Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 4:1 | Heare, O ye children, the instruction of a father, and giue eare to learne vnderstanding. |
| 4:2 | For I doe giue you a good doctrine: therefore forsake yee not my lawe. |
| 4:3 | For I was my fathers sonne, tender and deare in the sight of my mother, |
| 4:4 | When he taught me, and sayde vnto me, Let thine heart holde fast my woordes: keepe my commandements, and thou shalt liue. |
| 4:5 | Get wisedom: get vnderstading: forget not, neither decline from the woordes of my mouth. |
| 4:6 | Forsake her not, and shee shall keepe thee: loue her and shee shall preserue thee. |
| 4:7 | Wisedome is the beginning: get wisedome therefore: and aboue all thy possession get vnderstanding. |
| 4:8 | Exalt her, and she shall exalt thee: she shall bring thee to honour, if thou embrace her. |
| 4:9 | She shall giue a comely ornamet vnto thine head, yea, she shall giue thee a crowne of glorie. |
| 4:10 | Heare, my sonne, and receiue my wordes, and the yeeres of thy life shalbe many. |
| 4:11 | I haue taught thee in ye way of wisedom, and led thee in the pathes of righteousnesse. |
| 4:12 | Whe thou goest, thy gate shall not be strait, and when thou runnest, thou shalt not fall. |
| 4:13 | Take holde of instruction, and leaue not: keepe her, for shee is thy life. |
| 4:14 | Enter not into the way of the wicked, and walke not in the way of euill men. |
| 4:15 | Auoide it, and goe not by it: turne from it, and passe by. |
| 4:16 | For they can not sleepe, except they haue done euill, and their sleepe departeth except they cause some to fall. |
| 4:17 | For they eate the breade of wickednesse, and drinke the wine of violence. |
| 4:18 | But the way of the righteous shineth as the light, that shineth more and more vnto the perfite day. |
| 4:19 | The way of the wicked is as the darkenes: they knowe not wherein they shall fall. |
| 4:20 | My sonne, hearken vnto my wordes, incline thine eare vnto my sayings. |
| 4:21 | Let them not depart from thine eyes, but keepe them in the middes of thine heart. |
| 4:22 | For they are life vnto those that find them, and health vnto all their flesh. |
| 4:23 | Keepe thine heart with all diligence: for thereout commeth life. |
| 4:24 | Put away from thee a froward mouth, and put wicked lippes farre from thee. |
| 4:25 | Let thine eyes beholde the right, and let thine eyelids direct thy way before thee. |
| 4:26 | Ponder the path of thy feete, and let all thy waies be ordred aright. |
| 4:27 | Turne not to the right hande, nor to the left, but remooue thy foote from euill. |
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.