Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 1:1 | At sundry times and in diuers maners God spake in the olde time to our fathers by the Prophetes: in these last dayes hee hath spoken vnto vs by his Sonne, |
| 1:2 | Whom he hath made heire of al things, by whome also he made the worldes, |
| 1:3 | Who being the brightnes of the glory, and the ingraued forme of his person, and bearing vp all things by his mightie worde, hath by himselfe purged our sinnes, and sitteth at the right hand of the Maiestie in the highest places, |
| 1:4 | And is made so much more excellent then the Angels, in as much as hee hath obteined a more excellent Name then they. |
| 1:5 | For vnto which of the Angels saide he at any time, Thou art my Sonne, this day begate I thee? and againe, I will be his Father, and he shalbe my Sonne? |
| 1:6 | And againe, when he bringeth in his first begotten Sonne into the worlde, hee saith, And let all the Angels of God worship him. |
| 1:7 | And of the Angels he saith, He maketh the spirites his messengers, and his ministers a flame of fire. |
| 1:8 | But vnto the Sonne he saith, O God, thy throne is for euer and euer: the scepter of thy kingdome is a scepter of righteousnes. |
| 1:9 | Thou hast loued righteousnes and hated iniquitie. Wherefore God, eue thy God, hath anointed thee with the oyle of gladnes aboue thy fellowes. |
| 1:10 | And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast established the earth, and the heauens are the workes of thine handes. |
| 1:11 | They shall perish, but thou doest remaine: and they all shall waxe olde as doeth a garment. |
| 1:12 | And as a vesture shalt thou folde them vp, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy yeeres shall not faile. |
| 1:13 | Vnto which also of the Angels saide he at any time, Sit at my right hand, til I make thine enemies thy footestoole? |
| 1:14 | Are they not al ministring spirits, sent forth to minister, for their sakes which shalbe heires of saluation? |
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.