Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 1:1 | Pavl an Apostle of Jesvs Christ by the will of God, to the Saints, which are at Ephesus, and to ye faithfull in Christ Iesus: |
| 1:2 | Grace be with you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Iesus Christ. |
| 1:3 | Blessed be God, and the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ, which hath blessed vs with all spirituall blessing in heauenly thinges in Christ, |
| 1:4 | As hee hath chosen vs in him, before the foundation of the worlde, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in loue: |
| 1:5 | Who hath predestinate vs, to be adopted through Iesus Christ in him selfe, according to the good pleasure of his will, |
| 1:6 | To the prayse of the glory of his grace, wherewith he hath made vs freely accepted in his beloued, |
| 1:7 | By whom we haue redemption through his blood, euen the forgiuenes of sinnes, according to his rich grace: |
| 1:8 | Whereby he hath bene aboundant toward vs in all wisedome and vnderstanding, |
| 1:9 | And hath opened vnto vs the mysterie of his will according to his good pleasure, which he had purposed in him, |
| 1:10 | That in the dispensation of the fulnesse of the times, he might gather together in one all things, both which are in heauen, and which are in earth, euen in Christ: |
| 1:11 | In whom also we are chosen when we were predestinate according to ye purpose of him, which worketh all things after the counsell of his owne will, |
| 1:12 | That we, which first trusted in Christ, should be vnto the praise of his glorie: |
| 1:13 | In whom also ye haue trusted, after that ye heard the worde of trueth, euen the Gospel of your saluation, wherein also after that ye beleeued, ye were sealed with the holy Spirite of promise, |
| 1:14 | Which is the earnest of our inheritance, for the redemption of that libertie purchased vnto the prayse of his glory. |
| 1:15 | Therefore also after that I heard of the faith, which ye haue in the Lord Iesus, and loue toward all the Saints, |
| 1:16 | I cease not to giue thankes for you, making mention of you in my prayers, |
| 1:17 | That the God of our Lord Iesus Christ, that Father of glory, might giue vnto you the Spirit of wisedome, and reuelation through the acknowledging of him, |
| 1:18 | That the eyes of your vnderstanding may be lightened, that ye may knowe what the hope is of his calling, and what the riches of his glorious inheritance is in the Saints, |
| 1:19 | And what is the exceeding greatnesse of his power toward vs, which beleeue, according to the working of his mightie power, |
| 1:20 | Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his right hand in the heauenly places, |
| 1:21 | Farre aboue al principalitie, and power, and might, and domination, and euery Name, that is named, not in this world only, but also in that that is to come, |
| 1:22 | And hath made all things subiect vnder his feete, and hath giuen him ouer all things to be the head to the Church, |
| 1:23 | Which is his body, euen the fulnesse of him that filleth all in all things. |
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.