Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 1:1 | In the eight moneth of the second yeere of Darius, came the worde of the Lord vnto Zechariah the sonne of Berechiah, the sonne of Iddo, the Prophet, saying, |
| 1:2 | The Lord hath bene sore displeased with your fathers. |
| 1:3 | Therefore say thou vnto them, Thus sayth the Lord of hostes, Turne ye vnto me, saith the Lord of hostes, and I will turne vnto you, saith the Lord of hostes. |
| 1:4 | Be ye not as your fathers, vnto whome the former prophets haue cried, saying, Thus sayth the Lord of hostes, Turne you nowe from your euill wayes, and from your wicked workes: but they would not heare, nor hearken vnto me, saith the Lord. |
| 1:5 | your fathers, where are they? and doe the Prophets liue for euer? |
| 1:6 | But did not my wordes and my statutes, which I commanded by my seruants ye Prophets, take holde of your fathers? and they returned, and sayd, As the Lord of hostes hath determined to doe vnto vs, according to our owne wayes, and according to our workes, so hath hee dealt with vs. |
| 1:7 | Vpon the foure and twentieth day of the eleuenth moneth, which is the moneth Shebat, in the second yeere of Darius, came the worde of the Lord vnto Zechariah the sonne of Berechiah, the sonne of Iddo the Prophet, saying, |
| 1:8 | I saw by night, and behold a man riding vpon a red horse, and hee stood among the mirre trees, that were in a bottome, and behinde him were there red horses speckeled and white. |
| 1:9 | Then sayd I, O my Lord, what are these? And the Angel that talked with me, sayde vnto me, I wil shew thee what these be. |
| 1:10 | And the man that stood among the mirre trees, answered, and sayd, These are they whome the Lord hath sent to go through the world. |
| 1:11 | And they answered the Angel of the Lord, that stood among the mirre trees, and sayd, We haue gone thorowe the world: and beholde, all the world sitteth still, and is at rest. |
| 1:12 | Then the Angel of the Lord answered and sayd, O Lord of hostes, howe long wilt thou be vnmercifull to Ierusalem, and to the cities of Iudah, with whom thou hast bene displeased now these threescore and ten yeeres? |
| 1:13 | And the Lord answered the Angel that talked with me, with good wordes and comfortable wordes. |
| 1:14 | So the Angel that communed with me, said vnto me, Crie thou, and speake, Thus saith the Lord of hostes, I am ielous ouer Ierusalem and Zion with a great zeale, |
| 1:15 | And am greatly angrie against the carelesse heathen: for I was angrie but a litle, and they helped forward the affliction. |
| 1:16 | Therefore thus saith the Lord, I wil returne vnto Ierusalem with tender mercie: mine house shall be builded in it, saith the Lord of hostes, and a line shall be stretched vpon Ierusalem. |
| 1:17 | Cry yet, and speake, Thus saith the Lord of hostes, My cities shall yet be broken with plentie: the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet chuse Ierusalem. |
| 1:18 | Then lift I vp mine eyes and sawe, and beholde, foure hornes. |
| 1:19 | And I said vnto the Angel that talked with me, What be these? And hee answered me, These are the hornes which haue scattered Iudah, Israel, and Ierusalem. |
| 1:20 | And the Lord shewed me foure carpenters. |
| 1:21 | Then said I, What come these to doe? And he answered, and said, These are the hornes, which haue scattered Iudah, so that a man durst not lift vp his head: but these are come to fray them, and to cast out the hornes of the Gentiles, which lift vp their horne ouer the land of Iudah, to scatter 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.