Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 36:1 | Nowe in the fourteenth yeere of King Hezekiah, Saneherib King of Asshur came vp against al the strong cities of Iudah, and tooke them. |
| 36:2 | And the King of Asshur sent Rabshakeh from Lachish toward Ierusalem vnto King Hezekiah, with a great hoste, and he stood by ye conduite of the vpper poole in the path of the fullers fielde. |
| 36:3 | Then came foorth vnto him Eliakim the sonne of Hilkiah the steward of the house, and Shebna the chanceler, and Ioah the sonne of Asaph the recorder. |
| 36:4 | And Rabshakeh sayde vnto them, Tell you Hezekiah, I pray you, Thus sayth the great King, the King of Asshur, What confidence is this, wherein thou trustest? |
| 36:5 | I say, Surely I haue eloquence, but counsell and strength are for the warre: on whom then doest thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? |
| 36:6 | Loe, thou trustest in this broken staffe of reede on Egypt, whereupon if a man leane, it will goe into his hand, and pearce it: so is Pharaoh King of Egypt, vnto all that trust in him. |
| 36:7 | But if thou say to me, We trust in the Lord our God. Is not that he, whose hie places and whose altars Hezekiah tooke downe, and said to Iudah and to Ierusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar? |
| 36:8 | Nowe therefore giue hostages to my lorde the King of Asshur, and I wil giue thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders vpon them. |
| 36:9 | For howe canst thou despise any captaine of the least of my lordes seruants? and put thy trust on Egypt for charets and for horsemen? |
| 36:10 | And am I now come vp without the Lord to this land to destroy it? The Lord sayd vnto me, Goe vp against this land and destroy it. |
| 36:11 | Then sayd Eliakim and Shebna and Ioah vnto Rabshakeh, Speake, I pray thee, to thy seruants in the Aramites language, (for we vnderstand it) and talke not with vs in the Iewes tongue, in the audience of the people that are on the wall. |
| 36:12 | Then said Rabshakeh, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee to speake these wordes, and not to the men that sit on the wall? that they may eate their owne doung, and drinke their owne pisse with you? |
| 36:13 | So Rabshakeh stood, and cryed with a loude voyce in the Iewes language, and sayd, Heare the wordes of the great King, of the King of Asshur. |
| 36:14 | Thus saith the King, Let not Hezekiah deceiue you: for he shall not be able to deliuer you. |
| 36:15 | Neither let Hezekiah make you to trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliuer vs: this citie shall not be giuen ouer into the hand of the King of Asshur. |
| 36:16 | Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus sayth the King of Asshur, Make appointment with me, and come out to me, that euery man may eate of his owne vine, and euery man of his owne fig tree, and drinke euery man the water of his owne well, |
| 36:17 | Till I come and bring you to a land like your owne land, euen a land of wheate, and wine, a land of bread and vineyardes, |
| 36:18 | Least Hezekiah deceiue you, saying, The Lord wil deliuer vs. Hath any of the gods of the nations deliuered his land out of the hand of the King of Asshur? |
| 36:19 | Where is the god of Hamath, and of Arpad? where is the god of Sepharuaim? or howe haue they deliuered Samaria out of mine hand? |
| 36:20 | Who is hee among all the gods of these lands, that hath deliuered their countrey out of mine hand, that the Lord should deliuer Ierusalem out of mine hand? |
| 36:21 | Then they kept silence, and answered him not a worde: for the Kings commandement was, saying, Answere him not. |
| 36:22 | Then came Eliakim the sonne of Hilkiah the steward of the house, and Shebna the chanceller, and Ioah the sonne of Asaph the recorder, vnto Hezekiah with rent clothes, and tolde him the wordes of Rabshakeh. |
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.