Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 20:1 | When thou shalt go forth to warre against thine enemies, and shalt see horses and charets, and people moe then thou, be not afrayde of them: for the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. |
| 20:2 | And when ye are come neere vnto the battel, then the Priest shall come forth to speake vnto the people, |
| 20:3 | And shall say vnto them, Heare, O Israel: ye are come this day vnto battell against your enemies: let not your heartes faynt, neither feare, nor be amased, nor adread of them. |
| 20:4 | For ye Lord your God goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, and to saue you |
| 20:5 | And let the officers speake vnto the people, saying, What man is there that hath buylt a new house, and hath not dedicate it? let him go and returne to his house, least he dye in the battel, and an other man dedicate it. |
| 20:6 | And what man is there that hath planted a vineyarde, and hath not eaten of the fruite? let him go and returne againe vnto his house, least he die in the battel, and another eate the fruite. |
| 20:7 | And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and returne againe vnto his house, lest he die in the battell, and another man take her. |
| 20:8 | And let the officers speake further vnto the people, and say, Whosoeuer is afrayde and faynt hearted, let him go and returne vnto his house, least his brethrens heart faynt like his heart. |
| 20:9 | And after that the officers haue made an ende of speaking vnto the people, they shall make captaines of the armie to gouerne the people. |
| 20:10 | When thou commest neere vnto a citie to fight against it, thou shalt offer it peace. |
| 20:11 | And if it answere thee againe peaceably, and open vnto thee, then let all the people that is founde therein, be tributaries vnto thee, and serue thee. |
| 20:12 | But if it will make no peace with thee, but make war against thee, then shalt thou besiege it. |
| 20:13 | And the Lord thy God shall deliuer it into thine handes, and thou shalt smite all the males thereof with the edge of the sworde. |
| 20:14 | Onely the women, and the children, and the cattel, and all that is in the citie, euen all the spoyle thereof shalt thou take vnto thy selfe, and shalt eate the spoyle of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath giuen thee. |
| 20:15 | Thus shalt thou do vnto all ye cities, which are a great way off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations here. |
| 20:16 | But of the cities of this people, which the Lord thy God shall giue thee to inherite, thou shalt saue no person aliue, |
| 20:17 | But shalt vtterly destroy them: to wit, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hiuites, and the Iebusites, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, |
| 20:18 | That they teache you not to doe after all their abominations, which they haue done vnto their gods, and so ye should sinne against the Lord your God. |
| 20:19 | When thou hast besieged a citie long time, and made warre against it to take it, destroy not the trees therof, by smiting an axe into them: for thou mayest eate of them: therfore thou shalt not cut them downe to further thee in the siege, (for the tree of the field is mans life) |
| 20:20 | Onely those trees, which thou knowest are not for meate, those shalt thou destroy and cut downe, and make fortes against the citie that maketh warre with thee, vntil thou subdue it. |
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.