Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 54:1 | Rejoice, O barren that diddest not beare: breake forth into ioy and reioyce, thou that diddest not trauaile with childe: for the desolate hath moe children then the married wife, sayeth the Lord. |
| 54:2 | Enlarge the place of thy tents, and let them spread out the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, stretch out thy cords and make fast thy stakes. |
| 54:3 | For thou shalt increase on the right hande and on the left, and thy seede shall possesse the Gentiles, and dwell in the desolate cities. |
| 54:4 | Feare not: for thou shalt not be ashamed, neither shalt thou be confounded: for thou shalt not bee put to shame: yea, thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproch of thy widdowhoode any more. |
| 54:5 | For hee that made thee, is thine husband (whose Name is the Lord of hostes) and thy redeemer the Holy one of Israel, shall be called the God of the whole world. |
| 54:6 | For the Lord hath called thee, being as a woman forsaken, and afflicted in spirite, and as a yong wife when thou wast refused, sayth thy God. |
| 54:7 | For a litle while haue I forsaken thee, but with great compassion will I gather thee. |
| 54:8 | For a moment, in mine anger, I hid my face from thee for a litle season, but with euerlasting mercy haue I had compassion on thee, sayth the Lord thy redeemer. |
| 54:9 | For this is vnto me as the waters of Noah: for as I haue sworne that the waters of Noah should no more goe ouer the earth, so haue I sworne that I would not be angrie with thee, nor rebuke thee. |
| 54:10 | For the mountaines shall remoue and the hilles shall fall downe: but my mercy shall not depart from thee, neither shall the couenant of my peace fall away, saith the Lord, that hath compassion on thee. |
| 54:11 | O thou afflicted and tossed with tempest, that hast no comfort, beholde, I wil lay thy stones with the carbuncle, and lay thy foundation with saphirs, |
| 54:12 | And I will make thy windowes of emeraudes, and thy gates shining stones, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. |
| 54:13 | And all thy children shalbe taught of the Lord, and much peace shalbe to thy children. |
| 54:14 | In righteousnes shalt thou be established, and be farre from oppression: for thou shalt not feare it: and from feare, for it shall not come neere thee. |
| 54:15 | Beholde, the enemie shall gather himselfe, but without me: whosoeuer shall gather himselfe in thee, against thee, shall fall. |
| 54:16 | Beholde, I haue created the smith that bloweth the coales in the fire, and him that bringeth forth an instrument for his worke, and I haue created the destroyer to destroy. |
| 54:17 | But all the weapons that are made against thee, shall not prosper: and euery tongue that shall rise against thee in iudgement, thou shalt condemne. This is the heritage of the Lords seruants, and their righteousnesse is of me, sayth the Lord. |
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.