Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 1:1 | That which was from the beginning, which wee haue heard, which wee haue seene with these our eyes, which wee haue looked vpon, and these handes of ours haue handled of that Word of life, |
| 1:2 | (For that life was made manifest, and wee haue seene it, and beare witnes, and shewe vnto you that eternall life, which was with the Father, and was made manifest vnto vs) |
| 1:3 | That, I say, which wee haue seene and heard, declare wee vnto you, that yee may also haue fellowship with vs, and that our fellowship also may be with the Father, and with his Sonne Iesvs Christ. |
| 1:4 | And these thinges write we vnto you, that that your ioy may be full. |
| 1:5 | This then is the message which wee haue heard of him, and declare vnto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkenes. |
| 1:6 | If wee say that wee haue fellowship with him, and walke in darkenesse, we lie, and doe not truely: |
| 1:7 | But if we walke in the light as he is in the light, we haue fellowship one with another, and the blood of Iesus Christ his Sonne clenseth vs from all sinne. |
| 1:8 | If we say that we haue no sinne, we deceiue our selues, and trueth is not in vs. |
| 1:9 | If we acknowledge our sinnes, he is faithfull and iust, to forgiue vs our sinnes, and to clense vs from all vnrighteousnes. |
| 1:10 | If wee say we haue not sinned, wee make him a liar, and his word is not in vs. |
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.