Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 9:1 | I have surely giuen mine heart to all this, and to declare all this, that the iust, and the wise, and their workes are in the hand of God: and no man knoweth eyther loue or hatred of all that is before them. |
| 9:2 | All things come alike to all: and the same condition is to the iust and to the wicked, to the good and to the pure, and to the polluted, and to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner, he that sweareth, as he that feareth an othe. |
| 9:3 | This is euill among all that is done vnder the sunne, that there is one condition to all, and also the heart of the sonnes of men is full of euill, and madnes is in their heartes whiles they liue, and after that, they goe to the dead. |
| 9:4 | Surely whosoeuer is ioyned to all ye liuing, there is hope: for it is better to a liuing dog, then to a dead lyon. |
| 9:5 | For the liuing knowe that they shall dye, but the dead knowe nothing at all: neither haue they any more a rewarde: for their remembrance is forgotten. |
| 9:6 | Also their loue, and their hatred, and their enuie is now perished, and they haue no more portion for euer, in all that is done vnder the sunne. |
| 9:7 | Goe, eate thy bread with ioy, and drinke thy wine with a cheerefull heart: for God nowe accepteth thy workes. |
| 9:8 | At all times let thy garments be white, and let not oyle be lacking vpon thine head. |
| 9:9 | Reioyce with the wife whom thou hast loued all the dayes of the life of thy vanitie, which God hath giuen thee vnder the sunne all the dayes of thy vanitie: for this is thy portion in the life, and in thy trauaile wherein thou labourest vnder the sunne. |
| 9:10 | All that thine hand shall finde to doe, doe it with all thy power: for there is neither worke nor inuention, nor knowledge, nor wisedome in the graue whither thou goest. |
| 9:11 | I returned, and I sawe vnder the sunne that the race is not to the swift, nor the battell to the strong, nor yet bread to the wise, nor also riches to men of vnderstanding, neither yet fauour to men of knowledge: but time and chance commeth to them all. |
| 9:12 | For neither doth man knowe his time, but as the fishes which are taken in an euill net, and as the birdes that are caught in the snare: so are the children of men snared in the euill time when it falleth vpon them suddenly. |
| 9:13 | I haue also seene this wisedome vnder the sunne, and it is great vnto me. |
| 9:14 | A litle citie and fewe men in it, and a great King came against it, and compassed it about, and builded fortes against it. |
| 9:15 | And there was founde therein a poore and wise man, and he deliuered the citie by his wisedome: but none remembred this poore man. |
| 9:16 | Then said I, Better is wisdome then strength: yet the wisedome of the poore is despised, and his wordes are not heard. |
| 9:17 | The wordes of the wise are more heard in quietnes, then the crye of him that ruleth among fooles. |
| 9:18 | Better is wisedome then weapons of warre: but one sinner destroyeth much good. |
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.