Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 1:1 | The wordes of the Preacher, the sonne of Dauid King in Ierusalem. |
| 1:2 | Vanitie of vanities, sayth the Preacher: vanitie of vanities, all is vanitie. |
| 1:3 | What remaineth vnto man in all his trauaile, which he suffereth vnder ye sunne? |
| 1:4 | One generation passeth, and another generation succeedeth: but the earth remaineth for euer. |
| 1:5 | The sunne riseth, and ye sunne goeth downe, and draweth to his place, where he riseth. |
| 1:6 | The winde goeth toward the South, and compasseth towarde the North: the winde goeth rounde about, and returneth by his circuites. |
| 1:7 | All the riuers goe into the sea, yet the sea is not full: for the riuers goe vnto ye place, whence they returne, and goe. |
| 1:8 | All things are full of labour: man cannot vtter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the eare filled with hearing. |
| 1:9 | What is it that hath bene? that that shalbe: and what is it that hath bene done? that which shalbe done: and there is no newe thing vnder the sunne. |
| 1:10 | Is there any thing, whereof one may say, Beholde this, it is newe? it hath bene already in the olde time that was before vs. |
| 1:11 | There is no memorie of the former, neither shall there be a remembrance of the latter that shalbe, with them that shall come after. |
| 1:12 | I the Preacher haue bene King ouer Israel in Ierusalem: |
| 1:13 | And I haue giuen mine heart to search and finde out wisdome by all things that are done vnder the heauen: (this sore trauaile hath GOD giuen to the sonnes of men, to humble them thereby) |
| 1:14 | I haue considered all the workes that are done vnder the sunne, and beholde, all is vanitie, and vexation of the spirit. |
| 1:15 | That which is crooked, can none make straight: and that which faileth, cannot be nombred. |
| 1:16 | I thought in mine heart, and said, Behold, I am become great, and excell in wisdome all them that haue bene before me in Ierusalem: and mine heart hath seene much wisedome and knowledge. |
| 1:17 | And I gaue mine heart to knowe wisdome and knowledge, madnes and foolishnes: I knew also that this is a vexation of the spirit. |
| 1:18 | For in the multitude of wisedome is much griefe: and he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorowe. |
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.