Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 8:1 | Doth not wisedome crie? and vnderstanding vtter her voyce? |
| 8:2 | She standeth in the top of the high places by the way in the place of the paths. |
| 8:3 | She cryeth besides the gates before the citie at the entrie of the doores, |
| 8:4 | O men, I call vnto you, and vtter my voyce to the children of men. |
| 8:5 | O ye foolish men, vnderstand wisedome, and ye, O fooles, be wise in heart. |
| 8:6 | Giue eare, for I will speake of excellent things, and the opening of my lippes, shall teache things that be right. |
| 8:7 | For my mouth shall speake the trueth, and my lippes abhorre wickednesse. |
| 8:8 | All the wordes of my mouth are righteous: there is no lewdenes, nor frowardnesse in them. |
| 8:9 | They are all plaine to him that will vnderstande, and streight to them that woulde finde knowledge. |
| 8:10 | Receiue mine instruction, and not siluer, and knowledge rather then fine golde. |
| 8:11 | For wisdome is better then precious stones: and all pleasures are not to be compared vnto her. |
| 8:12 | I wisdome dwell with prudence, and I find foorth knowledge and counsels. |
| 8:13 | The feare of the Lord is to hate euill as pride, and arrogancie, and the euill way: and a mouth that speaketh lewde things, I doe hate. |
| 8:14 | I haue counsell and wisedome: I am vnderstanding, and I haue strength. |
| 8:15 | By me, Kings reigne, and princes decree iustice. |
| 8:16 | By me princes rule and the nobles, and all the iudges of the earth. |
| 8:17 | I loue them that loue me: and they that seeke me earely, shall finde me. |
| 8:18 | Riches and honour are with me: euen durable riches and righteousnesse. |
| 8:19 | My fruite is better then golde, euen then fine golde, and my reuenues better then fine siluer. |
| 8:20 | I cause to walke in the way of righteousnes, and in the middes of the paths of iudgement, |
| 8:21 | That I may cause them that loue me, to inherite substance, and I will fill their treasures. |
| 8:22 | The Lord hath possessed me in the beginning of his way: I was before his workes of olde. |
| 8:23 | I was set vp from euerlasting, from the beginning and before the earth. |
| 8:24 | When there were no depths, was I begotten, when there were no fountaines abounding with water. |
| 8:25 | Before the mountaines were setled: and before the hilles, was I begotten. |
| 8:26 | He had not yet made the earth, nor the open places, nor the height of the dust in the worlde. |
| 8:27 | When hee prepared the heauens, I was there, when he set the compasse vpon the deepe. |
| 8:28 | When he established the cloudes aboue, when he confirmed the fountaines of the deepe, |
| 8:29 | When he gaue his decree to the Sea, that the waters shoulde not passe his commandement: when he appointed the foundations of the earth, |
| 8:30 | Then was I with him as a nourisher, and I was dayly his delight reioycing alway before him, |
| 8:31 | And tooke my solace in the compasse of his earth: and my delite is with the children of men. |
| 8:32 | Therefore nowe hearken, O children, vnto me: for blessed are they that keepe my wayes. |
| 8:33 | Heare instruction, and be ye wise, and refuse it not: blessed is the man that heareth mee, watching dayly at my gates, and giuing attendance at the postes of my doores. |
| 8:34 | For he that findeth me, findeth life, and shall obteine fauour of the Lord. |
| 8:35 | But he that sinneth against me, hurteth his owne soule: and all that hate me, loue death. |
| 8:36 | n/a |
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.