Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 1:1 | THE ELDER to the elect Lady, and her children, whom I loue in the trueth: and not I onely, but also all that haue knowen the trueth, |
| 1:2 | For the trueths sake which dwelleth in vs, and shalbe with vs for euer: |
| 1:3 | Grace be with you, mercie and peace from God the Father, and from the Lord Iesus Christ the Sonne of the Father, with trueth and loue. |
| 1:4 | I reioyced greatly, that I founde of thy children walking in trueth, as we haue receiued a commandement of the Father. |
| 1:5 | And nowe beseeche I thee, Lady, (not as writing a newe commandement vnto thee, but that same which we had from the beginning) that we loue one another. |
| 1:6 | And this is that loue, that we should walke after his commandements. This commandement is, that as ye haue heard from the beginning, ye should walke in it. |
| 1:7 | For many deceiuers are entred into this worlde, which confesse not that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh. He that is such one, is a deceiuer and an Antichrist. |
| 1:8 | Looke to your selues, that we lose not the things which we haue done, but that we may receiue full reward. |
| 1:9 | Whosoeuer transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that continueth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Sonne. |
| 1:10 | If there come any vnto you, and bring not this doctrine, receiue him not to house, neither bid him, God speede: |
| 1:11 | For he that biddeth him, God speede, is partaker of his euill deedes. |
| 1:12 | Although I had many things to write vnto you, yet I woulde not write with paper and ynke: but I trust to come vnto you, and speake mouth to mouth, that our ioy may be full. |
| 1:13 | The sonnes of thine elect sister greete thee, Amen. |
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.