Textus Receptus Bibles
Geneva Bible 1560/1599
| 26:1 | Bvt Iob answered, and sayde, |
| 26:2 | Whom helpest thou? him that hath no power? sauest thou the arme that hath no strength? |
| 26:3 | Whome counsellest thou? him that hath no wisedome? thou shewest right well as the thing is. |
| 26:4 | To whom doest thou declare these words? or whose spirit commeth out of thee? |
| 26:5 | The dead things are formed vnder the waters, and neere vnto them. |
| 26:6 | The graue is naked before him, and there is no couering for destruction. |
| 26:7 | He stretcheth out the North ouer the emptie place, and hangeth the earth vpon nothing. |
| 26:8 | He bindeth the waters in his cloudes, and the cloude is not broken vnder them. |
| 26:9 | He holdeth backe the face of his throne: and spreadeth his cloude vpon it. |
| 26:10 | He hath set bounds about the waters, vntil the day and night come to an ende. |
| 26:11 | The pillars of heauen tremble and quake at his reproofe. |
| 26:12 | The sea is calme by his power, and by his vnderstanding he smiteth the pride thereof. |
| 26:13 | His Spirite hath garnished the heauens, and his hand hath formed the crooked serpent. |
| 26:14 | Loe, these are part of his wayes: but how litle a portion heare we of him? and who can vnderstand his fearefull power? |
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.