Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 21:1 | Then came Dauid to Nob, to Ahimelech the Priest, and Ahimelech was astonied at the meeting of Dauid, and saide vnto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee? |
| 21:2 | And Dauid saide to Ahimelech the Priest, The King hath commanded mee a certaine thing, and hath sayd vnto me, Let no man know whereabout I sende thee, and what I haue commanded thee: and I haue appointed my seruants to such and such places. |
| 21:3 | Nowe therefore if thou hast ought vnder thine hande, giue me fiue cakes of bread, or what commeth to hand. |
| 21:4 | And the Priest answered Dauid, and saide, There is no common bread vnder mine hande, but here is halowed bread, if the yong men haue kept themselues, at least from women. |
| 21:5 | Dauid then answered the Priest, and sayde vnto him, Certainely women haue bene separarate from vs these two or three dayes since I came out: and the vessels of the yong men were holy, though the way were prophane, and how much more then shall euery one be sanctified this day in the vessell? |
| 21:6 | So the Priest gaue him halowed bread: for there was no bread there, saue the shewe bread that was taken from before the Lord, to put hote bread there, the day that it was taken away. |
| 21:7 | (And there was the same day one of the seruants of Saul abiding before the Lord, named Doeg the Edomite, the chiefest of Sauls heardmen) |
| 21:8 | And Dauid said vnto Ahimelech, Is there not here vnder thine hand a speare or a sworde? for I haue neither brought my sworde nor mine harnesse with me, because the Kings businesse required haste. |
| 21:9 | And the Priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistim, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is wrapt in a cloth behinde the Ephod: if thou wilt take that to thee, take it: for there is none other saue that here: And Dauid sayd, There is none to that, giue it me. |
| 21:10 | And Dauid arose and fled the same day from the presence of Saul, and went to Achish the King of Gath. |
| 21:11 | And the seruants of Achish said vnto him, Is not this Dauid the King of the land? did they not sing vnto him in daunces, saying, Saul hath slayne his thousand, and Dauid his ten thousande? |
| 21:12 | And Dauid considered these wordes, and was sore afraide of Achish the King of Gath. |
| 21:13 | And hee changed his behauiour before them, and fayned him selfe mad in their handes, and scrabled on the doores of the gate, and let his spettel fall downe vpon his beard. |
| 21:14 | Then said Achish vnto his seruants, Lo, ye see the man is beside him selfe, wherefore haue ye brought him to me? |
| 21:15 | Haue I neede of mad men, that ye haue brought this fellowe to play the mad man in my presence? shall he come into mine house? |
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.