Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 23:1 | And Balaam sayd vnto Balak, Builde me here seuen altars, and prepare me here seuen bullockes, and seuen rammes. |
| 23:2 | And Balak did as Balaam sayd, and Balak and Balaam offred on euery altar a bullocke and a ramme. |
| 23:3 | Then Balaam sayde vnto Balak, Stande by the burnt offring, and I will goe, if so be that the Lord will come and meete me: and whatsoeuer he sheweth me, I will tell thee: so he went forth alone. |
| 23:4 | And God met Balaam, and Balaam sayd vnto him, I haue prepared seuen altars, and haue offred vpon euery altar a bullocke and a ramme. |
| 23:5 | And the Lord put an answere in Balaams mouth, and sayde, Go againe to Balak, and say on this wise. |
| 23:6 | So when he returned vnto him, loe, hee stoode by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab. |
| 23:7 | Then he vttered his parable, and sayde, Balak the king of Moab hath brought mee from Aram out of the mountaines of the East, saying, Come, curse Iaakob for my sake: come, and detest Israel. |
| 23:8 | How shall I curse, where God hath not cursed? or howe shall I detest, where the Lord hath not detested? |
| 23:9 | For from the top of the rocks I did see him, and from the hils I did beholde him: lo, the people shall dwell by themselues, and shall not be reckened among the nations. |
| 23:10 | Who can tell the dust of Iaakob, and the nomber of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last ende be like his. |
| 23:11 | Then Balak saide vnto Balaam, What hast thou done vnto mee? I tooke thee to curse mine enemies, and beholde, thou hast blessed them altogether. |
| 23:12 | And he answered, and said, Must I not take heede to speake that, which the Lord hath put in my mouth? |
| 23:13 | And Balak sayde vnto him, Come, I pray thee, with mee vnto another place, whence thou mayest see them, and thou shalt see but the vtmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: therefore curse them out of that place for my sake. |
| 23:14 | And he brought him into Sede-sophim to the top of Pisgah, and built seuen altars, and offred a bullocke, and a ramme on euery altar. |
| 23:15 | After, he sayde vnto Balak, Stande here by thy burnt offring, and I wil meete the Lord yonder. |
| 23:16 | And the Lord mette Balaam, and put an answere in his mouth, and sayd, Goe againe vnto Balak, and say thus. |
| 23:17 | And when he came to him, beholde, hee stoode by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him: so Balak sayde vnto him, What hath the Lord sayd? |
| 23:18 | And he vttered his parable, and sayde, Rise vp, Balak, and heare: hearken vnto me, thou sonne of Zippor. |
| 23:19 | God is not as man, that he should lie, neither as the sonne of man that he shoulde repent: hath he sayde and shall he not do it? and hath he spoken, and shall he not accomplish it? |
| 23:20 | Behold, I haue receiued commandement to blesse: for he hath blessed, and I cannot alter it. |
| 23:21 | Hee seeth none iniquitie in Iaakob, nor seeth no transgression in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the ioyfull shoute of a king is among them. |
| 23:22 | God brought them out of Egypt: their strength is as an vnicorne. |
| 23:23 | For there is no sorcerie in Iaakob, nor soothsaying in Israel: according to this time it shalbe sayde of Iaakob and of Israel, What hath God wrought? |
| 23:24 | Behold, the people shall rise vp as a lyon, and lift vp himselfe as a yong lyon: hee shall not lye downe, till he eate of the pray, and till he drinke the blood of the slayne. |
| 23:25 | Then Balak sayde vnto Balaam, Neither curse, nor blesse them at all. |
| 23:26 | But Balaam answered, and saide vnto Balak, Tolde not I thee, saying, All that the Lord speaketh, that must I do? |
| 23:27 | Againe Balak sayd vnto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I wil bring thee vnto another place, if so be it wil please God, that thou mayest thence curse them for my sake. |
| 23:28 | So Balak brought Balaam vnto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Ieshmon. |
| 23:29 | Then Balaam sayde vnto Balak, Make me here seuen altars, and prepare me here seuen bullocks, and seuen rammes. |
| 23:30 | And Balak did as Balaam had sayd, and offred a bullocke and a ram on euery altar. |
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.