Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 4:1 | After this I looked, and beholde, a doore was open in heauen, and the first voyce which I heard, was as it were of a trumpet talking with mee, saying, Come vp hither, and I will shewe thee things which must be done hereafter. |
| 4:2 | And immediatly I was rauished in the spirit, and behold, a throne was set in heauen, and one sate vpon the throne. |
| 4:3 | And he that sate, was to looke vpon, like vnto a iasper stone, and a sardine, and there was a rainbowe rounde about the throne, in sight like to an emeraude. |
| 4:4 | And round about the throne were foure and twentie seates, and vpon the seates I sawe foure and twentie Elders sitting, clothed in white raiment, and had on their heads crownes of golde. |
| 4:5 | And out of the throne proceeded lightnings, and thundrings, and voyces, and there were seuen lampes of fire burning before the throne, which are the seuen spirits of God. |
| 4:6 | And before the throne there was a sea of glasse like vnto chrystall: and in the middes of the throne, and round about the throne were foure beasts full of eyes before and behinde. |
| 4:7 | And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calfe, and the thirde beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying Eagle. |
| 4:8 | And the foure beasts had eche one of them sixe wings about him, and they were full of eyes within, and they ceased not day nor night, saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God almighty, Which Was, and Which Is, and Which Is to come. |
| 4:9 | And when those beasts gaue glorie, and honour, and thanks to him that sate on the throne, which liueth for euer and euer, |
| 4:10 | The foure and twentie Elders fell downe before him that sate on the throne and worshipped him that liueth for euermore, and cast their crownes before the throne, saying, |
| 4:11 | Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receiue glory and honour, and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy wils sake they are, and haue beene created. |
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.