Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 4:1 | And furthermore we beseeche you, brethren, and exhort you in the Lord Iesus, that ye increase more and more, as ye haue receiued of vs, how ye ought to walke, and to please God. |
| 4:2 | For ye knowe what commandements we gaue you by the Lord Iesus. |
| 4:3 | For this is the will of God euen your sanctification, and that ye should abstaine from fornication, |
| 4:4 | That euery one of you should know, how to possesse his vessell in holines and honour, |
| 4:5 | And not in the lust of concupiscence, euen as the Gentiles which know not God: |
| 4:6 | That no man oppresse or defraude his brother in any matter: for the Lord is auenger of all such thinges, as we also haue tolde you before time, and testified. |
| 4:7 | For God hath not called vs vnto vncleannesse, but vnto holinesse. |
| 4:8 | Hee therefore that despiseth these thinges, despiseth not man, but God who hath euen giuen you his holy Spirit. |
| 4:9 | But as touching brotherly loue, ye neede not that I write vnto you: for ye are taught of God to loue one another. |
| 4:10 | Yea, and that thing verily yee doe vnto all the brethren, which are throughout all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more, |
| 4:11 | And that ye studie to be quiet, and to meddle with your owne busines, and to worke with your owne handes, as we commanded you, |
| 4:12 | That yee may behaue your selues honestly towarde them that are without, and that nothing be lacking vnto you. |
| 4:13 | I would not, brethren, haue you ignorant concerning them which are a sleepe, that ye sorow not euen as other which haue no hope. |
| 4:14 | For if we beleeue that Iesus is dead, and is risen, euen so them which sleepe in Iesus, will God bring with him. |
| 4:15 | For this say we vnto you by the worde of the Lord, that we which liue, and are remayning in the comming of the Lord, shall not preuent them which sleepe. |
| 4:16 | For the Lord himselfe shall descende from heauen with a shoute, and with the voyce of the Archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: |
| 4:17 | Then shall we which liue and remaine, be caught vp with them also in the clouds, to meete the Lord in the ayre: and so shall we euer be with the Lord. |
| 4:18 | Wherefore, comfort your selues one another with these wordes. |
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.