Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 3:1 | There was nowe a man of the Pharises, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Iewes. |
| 3:2 | This man came to Iesus by night, and sayd vnto him, Rabbi, we knowe ye thou art a teacher come from God: for no man could do these miracles that thou doest, except God were with him. |
| 3:3 | Iesus answered, and said vnto him, Verely, verely I say vnto thee, except a man be borne againe, he can not see the kingdome of God. |
| 3:4 | Nicodemus sayde vnto him, Howe can a man be borne which is olde? can he enter into his mothers wombe againe, and be borne? |
| 3:5 | Iesus answered, Verely, verely I say vnto thee, except that a man be borne of water and of the Spirite, hee can not enter into the kingdome of God. |
| 3:6 | That which is borne of the flesh, is flesh: and that that is borne of the Spirit, is spirit. |
| 3:7 | Marueile not that I said to thee, Yee must be borne againe. |
| 3:8 | The winde bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it commeth, and whither it goeth: so is euery man that is borne of the Spirit. |
| 3:9 | Nicodemus answered, and said vnto him, Howe can these things be? |
| 3:10 | Iesus answered, and saide vnto him, Art thou a teacher of Israel, and knowest not these things? |
| 3:11 | Verely, verely I say vnto thee, wee speake that we know, and testifie that we haue seene: but yee receiue not our witnesse. |
| 3:12 | If when I tel you earthly things, ye beleeue not, howe should yee beleeue, if I shall tel you of heauenly things? |
| 3:13 | For no man ascendeth vp to heauen, but he that hath descended from heauen, that Sonne of man which is in heauen. |
| 3:14 | And as Moses lift vp the serpent in the wildernesse, so must that Sonne of man be lift vp, |
| 3:15 | That whosoeuer beleeueth in him, shoulde not perish, but haue eternall life. |
| 3:16 | For God so loued the worlde, that hee hath giuen his onely begotten Sonne, that whosoeuer beleeueth in him, should not perish, but haue euerlasting life. |
| 3:17 | For God sent not his Sonne into the world, that he should condemne the world, but that the world through him might be saued. |
| 3:18 | Hee that beleeueth in him, is not condemned: but hee that beleeueth not, is condemned already, because he hath not beleeued in the Name of that onely begotten Sonne of God. |
| 3:19 | And this is the condemnation, that that light came into the worlde, and men loued darknesse rather then that light, because their deedes were euill. |
| 3:20 | For euery man that euill doeth, hateth the light, neither commeth to light, least his deedes should be reprooued. |
| 3:21 | But he that doeth trueth, commeth to the light, that his deedes might bee made manifest, that they are wrought according to God. |
| 3:22 | After these things, came Iesus and his disciples into the lande of Iudea, and there taried with them, and baptized. |
| 3:23 | And Iohn also baptized in Enon besides Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. |
| 3:24 | For Iohn was not yet cast into prison. |
| 3:25 | Then there arose a question betweene Iohns disciples and the Iewes, about purifying. |
| 3:26 | And they came vnto Iohn, and saide vnto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Iorden, to whom thou barest witnesse, behold, he baptizeth, and all men come to him. |
| 3:27 | Iohn answered, and saide, A man can receiue nothing, except it be giuen him from heauen. |
| 3:28 | Yee your selues are my witnesses, that I sayde, I am not that Christ, but that I am sent before him. |
| 3:29 | He that hath the bride, is the bridegrome: but the friend of the bridegrome which standeth and heareth him, reioyceth greatly, because of the bridegromes voyce. This my ioy therefore is fulfilled. |
| 3:30 | He must increase, but I must decrease. |
| 3:31 | Hee that is come from an hie, is aboue all: he that is of the earth, is of the earth, and speaketh of the earth: hee that is come from heauen, is aboue all. |
| 3:32 | And what hee hath seene and heard, that he testifieth: but no man receiueth his testimonie. |
| 3:33 | He that hath receiued his testimonie, hath sealed that God is true. |
| 3:34 | For hee whome God hath sent, speaketh the woordes of God: for God giueth him not the Spirit by measure. |
| 3:35 | The Father loueth the Sonne, and hath giuen all things into his hande. |
| 3:36 | Hee that beleeueth in the Sonne, hath euerlasting life, and hee that obeyeth not the Sonne, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. |
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.