Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 9:1 | I sawe the Lord standing vpon the altar, and he sayde, Smite the lintel of the doore, that the postes may shake: and cut them in pieces, euen the heads of them all, and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them, shall not flee away: and he that escapeth of them, shall not be deliuered. |
| 9:2 | Though they digge into the hell, thence shall mine hande take them: though they clime vp to heauen, thence will I bring them downe. |
| 9:3 | And though they hide them selues in the toppe of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence: and though they be hid from my sight in the bottome of the sea, thence will I commande the serpent, and he shall bite them. |
| 9:4 | And though they goe into captiuitie before their enemies, thence wil I commande the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes vpon them for euill, and not for good. |
| 9:5 | And the Lord God of hosts shall touch the land, and it shall melt away, and al that dwel therein shall mourne, and it shall rise vp wholy like a flood, and shall bee drowned as by the flood of Egypt. |
| 9:6 | He buildeth his spheres in the heauen, and hath laide the foundation of his globe of elements in the earth: hee calleth the waters of the sea, and powreth them out vpon the open earth: the Lord is his Name. |
| 9:7 | Are ye not as the Ethiopians vnto mee, O children of Israel, sayeth the Lord? haue not I brought vp Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistims from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir? |
| 9:8 | Beholde, the eyes of the Lord God are vpon the sinfull kingdome, and I will destroy it cleane out of the earth. Neuerthelesse I will not vtterly destroy the house of Iaakob, saith the Lord. |
| 9:9 | For loe, I will command and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corne is sifted in a sieue: yet shall not the least stone fall vpon the earth. |
| 9:10 | But all the sinners of my people shall dye by the sword, which say, The euill shall not come, nor hasten for vs. |
| 9:11 | In that day will I raise vp the tabernacle of Dauid, that is fallen downe, and close vp the breaches therof, and I will rayse vp his ruines, and I will builde it, as in the dayes of olde, |
| 9:12 | That they may possesse the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, because my Name is called vpon them, sayeth the Lord, that doeth this. |
| 9:13 | Behold, the dayes come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall touche the mower, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seede: and the mountaines shall drop sweete wine, and all the hilles shall melt. |
| 9:14 | And I will bring againe the captiuitie of my people of Israel: and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabite the, and they shall plant vineyardes, and drinke the wine thereof: they shall also make gardens, and eate the fruites of them. |
| 9:15 | And I wil plant them vpon their land, and they shall no more bee pulled vp againe out of their lande, which I haue giuen them, sayeth the Lord thy God. |
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.