Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 31:1 | At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. |
| 31:2 | Thus saith the Lord, The people which escaped the sworde, founde grace in the wildernes: he walked before Israel to cause him to rest. |
| 31:3 | The Lord hath appeared vnto me of old, say they: Yea, I haue loued thee with an euerlasting loue, therefore with mercie I haue drawen thee. |
| 31:4 | Againe I will builde thee, and thou shalt be builded, O virgine Israel: thou shalt stil be adorned with thy timbrels, and shalt goe foorth in the dance of them that be ioyfull. |
| 31:5 | Thou shalt yet plant vines vpon the mountaines of Samaria, and the planters that plant them, shall make them common. |
| 31:6 | For the dayes shall come that the watchmen vpon the mount of Ephraim shall cry, Arise, and let vs go vp vnto Zion to the Lord our God. |
| 31:7 | For thus saith the Lord, Reioyce with gladnesse for Iaakob, and shoute for ioye among the chiefe of the Gentiles: publish praise, and say, O Lord, saue thy people, the remnant of Israel. |
| 31:8 | Beholde, I will bring them from the North countrey, and gather them from the coastes of the world, with the blinde and the lame among them, with the woman with childe, and her that is deliuered also: a great companie shall returne hither. |
| 31:9 | They shall come weeping, and with mercie will I bring them againe: I will lead them by the riuers of water in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first borne. |
| 31:10 | Heare the worde of the Lord, O ye Gentiles, and declare in the yles afarre off, and say, Hee that scattered Israel, wil gather him and wil keepe him, as a shepheard doeth his flocke. |
| 31:11 | For the Lord hath redeemed Iaakob, and ransomed him from the hande of him, that was stronger then he. |
| 31:12 | Therefore they shall come, and reioyce in the height of Zion, and shall runne to the bountifulnes of the Lord, euen for the wheat and for the wine, and for the oyle, and for the increase of sheepe, and bullocks: and their soule shalbe as a watered garden, and they shall haue no more sorow. |
| 31:13 | Then shall ye virgine reioyce in the dance, and the yong men and the old men together: for I wil turne their mourning into ioy, and wil comfort them, and giue them ioy for their sorowes. |
| 31:14 | And I wil replenish the soule of the Priests with fatnesse, and my people shalbe satisfied with my goodnesse, saith the Lord. |
| 31:15 | Thus saith the Lord, A voyce was heard on hie, a mourning and bitter weeping. Rahel weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. |
| 31:16 | Thus saith the Lord, Refraine thy voyce from weeping, and thine eyes from teares: for thy worke shalbe rewarded, saith the Lord, and they shall come againe from the land of the enemie: |
| 31:17 | And there is hope in thine ende, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come againe to their owne borders. |
| 31:18 | I haue heard Ephraim lamenting thus, Thou hast corrected me, and I was chastised as an vntamed calfe: conuert thou me, and I shalbe conuerted: for thou art the Lord my God. |
| 31:19 | Surely after that I conuerted, I repented: and after that I was instructed, I smote vpon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, euen confounded, because I did beare the reproch of my youth. |
| 31:20 | Is Ephraim my deare sonne or pleasant childe? yet since I spake vnto him, I still remembred him: therefore my bowels are troubled for him: I wil surely haue compassion vpon him, saith the Lord. |
| 31:21 | Set thee vp signes: make thee heapes: set thine heart towarde the path and way, that thou hast walked: turne againe, O virgine of Israel: turne againe to these thy cities. |
| 31:22 | How long wilt thou goe astray, O thou rebellious daughter? for the Lord hath created a newe thing in the earth: A WOMAN shall compasse a man. |
| 31:23 | Thus saith the Lord of hostes, the God of Israel, Yet shall they say this thing in the land of Iudah, and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring againe their captiuitie, The Lord blesse thee, O habitation of iustice and holy mountaine. |
| 31:24 | And Iudah shall dwell in it, and all the cities thereof together, the husbandmen and they that goe foorth with the flocke. |
| 31:25 | For I haue saciate the wearie soule, and I haue replenished euery sorowfull soule. |
| 31:26 | Therefore I awaked and behelde, and my sleepe was sweete vnto me. |
| 31:27 | Beholde, the dayes come, saith the Lord, that I will sowe the house of Israel, and the house of Iudah with the seede of man and with the seede of beast. |
| 31:28 | And like as I haue watched vpon them, to plucke vp and to roote out, and to throw downe, and to destroy, and to plague them, so wil I watch ouer them, to build and to plant them, saith ye Lord. |
| 31:29 | In those dayes shall they say no more, The fathers haue eaten a sowre grape, and the childrens teeth are set on edge. |
| 31:30 | But euery one shall die for his owne iniquitie: euery man that eateth the sowre grape, his teeth shalbe set on edge. |
| 31:31 | Beholde, the dayes come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new couenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Iudah, |
| 31:32 | Not according to ye couenant that I made with their fathers, when I tooke them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, the which my couenant they brake, although I was an husband vnto them, saith the Lord. |
| 31:33 | But this shall be the couenant that I will make with the house of Israel, After those dayes, saith the Lord, I will put my Lawe in their inward partes, and write it in their hearts, and wil be their God, and they shalbe my people. |
| 31:34 | And they shall teach no more euery man his neighbour and euery man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me from the least of them vnto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I wil forgiue their iniquitie, and will remember their sinnes no more. |
| 31:35 | Thus saith the Lord, which giueth the sunne for a light to the day, and the courses of the moone and of the starres for a light to the night, which breaketh the sea, when the waues thereof roare: his Name is the Lord of hostes. |
| 31:36 | If these ordinances depart out of my sight, saith the Lord, then shall the seede of Israel cease from being a nation before me, for euer. |
| 31:37 | Thus saith the Lord, If the heauens can be measured, or the fundations of the earth be searched out beneath, then wil I cast off all the seed of Israel, for all that they haue done, saith the Lord. |
| 31:38 | Behold, the dayes come, saith the Lord, that the citie shalbe built to the Lord from the tower of Hananeel, vnto the gate of the corner. |
| 31:39 | And the line of the measure shall go foorth in his presence vpon the hil Gareb, and shall compasse about to Goath. |
| 31:40 | And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields vnto the brooke of Kidron, and vnto the corner of the horsegate toward the East, shalbe holy vnto the Lord, neither shall it be plucked vp nor destroyed any more for euer. |
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.