Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 23:1 | Bvt Iob answered and sayd, |
| 23:2 | Though my talke be this day in bitternes, and my plague greater then my groning, |
| 23:3 | Would God yet I knew how to finde him, I would enter vnto his place. |
| 23:4 | I would pleade the cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. |
| 23:5 | I would knowe the wordes, that he would answere me, and would vnderstand what he would say vnto me. |
| 23:6 | Would he plead against me with his great power? No, but he would put strength in me. |
| 23:7 | There the righteous might reason with him, so I shoulde be deliuered for euer from my Iudge. |
| 23:8 | Behold, if I go to the East, he is not there: if to the West, yet I can not perceiue him: |
| 23:9 | If to the North where he worketh, yet I cannot see him: he wil hide himselfe in the South, and I cannot beholde him. |
| 23:10 | But he knoweth my way, and trieth mee, and I shall come forth like the gold. |
| 23:11 | My foote hath followed his steps: his way haue I kept, and haue not declined. |
| 23:12 | Neyther haue I departed from the commandement of his lippes, and I haue esteemed the words of his mouth more then mine appointed foode. |
| 23:13 | Yet he is in one minde, and who can turne him? yea, he doeth what his minde desireth. |
| 23:14 | For he will performe that, which is decreed of me, and many such things are with him. |
| 23:15 | Therefore I am troubled at his presence, and in considering it, I am afraid of him. |
| 23:16 | For God hath softened mine heart, and the Almightie hath troubled me. |
| 23:17 | For I am not cut off in darknesse, but he hath hid the darkenesse from my face. |
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.