Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 2:1 | I lift vp mine eyes againe and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. |
| 2:2 | Then saide I, Whither goest thou? And he saide vnto me, To measure Ierusalem, that I may see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof. |
| 2:3 | And beholde, the Angel that talked with me, went foorth: and another Angel went out to meete him, |
| 2:4 | And saide vnto him, Runne, speake to this yong man, and say, Ierusalem shalbe inhabited without walles, for the multitude of men and cattell therein. |
| 2:5 | For I, saith the Lord, will be vnto her a wall of fire round about, and wil be the glory in the middes of her. |
| 2:6 | Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the North, saith the Lord: for I haue scattered you into the foure winds of the heauen, saith ye Lord. |
| 2:7 | Saue thy selfe, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babel. |
| 2:8 | For thus saith the Lord of hostes, After this glory hath hee sent me vnto the nations, which spoyled you: for he that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye. |
| 2:9 | For beholde, I will lift vp mine hand vpon them: and they shalbe a spoyle to those that serued them, and ye shall knowe, that the Lord of hostes hath sent me. |
| 2:10 | Reioyce, and be glad, O daughter Zion: for loe, I come, and will dwell in the middes of thee, saith the Lord. |
| 2:11 | And many nations shall be ioyned to the Lord in that day, and shalbe my people: and I will dwell in the middes of thee, and thou shalt knowe that the Lord of hostes hath sent me vnto thee. |
| 2:12 | And the Lord shall inherite Iudah his portion in the holy lande, and shall chuse Ierusalem againe. |
| 2:13 | Let all flesh be still before the Lord: for he is raised vp out of his holy place. |
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.