Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 1:1 | Iames a seruant of God, and of the Lord Iesus Christ, to the twelue Tribes, which are scattered abroade, salutation. |
| 1:2 | My brethren, count it exceeding ioy, when ye fall into diuers tentations, |
| 1:3 | Knowing that ye trying of your faith bringeth forth patience, |
| 1:4 | And let patience haue her perfect worke, that ye may be perfect and entier, lacking nothing. |
| 1:5 | If any of you lacke wisedome, let him aske of God, which giueth to all men liberally, and reprocheth no man, and it shalbe giuen him. |
| 1:6 | But let him aske in faith, and wauer not: for hee that wauereth, is like a waue of the sea, tost of the winde, and caried away. |
| 1:7 | Neither let that man thinke that hee shall receiue any thing of the Lord. |
| 1:8 | A double minded man is vnstable in all his waies. |
| 1:9 | Let the brother of lowe degree reioyce in that he is exalted: |
| 1:10 | Againe hee that is rich, in that hee is made lowe: for as the flower of the grasse, shall he vanish away. |
| 1:11 | For as when the sunne riseth with heate, then the grasse withereth, and his flower falleth away, and the goodly shape of it perisheth: euen so shall the rich man wither away in all his waies. |
| 1:12 | Blessed is ye man, that endureth tentation: for when he is tried, hee shall receiue the crowne of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that loue him. |
| 1:13 | Let no man say when hee is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God can not bee tempted with euill, neither tempteth he any man. |
| 1:14 | But euery man is tempted, when hee is drawen away by his owne concupiscence, and is entised. |
| 1:15 | Then when lust hath conceiued, it bringeth foorth sinne, and sinne when it is finished, bringeth foorth death. |
| 1:16 | Erre not, my deare brethren. |
| 1:17 | Euery good giuing, and euery perfect gift is from aboue, and commeth downe from the Father of lights, with whome is no variablenes, neither shadow of turning. |
| 1:18 | Of his owne will begate hee vs with the woorde of trueth, that we shoulde be as the first fruites of his creatures. |
| 1:19 | Wherefore my deare brethren, let euery man be swift to heare, slowe to speake, and slowe to wrath. |
| 1:20 | For the wrath of man doeth not accomplish the righteousnesse of God. |
| 1:21 | Wherefore lay apart all filthinesse, and superfluitie of maliciousnesse, and receiue with meekenes the word that is graffed in you, which is able to saue your soules. |
| 1:22 | And be ye doers of the word, and not hearers onely, deceiuing your owne selues. |
| 1:23 | For if any heare the woorde, and doe it not, he is like vnto a man, that beholdeth his naturall face in a glasse. |
| 1:24 | For when he hath considered himselfe, hee goeth his way, and forgetteth immediately what maner of one he was. |
| 1:25 | But who so looketh in the perfect Lawe of libertie, and continueth therein, hee not being a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the woorke, shalbe blessed in his deede. |
| 1:26 | If any man amog you seeme religious, and refraineth not his tongue, but deceiueth his owne heart, this mans religion is vaine. |
| 1:27 | Pure religion and vndefiled before God, euen the Father, is this, to visite the fatherlesse, and widdowes in their aduersitie, and to keepe himselfe vnspotted of the world. |
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.