Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 13:1 | Lo this is the thirde time that I come vnto you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall euery worde stand |
| 13:2 | I tolde you before, and tell you before: as though I had bene present the seconde time, so write I nowe being absent to them which heretofore haue sinned and to all others, that if I come againe, I will not spare, |
| 13:3 | Seeing that ye seeke experience of Christ, that speaketh in mee, which towarde you is not weake, but is mightie in you. |
| 13:4 | For though hee was crucified concerning his infirmitie, yet liueth hee through the power of God. And wee no doubt are weake in him, but we shall liue with him, through the power of God towarde you. |
| 13:5 | Proue your selues whether ye are in the faith: examine your selues: knowe yee not your owne selues, howe that Iesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? |
| 13:6 | But I trust that ye shall knowe that wee are not reprobates. |
| 13:7 | Nowe I pray vnto God that yee doe none euill, not that we should seeme approued, but that ye should doe that which is honest: though we be as reprobates. |
| 13:8 | For wee can not doe any thing against the trueth, but for the trueth. |
| 13:9 | For we are glad when wee are weake, and that ye are strong: this also we wish for, euen your perfection. |
| 13:10 | Therefore write I these thinges being absent, least when I am present, I should vse sharpenesse, according to the power which the Lord hath giuen mee, to edification, and not to destruction. |
| 13:11 | Finally brethren, fare ye well: be perfect: be of good comfort: be of one minde: liue in peace, and the God of loue and peace shalbe with you. |
| 13:12 | Greete one another with an holy kisse. |
| 13:13 | All the Saintes salute you. |
| 13:14 | The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ, and the loue of God, and the communion of the holy Ghost be with you all, Amen. |
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.