Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 6:1 | There is an euill, which I sawe vnder the sunne, and it is much among men: |
| 6:2 | A man to whom God hath giuen riches and treasures and honour, and he wanteth nothing for his soule of all that it desireth: but God giueth him not power to eate thereof, but a strange man shall eate it vp: this is vanitie, and this is an euill sicknesse. |
| 6:3 | If a man beget an hundreth children and liue many yeeres, and the dayes of his yeeres be multiplied, and his soule be not satisfied with good things, and he be not buried, I say that an vntimely fruite is better then he. |
| 6:4 | For he commeth into vanitie and goeth into darkenesse: and his name shall be couered with darkenesse. |
| 6:5 | Also he hath not seene ye sunne, nor knowen it: therefore this hath more rest then the other. |
| 6:6 | And if he had liued a thousand yeeres twise tolde, and had seene no good, shall not all goe to one place? |
| 6:7 | All the labour of man is for his mouth: yet the soule is not filled. |
| 6:8 | For what hath the wise man more then the foole? what hath the poore that knoweth how to walke before the liuing? |
| 6:9 | The sight of ye eye is better then to walke in ye lustes: this also is vanitie, and vexation of spirit. |
| 6:10 | What is that that hath bene? the name thereof is nowe named: and it is knowen that it is man: and he cannot striue with him that is stronger then he. |
| 6:11 | n/a |
| 6:12 | 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.