Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 2:1 | And he said vnto me, Sonne of man, stand vp vpon thy feete, and I wil speake vnto thee. |
| 2:2 | And the Spirite entred into me, when he had spoken vnto me, and set me vpon my feete, so that I heard him that spake vnto me. |
| 2:3 | And he said vnto me, Sonne of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: for they and their fathers haue rebelled against me, euen vnto this very day. |
| 2:4 | For they are impudent children, and stiffe hearted: I do send thee vnto them, and thou shalt say vnto them, Thus saith the Lord God. |
| 2:5 | But surely they will not heare, neither in deede will they cease: for they are a rebellious house: yet shall they knowe that there hath bene a Prophet among them. |
| 2:6 | And thou sonne of man, feare them not, neither be afraide of their wordes, although rebels, and thornes be with thee, and thou remainest with scorpions: feare not their wordes, nor be afrayde at their lookes, for they are a rebellious house. |
| 2:7 | Therefore thou shalt speake my words vnto them: but surely they will not heare, neither will they in deede cease: for they are rebellious. |
| 2:8 | But thou sonne of man, heare what I say vnto thee: be not thou rebellious, like this rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eate that I giue thee. |
| 2:9 | And when I looked vp, beholde, an hande was sent vnto me, and loe, a roule of a booke was therein. |
| 2:10 | And he spred it before me, and it was written within and without, and there was written therein, Lamentations, and mourning, and woe. |
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.