Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 39:1 | At the same time, Merodach Baladan, the sonne of Baladan, King of Babel, sent letters, and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had bene sicke, and was recouered. |
| 39:2 | And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of the treasures, the siluer, and the golde, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was founde in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his kingdome that Hezekiah shewed them not. |
| 39:3 | Then came Isaiah the Prophet vnto King Hezekiah, and said vnto him, What said these men? and from whence came they to thee? And Hezekiah saide, They are come from a farre countrey vnto me, from Babel. |
| 39:4 | Then saide he, What haue they seene in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house haue they seene: there is nothing among my treasures, that I haue not shewed them. |
| 39:5 | And Isaiah saide to Hezekiah, Heare the worde of the Lord of hostes, |
| 39:6 | Beholde, the dayes come, that all that is in thine house, and which thy fathers haue layed vp in store vntill this day, shall be caried to Babel: nothing shall be left, sayeth the Lord. |
| 39:7 | And of thy sonnes, that shall proceede out of thee, and which thou shalt beget, shall they take away, and they shall be eunuches in the palace of the King of Babel. |
| 39:8 | Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, The worde of the Lord is good, which thou hast spoken: and he saide, Yet let there be peace, and trueth in my dayes. |
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.