Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 4:1 | Now the Spirit speaketh euidently, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, and shall giue heede vnto spirits of errour, and doctrines of deuils, |
| 4:2 | Which speake lies through hypocrisie, and haue their cosciences burned with an hote yron, |
| 4:3 | Forbidding to marrie, and commanding to abstaine from meates which God hath created to be receiued with giuing thankes of them which beleeue and knowe the trueth. |
| 4:4 | For euery creature of God is good, and nothing ought to be refused, if it be receiued with thankesgiuing. |
| 4:5 | For it is sanctified by the worde of God, and prayer. |
| 4:6 | If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Iesus Christ, which hast bene nourished vp in the wordes of faith, and of good doctrine, which thou hast continually followed. |
| 4:7 | But cast away prophane, and olde wiues fables, and exercise thy selfe vnto godlinesse. |
| 4:8 | For bodily exercise profiteth litle: but godlinesse is profitable vnto all things, which hath the promise of the life present, and of that that is to come. |
| 4:9 | This is a true saying, and by all meanes worthie to be receiued. |
| 4:10 | For therefore we labour and are rebuked, because we trust in the liuing God, which is the Sauiour of all men, specially of those that beleeue. |
| 4:11 | These things warne and teache. |
| 4:12 | Let no man despise thy youth, but be vnto them that beleeue, an ensample, in worde, in conuersation, in loue, in spirit, in faith, and in purenesse. |
| 4:13 | Till I come, giue attendance to reading, to exhortation, and to doctrine. |
| 4:14 | Despise not the gift that is in thee, which was giuen thee by prophecie with the laying on of the hands of the companie of the Eldership. |
| 4:15 | These things exercise, and giue thy selfe vnto them, that it may be seene howe thou profitest among all men. |
| 4:16 | Take heede vnto thy selfe, and vnto learning: continue therein: for in doing this thou shalt both saue thy selfe, and them that heare thee. |
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.