Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 35:1 | The desert and the wildernes shall reioyce: and the waste ground shalbe glad and florish as the rose. |
| 35:2 | It shall florish abundantly and shall greatly reioyce also and ioye: the glory of Lebanon shalbe giuen vnto it: the beautie of Carmel, and of Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellencie of our God. |
| 35:3 | Strengthen the weake handes, and comfort the feeble knees. |
| 35:4 | Say vnto them that are fearefull, Bee you strong, feare not: beholde, your God commeth with vengeance: euen God with a recompense, he will come and saue you. |
| 35:5 | Then shall the eyes of the blinde be lightened, and the eares of the deafe be opened. |
| 35:6 | Then shall ye lame man leape as an hart, and the dumme mans tongue shall sing: for in the wildernes shall waters breake out, and riuers in ye desert. |
| 35:7 | And the dry ground shalbe as a poole, and the thirstie (as springs of water in the habitation of dragons: where they lay) shall be a place for reedes and rushes. |
| 35:8 | And there shalbe a path and a way, and the way shalbe called holy: the polluted shall not passe by it: for he shalbe with them, and walke in the way, and the fooles shall not erre. |
| 35:9 | There shall be no lyon, nor noysome beastes shall ascend by it, neither shall they be found there, that the redeemed may walke. |
| 35:10 | Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall returne and come to Zion with prayse: and euerlasting ioy shall bee vpon their heads: they shall obteine ioye and gladnesse, and sorow and mourning shall flee away. |
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.