Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 17:1 | Thou shalt offer vnto the Lord thy God no bullocke nor sheepe wherein is blemish or any euill fauoured thing: for that is an abomination vnto the Lord thy God. |
| 17:2 | If there be founde among you in any of thy cities, which the Lord thy God giueth thee, man or woman that hath wrought wickednes in the sight of the Lord thy God, in transgressing his couenant, |
| 17:3 | And hath gone and serued other gods, and worshipped them: as the sunne, or the moone, or any of the hoste of heauen, which I haue not commanded, |
| 17:4 | And it be tolde vnto thee, and thou hast heard it, then shalt thou inquire diligently: and if it be true, and the thing certaine, that such abomination is wrought in Israel, |
| 17:5 | Then shalt thou bring foorth that man, or that woman (which haue committed that wicked thing) vnto thy gates, whether it be man or woman, and shalt stone them with stones, til they die. |
| 17:6 | At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall he that is woorthie of death, die: but at the mouth of one witnesse, he shall not die. |
| 17:7 | The handes of the witnesses shall be first vpon him, to kill him: and afterward the hands of all the people: so thou shalt take the wicked away from among you. |
| 17:8 | If there rise a matter too harde for thee in iudgement betweene blood and blood, betweene plea and plea, betweene plague and plague, in the matters of controuersie within thy gates, then shalt thou arise, and goe vp vnto the place which the Lord thy God shall chuse, |
| 17:9 | And thou shalt come vnto the Priestes of the Leuites, and vnto the iudge that shall be in those daies, and aske, and they shall shewe thee the sentence of iudgement, |
| 17:10 | And thou shalt do according to that thing which they of that place (which the Lord hath chosen) shewe thee, and thou shalt obserue to doe according to all that they informe thee. |
| 17:11 | According to the Lawe, which they shall teach thee, and according to the iudgement which they shall tell thee, shalt thou doe: thou shalt not decline from the thing which they shall shew thee, neither to the right hand, nor to the left. |
| 17:12 | And that man that wil doe presumptuously, not hearkening vnto the Priest (that standeth before the Lord thy God to minister there) or vnto the iudge, that man shall die, and thou shalt take away euill from Israel. |
| 17:13 | So all the people shall heare and feare, and doe no more presumptuously. |
| 17:14 | Whe thou shalt come vnto ye land which the Lord thy God giueth thee, and shalt possesse it, and dwell therein, if thou say, I will set a King ouer me, like as all the nations that are about me, |
| 17:15 | Then thou shalt make him King ouer thee, whome the Lord thy God shall chuse: from among thy brethren shalt thou make a King ouer thee: thou shalt not set a stranger ouer thee, which is not thy brother. |
| 17:16 | In any wise he shall not prepare him many horses, nor bring the people againe to Egypt, for to encrease the number of horses, seeing the Lord hath sayd vnto you, Ye shall henceforth goe no more againe that way. |
| 17:17 | Neither shall hee take him many wiues, lest his heart turne away, neither shall he gather him much siluer and golde. |
| 17:18 | And when he shall sit vpon the throne of his kingdo, then shall he write him this Law repeted in a booke, by the Priests of the Leuites. |
| 17:19 | And it shall be with him, and he shall reade therein all daies of his life, that he may learne to feare the Lord his God, and to keepe all ye words of this Lawe, and these ordinances for to doe them: |
| 17:20 | That his heart be not lifted vp aboue his brethren, and that he turne not from the commandement, to the right hand or to the left, but that he may prolong his daies in his kingdom, he, and his sonnes in the middes of Israel. |
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.