Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 64:1 | Oh, that thou wouldest breake the heauens, and come downe, and that the mountaines might melt at thy presence! |
| 64:2 | As the melting fire burned, as the fire caused the waters to boyle, (that thou mightest declare thy Name to thy aduersaries) the people did tremble at thy presence. |
| 64:3 | When thou diddest terrible things, which we looked not for, thou camest downe, and the mountaines melted at thy presence. |
| 64:4 | For since the beginning of the world they haue not heard nor vnderstande with the eare, neither hath ye eye seene another God beside thee, which doeth so to him that waiteth for him. |
| 64:5 | Thou diddest meete him, that reioyced in thee, and did iustly: they remembred thee in thy wayes: beholde, thou art angrie, for we haue sinned: yet in them is continuance, and we shall be saued. |
| 64:6 | But we haue all bene as an vncleane thing, and all our righteousnes is as filthie cloutes, and we all doe fade like a leafe, and our iniquities like the winde haue taken vs away. |
| 64:7 | And there is none that calleth vpon thy Name, neither that stirreth vp himselfe to take holde of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from vs, and hast consumed vs because of our iniquities. |
| 64:8 | But now, O Lord, thou art our Father: we are the clay, and thou art our potter, and we all are the worke of thine hands. |
| 64:9 | Be not angry, O Lord, aboue measure, neither remember iniquitie for euer: lo, we beseech thee beholde, we are all thy people. |
| 64:10 | Thine holy cities lye waste: Zion is a wildernes, and Ierusalem a desart. |
| 64:11 | The House of our Sanctuarie and of our glorie, where our fathers praysed thee, is burnt vp with fire and all our pleasant things are wasted. |
| 64:12 | Wilt thou holde thy selfe still at these things, O Lord? wilt thou holde thy peace and afflict vs aboue measure? |
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.