Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 12:1 | Remember nowe thy Creator in the daies of thy youth, whiles the euill daies come not, nor the yeeres approche, wherein thou shalt say, I haue no pleasure in them: |
| 12:2 | Whiles the sunne is not darke, nor ye light, nor the moone, nor the starres, nor the cloudes returne after the raine: |
| 12:3 | When the keepers of ye house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow them selues, and the grinders shall cease, because they are few, and they waxe darke that looke out by ye windowes: |
| 12:4 | And the doores shall be shut without by the base sound of the grinding, and he shall rise vp at the voice of the birde: and all the daughters of singing shall be abased. |
| 12:5 | Also they shalbe afraide of the hie thing, and feare shalbe in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grassehopper shall be a burden, and concupiscence shall be driuen away: for man goeth to the house of his age, and the mourners goe about in the streete. |
| 12:6 | Whiles the siluer coarde is not lengthened, nor the golden ewer broken, nor the pitcher broken at the well, nor the wheele broken at the cisterne: |
| 12:7 | And dust returne to the earth as it was, and the spirit returne to God that gaue it. |
| 12:8 | Vanitie of vanities, saieth the Preacher, all is vanitie. |
| 12:9 | And the more wise the Preacher was, the more he taught the people knowledge, and caused them to heare, and searched foorth, and prepared many parables. |
| 12:10 | The Preacher sought to finde out pleasant wordes, and an vpright writing, euen the wordes of trueth. |
| 12:11 | The wordes of the wise are like goads, and like nailes fastened by the masters of the assemblies, which are giuen by one pastour. |
| 12:12 | And of other things beside these, my sone, take thou heede: for there is none ende in making many bookes, and much reading is a wearines of the flesh. |
| 12:13 | Let vs heare the end of all: feare God and keepe his commandements: for this is the whole duetie of man. |
| 12:14 | For God will bring euery worke vnto iudgement, with euery secret thing, whether it be good or 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.