Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 1:1 | Paul and Siluanus, and Timotheus, vnto the Church of the Thessalonians, which is in God our Father, and in the Lord Iesus Christ: |
| 1:2 | Grace be with you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Iesus Christ. |
| 1:3 | We ought to thanke God alwayes for you, brethren, as it is meete, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the loue of euery one of you toward another, aboundeth, |
| 1:4 | So that we our selues reioyce of you in the Churches of God, because of your patience and faith in al your persecutions and tribulatios that ye suffer, |
| 1:5 | Which is a manifest token of the righteous iudgement of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdome of God, for the which ye also suffer. |
| 1:6 | For it is a righteous thing with God, to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you, |
| 1:7 | And to you which are troubled, rest with vs, when the Lord Iesus shall shewe himselfe from heauen with his mightie Angels, |
| 1:8 | In flaming fire, rendring vengeance vnto them, that doe not know God, and which obey not vnto the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ, |
| 1:9 | Which shall be punished with euerlasting perdition, from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, |
| 1:10 | When he shall come to be glorified in his Saints, and to be made marueilous in all them that beleeue ( because our testimonie toward you was beleeued) in that day. |
| 1:11 | Wherefore, we also pray alwayes for you, that our God may make you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodnes, and the worke of faith with power, |
| 1:12 | That the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God, and of the Lord Iesus Christ. |
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.