Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 19:1 | When the Lord thy God shall roote out the nations, whose lande the Lord thy God giueth thee, and thou shalt possesse them, and dwell in their cities, and in their houses, |
| 19:2 | Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the middes of thy lande which the Lord thy God giueth thee to possesse it. |
| 19:3 | Thou shalt prepare thee the way, and deuide the coastes of the land, which the Lord thy God giueth thee to inherite, into three parts, that euery manslayer may flee thither. |
| 19:4 | This also is ye cause wherfore the manslayer shall flee thither, and liue: who so killeth his neighbor ignorantly, and hated him not in time passed: |
| 19:5 | As hee that goeth vnto the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand striketh with the axe to cut downe the tree, if the head slip from the helue, and hit his neighbour that he dieth, the same shall flee vnto one of the cities, and liue, |
| 19:6 | Least the auenger of the blood follow after the manslayer, while his heart is chafed, and ouertake him, because the way is long, and slaie him, although he be not worthy of death, because he hated him not in time passed. |
| 19:7 | Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt appoint out three cities for thee. |
| 19:8 | And when the Lord thy God enlargeth thy coastes (as he hath sworne vnto thy fathers) and giueth thee all the lande which he promised to giue vnto thy fathers, |
| 19:9 | (If thou keepe all these commandements to doe them, which I commaund thee this day: to wit, that thou loue the Lord thy God, and walke in his waies for euer) then shalt thou adde three cities moe for thee besides those three, |
| 19:10 | That innocent bloude be not shed within thy land, which the Lord thy God giueth thee to inherite, lest bloud be vpon thee. |
| 19:11 | But if a man hate his neighbour, and lay waite for him, and rise against him, and smite any man that he die, and flee vnto any of these cities, |
| 19:12 | Then the Elders of his citie shall send and set him thence, and deliuer him into the hands of the auenger of the blood, that he may die. |
| 19:13 | Thine eye shall not spare him, but thou shalt put away the crie of innocent blood from Israel, that it may goe well with thee. |
| 19:14 | Thou shalt not remooue thy neighbours marke, which they of olde time haue set in thine inheritance, that thou shalt inherite in the lande, which ye Lord thy God giueth thee to possesse it. |
| 19:15 | One witnes shall not rise against a man for any trespasse, or for any sinne, or for any fault that hee offendeth in, but at the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses shall the matter be stablished. |
| 19:16 | If a false witnesse rise vp against a man to accuse him of trespasse, |
| 19:17 | Then both the men which striue together, shall stand before ye Lord, euen before the Priests and the Iudges, which shall be in those daies, |
| 19:18 | And the Iudges shall make diligent inquisition: and if the witnesse be found false, and hath giuen false witnes against his brother, |
| 19:19 | Then shall yee doe vnto him as hee had thought to doe vnto his brother: so thou shalt take euil away forth of the middes of thee. |
| 19:20 | And the rest shall heare this, and feare, and shall henceforth commit no more any such wickednes among you. |
| 19:21 | Therefore thine eye shall have no compassion, but life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foote for foote. |
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.