Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 6:1 | And in those dayes, as the nomber of ye disciples grewe, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians towards ye Hebrewes, because their widowes were neglected in the dayly ministring. |
| 6:2 | Then the twelue called the multitude of the disciples together, and sayd, It is not meete that we should leaue the worde of God to serue the tables. |
| 6:3 | Wherefore brethren, looke ye out among you seuen men of honest report, and full of the holy Ghost, and of wisedome, which we may appoint to this busines. |
| 6:4 | And we will giue our selues continually to prayer, and to the ministration of the worde. |
| 6:5 | And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Steuen a man full of fayth and of the holy Ghost, and Philippe, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a Proselyte of Antiochia, |
| 6:6 | Which they set before the Apostles: and they prayed, and layed their hands on them. |
| 6:7 | And the worde of God increased, and the nomber of the disciples was multipled in Hierusalem greatly, and a great company of the Priests were obedient to the faith. |
| 6:8 | Now Steuen full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. |
| 6:9 | Then there arose certaine of the Synagogue, which are called Libertines, and Cyrenians, and of Alexandria, and of them of Cilicia, and of Asia, and disputed with Steuen. |
| 6:10 | But they were not able to resist the wisdome, and the Spirit by the which he spake. |
| 6:11 | Then they suborned men, which saide, We haue heard him speake blasphemous wordes against Moses, and God. |
| 6:12 | Thus they mooued the people and the Elders, and the Scribes: and running vpon him, caught him, and brought him to the Councill, |
| 6:13 | And set forth false witnesses, which sayd, This man ceasseth not to speake blasphemous wordes against this holy place, and the Law. |
| 6:14 | For we haue heard him say, that this Iesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the ordinances, which Moses gaue vs. |
| 6:15 | And as all that sate in the Councill, looked stedfastly on him, they saw his face as it had bene the face of an Angel. |
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.