Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 12:1 | It is not expedient for me no doubt to reioyce: for I will come to visions and reuelations of the Lord. |
| 12:2 | I know a man in Christ aboue fourteene yeeres agone, (whether he were in the body, I can not tell, or out of the body, I can not tell: God knoweth) which was taken vp into the thirde heauen. |
| 12:3 | And I knowe such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I can not tell: God knoweth) |
| 12:4 | How that he was taken vp into Paradise, and heard words which cannot be spoken, which are not possible for man to vtter. |
| 12:5 | Of such a man will I reioyce: of my selfe will I not reioyce, except it bee of mine infirmities. |
| 12:6 | For though I woulde reioyce, I should not be a foole, for I will say the trueth: but I refraine, lest any man should thinke of me aboue that hee seeth in me, or that he heareth of me. |
| 12:7 | And lest I should be exalted out of measure through the aboundance of reuelations, there was giuen vnto me a pricke in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet mee, because I should not be exalted out of measure. |
| 12:8 | For this thing I besought the Lord thrise, that it might depart from me. |
| 12:9 | And he said vnto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect through weakenesse. Very gladly therefore will I reioyce rather in mine infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. |
| 12:10 | Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproches, in necessities, in persecutions, in anguish for Christes sake: for when I am weake, then am I strong. |
| 12:11 | I was a foole to boast my selfe: yee haue compelled mee: for I ought to haue bene commended of you: for in nothing was I inferiour vnto the very chiefe Apostles, though I bee nothing. |
| 12:12 | The signes of an Apostle were wrought among you with all patience, with signes, and wonders, and great workes. |
| 12:13 | For what is it, wherein yee were inferiours vnto other Churches, except that I haue not bene slouthfull to your hinderance? forgiue me this wrong. |
| 12:14 | Behold, the thirde time I am ready to come vnto you, and yet will I not be slouthfull to your hinderance: for I seeke not yours, but you: for the children ought not to laye vp for the fathers, but the fathers for the children. |
| 12:15 | And I will most gladly bestow, and will be bestowed for your soules: though the more I loue you, the lesse I am loued. |
| 12:16 | But bee it that I charged you not: yet for as much as I was craftie, I tooke you with guile. |
| 12:17 | Did I pill you by any of them whom I sent vnto you? |
| 12:18 | I haue desired Titus, and with him I haue sent a brother: did Titus pill you of any thing? walked we not in the selfe same spirit? walked we not in the same steppes? |
| 12:19 | Againe, thinke yee that wee excuse our selues vnto you? we speake before God in Christ. But wee doe all thinges, dearely beloued, for your edifying. |
| 12:20 | For I feare least when I come, I shall not finde you such as I would: and that I shalbe found vnto you such as ye woulde not, and least there be strife, enuying, wrath, contentions, backebitings, whisperings, swellings and discord. |
| 12:21 | I feare least when I come againe, my God abase me among you, and I shall bewaile many of them which haue sinned already, and haue not repented of the vncleannesse, and fornication, and wantonnesse which they haue committed. |
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.