Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 1:1 | Paul an Apostle of Iesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, |
| 1:2 | To them which are at Colosse, Saintes and faithfull brethren in Christ: Grace bee with you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Iesus Christ. |
| 1:3 | We giue thankes to God euen ye Father of our Lord Iesus Christ, alway praying for you: |
| 1:4 | Since wee heard of your faith in Christ Iesus, and of your loue toward all Saintes, |
| 1:5 | For the hopes sake, which is laide vp for you in heauen, whereof yee haue heard before by the word of trueth, which is the Gospel, |
| 1:6 | Which is come vnto you, eue as it is vnto al the world, and is fruitful, as it is also amog you, from ye day that ye heard and truely knew ye grace of God, |
| 1:7 | As yee also learned of Epaphras our deare fellowe seruaunt, which is for you a faithfull minister of Christ: |
| 1:8 | Who hath also declared vnto vs your loue in the Spirit. |
| 1:9 | For this cause wee also, since the day wee heard of it, cease not to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be fulfilled with knowledge of his will in all wisdome, and spirituall vnderstanding, |
| 1:10 | That ye might walke worthy of the Lord, and please him in all things, being fruitefull in all good workes, and increasing in the knowledge of God, |
| 1:11 | Strengthened with all might through his glorious power, vnto all patience, and long suffering with ioyfulnesse, |
| 1:12 | Giuing thankes vnto the Father, which hath made vs meete to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saintes in light, |
| 1:13 | Who hath deliuered vs from the power of darkenesse, and hath translated vs into the kingdome of his deare Sonne, |
| 1:14 | In whome we haue redemption through his blood, that is, the forgiuenesse of sinnes, |
| 1:15 | Who is the image of the inuisible God, the first begotten of euery creature. |
| 1:16 | For by him were all things created, which are in heauen, and which are in earth, thinges visible and inuisible: whether they be Thrones or Dominions, or Principalities, or Powers, all things were created by him, and for him, |
| 1:17 | And hee is before all things, and in him all things consist. |
| 1:18 | And hee is the head of the body of the Church: he is the beginning, and the first begotten of the dead, that in all thinges hee might haue the preeminence. |
| 1:19 | For it pleased the Father, that in him should all fulnesse dwell, |
| 1:20 | And through peace made by that blood of that his crosse, to reconcile to himselfe through him, through him, I say, all thinges, both which are in earth, and which are in heauen. |
| 1:21 | And you which were in times past strangers and enemies, because your mindes were set in euill workes, hath he nowe also reconciled, |
| 1:22 | In that body of his flesh through death, to make you holy, and vnblameable and without fault in his sight, |
| 1:23 | If ye continue, grounded and stablished in the faith, and be not moued away from the hope of the Gospel, whereof ye haue heard, and which hath bene preached to euery creature which is vnder heauen, whereof I Paul am a minister. |
| 1:24 | Now reioyce I in my suffrings for you, and fulfill the rest of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his bodies sake, which is the Church, |
| 1:25 | Whereof I am a minister, according to the dispensation of God, which is giuen mee vnto you ward, to fulfill the word of God, |
| 1:26 | Which is the mysterie hid since the world began, and from all ages, but nowe is made manifest to his Saintes, |
| 1:27 | To whome God woulde make knowen what is the riches of his glorious mysterie among the Gentiles, which riches is Christ in you, the hope of glory, |
| 1:28 | Whome we preache, admonishing euery man, and teaching euery man in all wisdome, that we may present euery man perfect in Christ Iesus, |
| 1:29 | Whereunto I also labour and striue, according to his working which worketh in me mightily. |
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.