Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 2:1 | And now, O ye Priests, this commandement is for you. |
| 2:2 | If yee will not heare it, nor consider it in your heart, to giue glory vnto my Name, sayth the Lord of hostes, I will euen sende a curse vpon you, and will curse your blessings: yea, I haue cursed them alreadie, because yee doe not consider it in your heart. |
| 2:3 | Behold, I wil corrupt your seede, and cast dongue vpon your faces, euen the dongue of your solemne feastes, and you shall be like vnto it. |
| 2:4 | And yee shall know, that I haue sent this commandement vnto you, that my couenant, which I made with Leui, might stand, sayeth the Lord of hostes. |
| 2:5 | My couenant was with him of life and peace, and I gaue him feare, and he feared mee, and was afraid before my Name. |
| 2:6 | The lawe of trueth was in his mouth, and there was no iniquitie founde in his lippes: hee walked with me in peace and equitie, and did turne many away from iniquitie. |
| 2:7 | For the Priestes lippes shoulde preserue knowledge, and they shoulde seeke the Lawe at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hostes. |
| 2:8 | But yee are gone out of the way: yee haue caused many to fall by the Lawe: yee haue broken the couenant of Leui, sayeth the Lord of hostes. |
| 2:9 | Therefore haue I also made you to be despised, and vile before all the people, because yee kept not my wayes, but haue beene partiall in the Lawe. |
| 2:10 | Haue we not all one father? hath not one God made vs? why doe we transgresse euery one against his brother, and breake the couenant of our fathers? |
| 2:11 | Iudah hath transgressed, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Ierusalem: for Iudah hath defiled the holinesse of the Lord, which hee loued, and hath maried the daughter of a strange God. |
| 2:12 | The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this: both the master and the seruaunt out of the Tabernacle of Iaacob, and him that offereth an offering vnto the Lord of hostes. |
| 2:13 | And this haue ye done againe, and couered the altar of the Lord with teares, with weeping and with mourning: because the offering is no more regarded, neither receiued acceptably at your handes. |
| 2:14 | Yet yee say, Wherein? Because the Lord hath beene witnesse betweene thee and the wife of thy youth, against whome thou hast transgressed: yet is shee thy companion, and the wife of thy couenant. |
| 2:15 | And did not hee make one? yet had hee abundance of spirit: and wherefore one? because he sought a godly seede: therefore keepe your selues in your spirit, and let none trespasse against the wife of his youth. |
| 2:16 | If thou hatest her, put her away, sayeth the Lord God of Israel, yet he couereth the iniurie vnder his garment, saieth the Lord of hosts: therefore keepe your selues in your spirite, and transgresse not. |
| 2:17 | Yee haue wearied the Lord with your woordes: yet yee say, Wherein haue we wearied him? When ye say, Euery one that doeth euill, is good in the sight of the Lord, and he deliteth in them. Or where is the God of iudgement? |
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.