Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 15:1 | But within a while after, in the time of wheate haruest, Samson visited his wife with a kid, saying, I wil go in to my wife into the chamber: but her father would not suffer him to goe in. |
| 15:2 | And her father sayde, I thought that thou hadst hated her: therefore gaue I her to thy companion. Is not her yonger sister fayrer then shee? take her, I pray thee, in stead of the other. |
| 15:3 | Then Samson saide vnto them, Nowe am I more blamelesse then the Philistims: therefore will I doe them displeasure. |
| 15:4 | And Samson went out, and tooke three hundreth foxes, and tooke firebrands, and turned them taile to taile, and put a firebrand in ye middes betweene two tailes. |
| 15:5 | And when he had set the brandes on fire, he sent them out into the standing corne of the Philistims, and burnt vp both the rickes and the standing corne with the vineyardes and oliues. |
| 15:6 | Then the Philistims sayde, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson the sonne in law of the Timnite, because hee had taken his wife, and giuen her to his companion. Then the Philistims came vp and burnt her and her father with fire. |
| 15:7 | And Samson saide vnto them, Though yee haue done this, yet wil I be auenged of you, and then I wil cease. |
| 15:8 | So hee smote them hippe and thigh with a mightie plague: then hee went and dwelt in the top of the rocke Etam. |
| 15:9 | Then the Philistims came vp, and pitched in Iudah, and were spred abroad in Lehi. |
| 15:10 | And the men of Iudah sayde, Why are yee come vp vnto vs? And they answered, To binde Samson are we come vp, and to do to him as hee hath done to vs. |
| 15:11 | Then three thousande men of Iudah went to the top of the rocke Etam, and sayde to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistims are rulers ouer vs? Wherefore then hast thou done thus vnto vs? And he answered them, As they did vnto me, so haue I done vnto them. |
| 15:12 | Againe they sayd vnto him, Wee are come to binde thee, and to deliuer thee into the hande of the Philistims. And Samson sayde vnto them, Sweare vnto me, that yee will not fall vpon me your selues. |
| 15:13 | And they answered him, saying, No, but we will bynde thee and deliuer thee vnto their hande, but we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two newe cordes, and brought him from the rocke. |
| 15:14 | When hee came to Lehi, the Philistims shouted against him, and the Spirite of the Lord came vpon him, and the cordes that were vpon his armes, became as flaxe that was burnt with fire: for the bandes loosed from his handes. |
| 15:15 | And he found a new iawebone of an asse, and put forth his hand, and caught it, and slewe a thousand men therewith. |
| 15:16 | Then Samson sayd, With the iaw of an asse are heapes vpon heapes: with the iawe of an asse haue I slaine a thousand men. |
| 15:17 | And when he had left speaking, hee cast away the iawebone out of his hande, and called that place, Ramath-Lehi. |
| 15:18 | And he was sore a thirst, and called on the Lord, and sayde, Thou hast giuen this great deliuerance into the hand of thy seruaunt: and nowe shall I dye for thirst, and fall into the handes of the vncircumcised? |
| 15:19 | Then God brake the cheeke tooth, that was in the iawe, and water came thereout: and when he had drunke, his Spirit came againe, and he was reuiued: wherefore the name therof is called, Enhakkore, which is in Lehi vnto this day. |
| 15:20 | And hee iudged Israel in the dayes of the Philistims twentie yeeres. |
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.