Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 37:1 | After this, Bezaleel made the Arke of Shittim wood, two cubites and an halfe long and a cubite and an halfe broade, and a cubite and an halfe hie: |
| 37:2 | And ouerlayde it with fine golde within and without, and made a crowne of golde to it rounde about, |
| 37:3 | And cast for it foure rings of golde for the foure corners of it: that is, two rings for the one side of it, and two rings for the other side thereof. |
| 37:4 | Also he made barres of Shittim wood, and couered them with golde, |
| 37:5 | And put the barres in the rings by the sides of the Arke, to beare the Arke. |
| 37:6 | And he made the Merciseate of pure golde: two cubites and an halfe was the length thereof, and one cubite and an halfe the breadth thereof. |
| 37:7 | And he made two Cherubims of gold, vpon the two endes of the Merciseate: euen of worke beaten with the hammer made he them. |
| 37:8 | One Cherub on the one ende, and another Cherub on the other ende: of the Merciseate made he the Cherubims, at ye two endes thereof. |
| 37:9 | And the Cherubims spread out their wings on hie, and couered the Merciseat with their wings, and their faces were one towards another: towarde the Merciseat were the faces of the Cherubims. |
| 37:10 | Also he made ye Table of Shittim wood: two cubites was the length thereof, and a cubite the breadth thereof, and a cubite and an halfe the height of it. |
| 37:11 | And hee ouerlayde it with fine golde, and made thereto a crowne of golde round about. |
| 37:12 | Also he made thereto a border of an hand breadth round about, and made vpon the border a crowne of golde round about. |
| 37:13 | And he cast for it foure rings of gold, and put the rings in the foure corners that were in the foure feete thereof. |
| 37:14 | Against the border were the rings, as places for the barres to beare the Table. |
| 37:15 | And he made the barres of Shittim wood, and couered them with golde to beare the Table. |
| 37:16 | Also he made the instruments for the Table of pure golde: dishes for it, and incense cuppes for it, and goblets for it, and couerings for it, wherewith it should be couered. |
| 37:17 | Likewise he made the Candlesticke of pure golde: of worke beaten out with the hammer made he the Candlesticke: and his shaft, and his branche, his bolles, his knops, and his floures were of one piece. |
| 37:18 | And sixe branches came out of the sides thereof: three branches of the Candlesticke out of the one side of it, and three branches of the Candlesticke out of the other side of it. |
| 37:19 | In one branche three bolles made like almondes, a knop and a floure: and in another branch three bolles made like almondes, a knop and a floure: and so throughout the sixe branches that proceeded out of the Candlesticke. |
| 37:20 | And vpon the Candlesticke were foure bolles after the facion of almondes, the knoppes thereof and the floures thereof: |
| 37:21 | That is, vnder euery two branches a knop made thereof, and a knop vnder the second branch thereof, and a knop vnder the thirde branche thereof, according to the sixe branches comming out of it. |
| 37:22 | Their knops and their branches were of the same: it was all one beaten worke of pure gold. |
| 37:23 | And he made for it seuen lampes with the snuffers, and snufdishes thereof of pure golde. |
| 37:24 | Of a talent of pure golde made he it with all the instruments thereof. |
| 37:25 | Furthermore he made the perfume altar of Shittim wood: the length of it was a cubite, and the breadth of it a cubite (it was square) and two cubites hie, and the hornes thereof were of ye same. |
| 37:26 | And he couered it with pure gold, both the top and the sides thereof rounde about, and the hornes of it, and made vnto it a crowne of golde round about. |
| 37:27 | And he made two rings of gold for it, vnder the crowne thereof in the two corners of the two sides thereof, to put barres in for to beare it therewith. |
| 37:28 | Also he made the barres of Shittim wood, and ouerlayde them with golde. |
| 37:29 | And he made the holy anointing oyle, and the sweete pure incense after ye apothecaries arte. |
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.