Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 4:1 | Then I say, that the heire as long as hee is a childe, differeth nothing from a seruant, though he be Lord of all, |
| 4:2 | But is vnder tutours and gouernours, vntil the time appointed of the Father. |
| 4:3 | Euen so, we when wee were children, were in bondage vnder the rudiments of the world. |
| 4:4 | But when the fulnesse of time was come, God sent forth his Sonne made of a woman, and made vnder the Lawe, |
| 4:5 | That hee might redeeme them which were vnder the Law, that we might receiue the adoption of the sonnes. |
| 4:6 | And because ye are sonnes, God hath sent foorth the Spirit of his Sonne into your heartes, which crieth, Abba, Father. |
| 4:7 | Wherefore, thou art no more a seruant, but a sonne: now if thou be a sone, thou art also the heire of God through Christ. |
| 4:8 | But euen then, when ye knewe not God, yee did seruice vnto them, which by nature are not gods: |
| 4:9 | But now seeing ye knowe God, yea, rather are knowen of God, howe turne ye againe vnto impotent and beggerly rudiments, whereunto as from the beginning ye wil be in bondage againe? |
| 4:10 | Ye obserue dayes, and moneths, and times and yeeres. |
| 4:11 | I am in feare of you, lest I haue bestowed on you labour in vaine. |
| 4:12 | Be ye as I (for I am euen as you) brethren, I beseech you: ye haue not hurt me at all. |
| 4:13 | And ye know, how through infirmitie of the flesh, I preached ye Gospel vnto you at the first. |
| 4:14 | And the trial of me which was in my flesh, ye despised not, neither abhorred: but ye receiued me as an Angel of God, yea, as Christ Iesus. |
| 4:15 | What was then your felicitie? for I beare you recorde, that if it had bene possible, ye would haue plucked out your owne eyes, and haue giuen them vnto me. |
| 4:16 | Am I therefore become your enemie, because I tell you the trueth? |
| 4:17 | They are ielous ouer you amisse: yea, they woulde exclude you, that ye shoulde altogether loue them. |
| 4:18 | But it is a good thing to loue earnestly alwayes in a good thing, and not onely when I am present with you, |
| 4:19 | My litle children, of whome I trauaile in birth againe, vntill Christ be formed in you. |
| 4:20 | And I would I were with you nowe, that I might change my voyce: for I am in doubt of you. |
| 4:21 | Tell me, ye that will be vnder the Law, doe ye not heare the Lawe? |
| 4:22 | For it is written, that Abraham had two sonnes, one by a seruant, and one by a free woman. |
| 4:23 | But he which was of the seruant, was borne after the flesh: and he which was of the free woman, was borne by promise. |
| 4:24 | By the which things another thing is meant: for these mothers are the two testaments, the one which is Agar of mount Sina, which gendreth vnto bondage. |
| 4:25 | (For Agar or Sina is a mountaine in Arabia, and it answereth to Hierusalem which nowe is) and she is in bondage with her children. |
| 4:26 | But Hierusalem, which is aboue, is free: which is the mother of vs all. |
| 4:27 | For it is written, Reioyce thou barren that bearest no children: breake forth, and cry, thou that trauailest not: for the desolate hath many moe children, then she which hath an husband. |
| 4:28 | Therefore, brethren, wee are after the maner of Isaac, children of the promise. |
| 4:29 | But as then hee that was borne after the flesh, persecuted him that was borne after the Spirit, euen so it is nowe. |
| 4:30 | But what sayth the Scripture? Put out the seruant and her sonne: for the sonne of the seruant shall not be heire with the sonne of the free woman. |
| 4:31 | Then brethren, we are not children of the seruant, but of the free woman. |
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.