Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 19:1 | Thou also, take vp a lamentation for the princes of Israel, |
| 19:2 | And say, Wherefore lay thy mother as a lyonesse among the lyons? she nourished her yong ones among the lyons whelps, |
| 19:3 | And she brought vp one of her whelps, and it became a lyon, and it learned to catch the praye, and it deuoured men. |
| 19:4 | The nations also heard of him, and he was taken in their nets, and they brought him in chaines vnto the land of Egypt. |
| 19:5 | Nowe when she sawe, that she had waited and her hope was lost, she tooke another of her whelps, and made him a lyon. |
| 19:6 | Which went among the lyons, and became a lyon, and learned to catch the praye, and he deuoured men. |
| 19:7 | And he knew their widowes, and he destroyed their cities, and the land was wasted, and all that was therein by the noyse of his roaring. |
| 19:8 | Then the nations set against him on euery side of the countreys, and laide their nets for him: so he was taken in their pit. |
| 19:9 | And they put him in prison and in chaines, and brought him to the King of Babel, and they put him in holdes, that his voyce should no more be heard vpon the mountaines of Israel. |
| 19:10 | Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she brought foorth fruite and branches by the abundant waters, |
| 19:11 | And she had strong rods for the scepters of them that beare rule, and her stature was exalted among the branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches. |
| 19:12 | But she was plucked vp in wrath: she was cast downe to the ground, and the East winde dried vp her fruite: her branches were broken, and withered: as for the rod of her strength, the fire consumed it. |
| 19:13 | And now she is planted in the wildernes in a drie and thirstie ground. |
| 19:14 | And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath deuoured her fruite, so that she hath no strong rod to be a scepter to rule: this is a lamentation and shalbe for a lamentation. |
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.