Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 1:1 | Paul an Apostle of Iesus Christ, by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Iesus, |
| 1:2 | To Timotheus my beloued sonne: Grace, mercie and peace from God the Father, and from Iesus Christ our Lord. |
| 1:3 | I thanke God, whom I serue from mine elders with pure conscience, that without ceasing I haue remembrance of thee in my praiers night and day, |
| 1:4 | Desiring to see thee, mindefull of thy teares, that I may be filled with ioy: |
| 1:5 | When I call to remembrance the vnfained faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and in thy mother Eunice, and am assured that it dwelleth in thee also. |
| 1:6 | Wherefore, I put thee in remembrance that thou stirre vp the gift of God which is in thee, by the putting on of mine hands. |
| 1:7 | For God hath not giuen to vs the Spirite of feare, but of power, and of loue, and of a sound minde. |
| 1:8 | Be not therefore ashamed of the testimonie of our Lord, neither of me his prisoner: but be partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel, according to the power of God, |
| 1:9 | Who hath saued vs, and called vs with an holy calling, not according to our workes, but according to his owne purpose and grace, which was giuen to vs through Christ Iesus before the world was, |
| 1:10 | But is nowe made manifest by that appearing of our Sauiour Iesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortalitie vnto light through the Gospel. |
| 1:11 | Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and Apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. |
| 1:12 | For the which cause I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed: for I knowe whom I haue beleeued, and I am persuaded that he is able to keepe that which I haue committed to him against that day. |
| 1:13 | Keepe the true paterne of the wholesome wordes, which thou hast heard of me in faith and loue which is in Christ Iesus. |
| 1:14 | That worthie thing, which was committed to thee, keepe through the holy Ghost, which dwelleth in vs. |
| 1:15 | This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia, be turned from me: of which sort are Phygellus and Hermogenes. |
| 1:16 | The Lord giue mercie vnto the house of Onesiphorus: for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chaine, |
| 1:17 | But when he was at Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me. |
| 1:18 | The Lord graunt vnto him, that he may finde mercie with the Lord at that day, and in how many things he hath ministred vnto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well. |
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.