ebrewe one of his brethren. |
| 2:12 | And he looked rounde about, and when he sawe no man, hee slewe the Egyptian, and hid him in the sande. |
| 2:13 | Againe he came forth the second day, and behold, two Ebrewes stroue: and he said vnto him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellowe? |
| 2:14 | And hee answered, Who made thee a man of authoritie, and a iudge ouer vs? Thinkest thou to kill mee, as thou killedst the Egyptian? Then Moses feared and sayde, Certainly this thing is knowen. |
| 2:15 | Now Pharaoh heard this matter, and sought to slay Moses: therefore Moses fled from Pharaoh, and dwelt in the lande of Midian, and hee sate downe by a well. |
| 2:16 | And the Priest of Midian had seue daughters, which came and drewe water, and filled the troghes, for to water their fathers sheepe. |
| 2:17 | Then the shepherds came and droue them away: but Moses rose vp and defended them, and watered their sheepe. |
| 2:18 | And whe they came to Reuel their father, he said, Howe are ye come so soone to day? |
| 2:19 | And they saide, A man of Egypt deliuered vs from the hand of the shepherdes, and also drew vs water ynough, and watered the sheepe. |
| 2:20 | Then he saide vnto his daughters, And where is he? why haue ye so left the man? call him that he may eate bread. |
| 2:21 | And Moses agreed to dwell with the man: who gaue vnto Moses Zipporah his daughter: |
| 2:22 | And she bare a sonne, whose name he called Gershom: for he said, I haue bene a stranger in a strange lande. |
| 2:23 | Then in processe of time, the King of Egypt dyed, and the children of Israel sighed for the bondage and cryed: and their crie for the bondage came vp vnto God. |
| 2:24 | Then God heard their mone, and God remembred his couenant with Abraham, Izhak, and Iaakob. |
| 2:25 | So God looked vpon the children of Israel, and God had respect vnto them. |
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.