Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 21:1 | The worde which came vnto Ieremiah from the Lord, when king Zedekiah sent vnto him Pashur, the sonne of Malchiah, and Zephaniah, the sonne of Maaseiah the Priest, saying, |
| 21:2 | Inquire, I pray thee, of the Lord for vs, (for Nebuchad-nezzar King of Babel maketh warre against vs) if so be that the Lord will deale with vs according to all his wonderous workes, that he may returne vp from vs. |
| 21:3 | Then said Ieremiah, Thus shall you say to Zedekiah, |
| 21:4 | Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I will turne backe the weapons of warre that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the King of Babel, and against the Caldeans, which besiege you without the walles, and I will assemble them into the middes of this citie. |
| 21:5 | And I my selfe will fight against you with an outstretched hand, and with a mighty arme, eue in anger and in wrath, and in great indignation. |
| 21:6 | And I will smite the inhabitants of this citie, both man, and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence. |
| 21:7 | And after this, sayeth the Lord, I will deliuer Zedekiah the King of Iudah, and his seruants, and the people, and such as are left in this citie, from the pestilence, from the sworde and from the famine into the hande of Nebuchad-nezzar King of Babel, and into the hande of their enemies, and into the hande of those that seeke their liues, and he shall smite them with the edge of the sworde: he shall not spare them, neither haue pitie nor compassion. |
| 21:8 | And vnto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord, Beholde, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. |
| 21:9 | He that abideth in this citie, shall dye by the sword and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Caldeans, that besiege you, he shall liue, and his life shalbe vnto him for a pray. |
| 21:10 | For I haue set my face against this citie, for euill and not for good, saith the Lord: it shalbe giuen into the hande of the King of Babel, and he shall burne it with fire. |
| 21:11 | And say vnto the house of the King of Iudah, Heare ye the worde of the Lord. |
| 21:12 | O house of Dauid, thus saith the Lord, Execute iudgement in the morning, and deliuer the oppressed out of the hande of the oppressor, lest my wrath go out like fire and burne, that none can quench it, because of the wickednes of your workes. |
| 21:13 | Beholde, I come against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rocke of the plaine, saith the Lord, which say, Who shall come downe against vs? or who shall enter into our habitations? |
| 21:14 | But I will visite you according to the fruite of your workes, saith the Lord, and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall deuoure rounde about it. |
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.