Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 2:1 | Bvt I determined thus in my selfe, that I would not come againe to you in heauinesse. |
| 2:2 | For if I make you sorie, who is he then that shoulde make me glad, but ye same which is made sorie by me? |
| 2:3 | And I wrote this same thing vnto you, lest when I came, I should take heauines of them, of whom I ought to reioyce: this confidence haue I in you all, that my ioye is the ioye of you all. |
| 2:4 | For in great affliction, and anguish of heart I wrote vnto you with many teares: not that yee should be made sorie, but that ye might perceiue the loue which I haue, specially vnto you. |
| 2:5 | And if any hath caused sorowe, the same hath not made mee sorie, but partly (lest I should more charge him) you all. |
| 2:6 | It is sufficient vnto the same man, that hee was rebuked of many. |
| 2:7 | So that nowe contrariwise yee ought rather to forgiue him, and comfort him, lest the same shoulde bee swalowed vp with ouermuch heauinesse. |
| 2:8 | Wherefore, I pray you, that you woulde confirme your loue towards him. |
| 2:9 | For this cause also did I write, that I might knowe the proofe of you, whether yee would be obedient in all things. |
| 2:10 | To whome yee forgiue any thing, I forgiue also: for verely if I forgaue any thing, to whome I forgaue it, for your sakes forgaue I it in the sight of Christ, |
| 2:11 | Lest Satan should circumuent vs: for we are not ignorant of his enterprises. |
| 2:12 | Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christs Gospell, and a doore was opened vnto me of the Lord, |
| 2:13 | I had no rest in my spirit, because I founde not Titus my brother, but tooke my leaue of them, and went away into Macedonia. |
| 2:14 | Now thankes be vnto God, which alwaies maketh vs to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the sauour of his knowledge by vs in euery place. |
| 2:15 | For wee are vnto God the sweete sauour of Christ, in them that are saued, and in them which perish. |
| 2:16 | To the one we are the sauour of death, vnto death, and to the other the sauour of life, vnto life: and who is sufficient for these things? |
| 2:17 | For wee are not as many, which make marchandise of the woorde of God: but as of sinceritie, but as of God in ye sight of God speake we in Christ. |
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.