Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 1:1 | Simon Peter a seruant and an Apostle of Iesus Christ, to you which haue obteined like precious faith with vs by the righteousnesse of our God and Sauiour Iesus Christ: |
| 1:2 | Grace and peace be multiplied to you, through the acknowledging of God, and of Iesus our Lord, |
| 1:3 | According as his diuine power hath giuen vnto vs all things that perteine vnto life and godlinesse, through the acknowledging of him that hath called vs vnto glory and vertue. |
| 1:4 | Whereby most great and precious promises are giuen vnto vs, that by them ye should be partakers of the diuine nature, in that ye flee the corruption, which is in the worlde through lust. |
| 1:5 | Therefore giue euen all diligence thereunto: ioyne moreouer vertue with your faith: and with vertue, knowledge: |
| 1:6 | And with knowledge, temperance: and with temperance, patience: and with patience, godlines: |
| 1:7 | And with godlines, brotherly kindnes: and with brotherly kindnes, loue. |
| 1:8 | For if these things be among you, and abound, they will make you that ye neither shalbe idle, nor vnfruitfull in the acknowledging of our Lord Iesus Christ: |
| 1:9 | For he that hath not these things, is blinde, and can not see farre off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his olde sinnes. |
| 1:10 | Wherefore, brethren, giue rather diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye doe these things, ye shall neuer fall. |
| 1:11 | For by this meanes an entring shalbe ministred vnto you aboundantly into the euerlasting kingdome of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ. |
| 1:12 | Wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you alwayes in remembrance of these things, though that ye haue knowledge, and be stablished in the present trueth. |
| 1:13 | For I thinke it meete as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stirre you vp by putting you in remembrance, |
| 1:14 | Seeing I knowe that the time is at hand that I must lay downe this my tabernacle, euen as our Lord Iesus Christ hath shewed me. |
| 1:15 | I will endeuour therefore alwayes, that ye also may be able to haue remembrance of these things after my departing. |
| 1:16 | For we followed not deceiuable fables when we opened vnto you the power, and comming of our Lord Iesus Christ, but with our eyes we saw his maiestie: |
| 1:17 | For he receiued of God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voyce to him from that excellent glory, This is my beloued Sonne, in whom I am well pleased. |
| 1:18 | And this voyce we heard when it came from heauen, being with him in the Holy mount. |
| 1:19 | We haue also a most sure worde of the Prophets, to the which ye doe well that yee take heede, as vnto a light that shineth in a darke place, vntill the day dawne, and the day starre arise in your hearts. |
| 1:20 | So that yee first knowe this, that no prophecie of the Scripture is of any priuate interpretation. |
| 1:21 | For the prophecie came not in olde time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moued by the holy Ghost. |
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.