Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 12:1 | And there appeared a great wonder in heauen: A woman clothed with the sunne, and the moone was vnder her feete, and vpon her head a crowne of twelue starres. |
| 12:2 | And she was with childe, and cried traueiling in birth, and was pained readie to be deliuered. |
| 12:3 | And there appeared another wonder in heaue: for beholde, a great red dragon hauing seuen heads, and ten hornes, and seuen crownes vpon his heads: |
| 12:4 | And his taile drew the thirde part of the starres of heauen, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to be deliuered, to deuoure her childe, when shee had brought it foorth. |
| 12:5 | So shee brought foorth a man childe, which should rule all nations with a rod of yron: and that her childe was taken vp vnto God and to his throne. |
| 12:6 | And the woman fled into wildernes where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feede her there a thousande, two hundreth and three score dayes. |
| 12:7 | And there was a battell in heauen, Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels. |
| 12:8 | But they preuailed not, neither was their place found any more in heauen. |
| 12:9 | And the great dragon, that olde serpent, called the deuil and Satan, was cast out, which deceiueth all the world: he was euen cast into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. |
| 12:10 | Then I heard a loude voyce in heauen, saying, Now is saluation, and strength, and the kingdome of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast downe, which accused them before our God day and night. |
| 12:11 | But they ouercame him by that blood of that Lambe, and by that worde of their testimonie, and they loued not their liues vnto the death. |
| 12:12 | Therefore reioyce, ye heauens, and ye that dwell in them. Wo to the inhabitants of the earth, and of the sea: for the deuill is come downe vnto you, which hath great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time. |
| 12:13 | And when the dragon sawe that hee was cast vnto the earth, he persecuted the woman which had brought forth the man childe. |
| 12:14 | But to the woman were giuen two wings of a great eagle, that she might flie into the wildernes, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and halfe a time, from the presence of the serpent. |
| 12:15 | And the serpent cast out of his mouth water after the woman, like a flood, that he might cause her to be caried away of the flood. |
| 12:16 | But the earth holpe the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swalowed vp the flood, which the dragon had cast out of his mouth. |
| 12:17 | Then the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went and made warre with the remnant of her seede, which keepe the comaundements of God, and haue the testimonie of Iesus Christ. |
| 12:18 | And I stood on the sea sand. |
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.