Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 2:1 | Bvt there were false prophets also among the people, euen as there shalbe false teachers among you: which priuily shall bring in damnable heresies, euen denying the Lord, that hath bought them, and bring vpon themselues swift damnation. |
| 2:2 | And many shall follow their destructions, by whom the way of trueth shalbe euil spoken of, |
| 2:3 | And through couetousnes shall they with fained words make marchandise of you, whose condemnation long since resteth not, and their destruction slumbreth not. |
| 2:4 | For if God spared not the Angels that had sinned, but cast them downe into hell, and deliuered them into chaines of darkenes, to be kept vnto damnation: |
| 2:5 | Neither hath spared the olde worlde, but saued Noe the eight person a preacher of righteousnesse, and brought in the flood vpon the world of the vngodly, |
| 2:6 | And turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrhe into ashes, condemned them and ouerthrewe them, and made them an ensample vnto them that after should liue vngodly, |
| 2:7 | And deliuered iust Loth vexed with the vncleanly conuersation of the wicked: |
| 2:8 | (For he being righteous, and dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soule from day to day with their vnlawfull deedes.) |
| 2:9 | The Lord knoweth to deliuer the godly out of tentation, and to reserue the vniust vnto the day of iudgement vnder punishment. |
| 2:10 | And chiefly them that walke after the flesh, in the lust of vncleannesse, and despise gouernement, which are bolde, and stand in their owne conceite, and feare not to speake euill of them that are in dignitie. |
| 2:11 | Where as the Angels which are greater both in power and might, giue not railing iudgement against them before the Lord. |
| 2:12 | But these, as naturall brute beasts, led with sensualitie and made to be taken, and destroyed, speake euill of those things which they know not, and shall perish through their owne corruption, |
| 2:13 | And shall receiue the wages of vnrighteousnes, as they which count it pleasure dayly to liue deliciously. Spottes they are and blottes, deliting them selues in their deceiuings, in feasting with you, |
| 2:14 | Hauing eyes full of adulterie, and that can not cease to sinne, beguiling vnstable soules: they haue heartes exercised with couetousnesse, they are the children of curse: |
| 2:15 | Which forsaking the right way, haue gone astray, folowing the way of Balaam, the sonne of Bosor, which loued the wages of vnrighteousnes. |
| 2:16 | But he was rebuked for his iniquitie: for the dumme beast speaking with mans voyce, forbade the foolishnesse of the Prophet. |
| 2:17 | These are welles without water, and cloudes caried about with a tempest, to whome the blacke darkenes is reserued for euer. |
| 2:18 | For in speaking swelling wordes of vanitie, they beguile with wantonnesse through the lusts of the flesh them that were cleane escaped from them which are wrapped in errour, |
| 2:19 | Promising vnto them libertie, and are themselues the seruants of corruption: for of whomsoeuer a man is ouercome, euen vnto the same is he in bondage. |
| 2:20 | For if they, after they haue escaped from the filthinesse of the world, through the acknowledging of the Lord, and of the Sauiour Iesus Christ, are yet tangled againe therein, and ouercome, the latter ende is worse with them then the beginning. |
| 2:21 | For it had bene better for them, not to haue acknowledged the way of righteousnes, then after they haue acknowledged it, to turne from the holy commandement giuen vnto them. |
| 2:22 | But it is come vnto them, according to the true Prouerbe, The dogge is returned to his owne vomit: and, The sowe that was washed, to the wallowing in the myre. |
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.