Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 7:1 | And in the fourth yeere of King Darius, the worde of the Lord came vnto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth moneth, euen in Chisleu, |
| 7:2 | For they had sent vnto the House of God Sharezer, and Regem-melech and their men to pray before the Lord, |
| 7:3 | And to speake vnto the Priests, which were in the House of the Lord of hostes, and to the Prophets, saying, Should I weepe in the fift moneth, and separate my selfe as I haue done these so many yeeres? |
| 7:4 | Then came the word of the Lord of hostes vnto me, saying, |
| 7:5 | Speake vnto all the people of the land, and to the Priests, and say, When ye fasted, and mourned in the fift and seuenth moneth, euen the seuentie yeeres, did ye fast vnto me? doe I approoue it? |
| 7:6 | And when ye did eate, and when ye did drinke, did ye not eate for your selues, and drinke for your selues? |
| 7:7 | Should ye not heare the wordes, which the Lord hath cryed by the ministerie of the former Prophets when Ierusalem was inhabited, and in prosperitie, and the cities thereof round about her, when the South and the plaine was inhabited? |
| 7:8 | And the worde of the Lord came vnto Zechariah, saying, |
| 7:9 | Thus speaketh the Lord of hostes, saying, Execute true iudgement, and shewe mercy and compassion, euery man to his brother, |
| 7:10 | And oppresse not the widowe, nor the fatherles, the stranger nor the poore, and let none of you imagine euil against his brother in your heart. |
| 7:11 | But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their eares, that they should not heare. |
| 7:12 | Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, least they should heare the Lawe and the wordes which the Lord of hostes sent in his spirit by the ministerie of ye former Prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hostes. |
| 7:13 | Therefore it is come to passe, that as he cried, and they would not heare, so they cried, and I would not heare, sayth the Lord of hostes. |
| 7:14 | But I scattered them among all the nations, whom they knew not: thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they layd the pleasant land waste. |
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.