Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 1:1 | Pavl an Apostle (not of men, neither by man, but by Iesus Christ, and God the Father which hath raised him from the dead) |
| 1:2 | And all the brethren which are with me, vnto the Churches of Galatia: |
| 1:3 | Grace be with you, and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Iesus Christ, |
| 1:4 | Which gaue himself for our sinnes, that he might deliuer vs from this present euill world according to the will of God euen our Father, |
| 1:5 | To whom be glory for euer and euer, Amen. |
| 1:6 | I marueile that ye are so soone remoued away vnto another Gospel, from him that had called you in the grace of Christ, |
| 1:7 | Which is not another Gospel, saue that there be some which trouble you, and intend to peruert the Gospel of Christ. |
| 1:8 | But though that we, or an Angel from heauen preach vnto you otherwise, then that which we haue preached vnto you, let him be accursed. |
| 1:9 | As we sayd before, so say I now againe, If any man preach vnto you otherwise, then that ye haue receiued, let him be accursed. |
| 1:10 | For nowe preach I mans doctrine, or Gods? or go I about to please men? for if I should yet please men, I were not the seruant of Christ. |
| 1:11 | Now I certifie you, brethren, that ye Gospel which was preached of me, was not after man. |
| 1:12 | For neither receiued I it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the reuelation of Iesus Christ. |
| 1:13 | For ye haue heard of my conuersation in time past, in the Iewish religion, how that I persecuted the Church of God extremely, and wasted it, |
| 1:14 | And profited in the Iewish religion aboue many of my companions of mine owne nation, and was much more zealous of the traditions of my fathers. |
| 1:15 | But when it pleased God (which had separated me from my mothers wombe, and called me by his grace) |
| 1:16 | To reueile his Sonne in me, that I should preach him among the Gentiles, immediatly I communicated not with flesh and blood: |
| 1:17 | Neither came I againe to Hierusalem to them which were Apostles before me, but I went into Arabia, and turned againe vnto Damascus. |
| 1:18 | Then after three yeeres I came againe to Hierusalem to visite Peter, and abode with him fifteene dayes. |
| 1:19 | And none other of the Apostles sawe I, saue Iames the Lords brother. |
| 1:20 | Nowe the things which I write vnto you, beholde, I witnes before God, that I lie not. |
| 1:21 | After that, I went into the coastes of Syria and Cilicia: |
| 1:22 | for I was vnknowen by face vnto the Churches of Iudea, which were in Christ. |
| 1:23 | But they had heard onely some say, Hee which persecuted vs in time past, nowe preacheth the faith which before he destroyed. |
| 1:24 | And they glorified God for me. |
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.