The Geneva Bible 1599

Pga alvorlige forfølgelser mot protestanter under den nye dronningen Maria Tudor ("Bloody Mary") sitt styre i England fra 1553, valgte mange protestanter å flykte ut av landet. I Sveits fant mange sammen, og i byen Geneve var protestantismen allerede godt etablert, og var et utmerket miljø for å kunne produsere en ny bibeloversettelse på engelsk. Denne nye oversettelsen er den første bibelen som også inkluderte nummererte vers i kapitlene.

Puritanerne fra England og andre protestanter og reformatorer samarbeidet om å produsere denne nye bibel-utgave, som først ble trykket i Geneve i 1560. Denne hadde også apokryfiske skrifter inkludert, noe som var vanlig på denne tiden, selv om det var klart blant protestantiske teologer at disse IKKE hadde samme inspirasjon og autoritet som de kanoniske bøkene.

Blant disse teologene som produserte den nye bibelen, var William Whittingham, som hadde hovedtilsynet med oversettelses-arbeidet, i samarbeid med Myles Coverdale, Christopher Goodman, Anthony Gilby, Thomas Sampson og William Cole. Whittingham var direkte ansvarlig for det Nye Testamentet, som var fullført og ble publisert i 1557, mens Gilby hadde ansvaret for det Gamle Testamentet.

Det spesielle med Geneve-bibelen er at den ble laget uavhengig av kongehus og religiøse bastioner såsom den anglikanske kirke. Det var en bibel med romansk type bokstaver som var lette å lese, i motsetning til den tradisjonelle bruke av gotiske typer.

Den var tilgjengelig i flere format, slik at både rike og fattige skulle kunne ha råd til å skaffe seg en sånn bibel.

(By Classicalsteve - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42801827)

I tillegg er den full av kart, illustrasjoner, kryss-referanser, samt historiske, reformatiske og puritanske kommentarer for å hjelpe vanlige folk uten teologisk utdannelse til å forstå bakgrunn, historikk og tolkninger. 

Disse kommentarene ble utarbeidet av John Calvin, John Knox, Miles Coverdale, William Whittingham, Anthony Gilby og andre, og var ofte hentet fra andre verk og kilder. Kommentarene ble fortløpende oppdatert og forandret gjennom årenes løp, og de gikk fra å være av mer grunnleggende protestanstisk teologisk natur, til å bli også mer radikale og i opposisjon til den politisk elite i England.

Både konger og den Katolske Kirken med sin vranglære får her gjennomgå. Selve presteskapets funksjon og nødvendighet for de kristne stilles det også tvil om i kommentarene. Så dette var så revolusjonerende at noe måtte gjøres, ihvertfall i England.

I 1599 kom en utgave der apokryfene var fjernet, og kommentarene var endelige.

Denne bibelutgaven var basert på de tradisjonelt anerkjente grunntekstene, og anses å være en meget troverdig oversettelse. Det var den første engelske oversettelsen der GT var helt og fullt basert på den hebraiske grunnteksten. Textus Receptus var den greske teksten som ble lagt til grunn for NT.

Mye av William Tyndale sin bibeloversettelse ble benyttet i Geneva utgaven.

Grunnen til at den ble forbudt av kong Jakob (King James 1) var nettopp kommentarene. Han beordret derfor at en NY bibelutgave skulle produseres, og i 1611 kom denne som den autoriserte utgaven, som var den eneste bibelen man fikk lov til å bruke i kirker. Selv om King James Version er den ledende engelske bibelen i vår tid, så var den ikke spesielt godt likt av lekfolk på 16- og 1700 tallet.

KJV og Geneve bibelen er til 90% identiske, så det var ikke så mye selve oversettelsen fra Geneve som ble mislikt av kongen, katolikker og anglikanske teologer, men de kritiske kommentarene.

Nettopp i introduksjonen, i starten av KJV hylles kong Jakob, og ingen kritikk av ham og tilsvarende potentater ble akseptert.

Utrolig nok inkluderte noen utgaver av KJV kommentarene fra Geneva-bibelen på et senere tidspunkt.

Skottland likte Geneva-bibelen, og spesielt det faktum at John Calvin og John Know var involvert i arbeidet.

Det ble i Skottland, ved lov, i 1579 påbudt for alle familier som hadde råd til det, å kjøpe en Geneva bibel.

Ettersom det politiske presset i England mot de som elsket Geneva-bibelen ble større og større, ble de gitt et ultimatum om enten å underordne seg engelske styresmakters politikk og teologi, eller å forlate kongeriket. Fra 1611, da KJV kom ut, ble det forbudt å trykke Geneva-bibelen i England. Men opprørske trykkere fortsatte å trykke den, og satte årstallet 1599 på dem for å villede myndighetene, selv  om biblene var trykket etter forbudet ble innført.

Puritanere og andre protestanter flyktet til Holland og til Nord-Amerika, og den eneste bibelutgaven de såkalte pilgrimene tok med seg til den nye verden, var Geneve bibelen trykket i Cambridge i 1591.

Her er et utdrag fra den opprinnelige Geneve bibelen, med sitt originale, dog for oss gammeldagse språk:

Matteus kapittel 2:

2:1	When Jesus then was borne at Bethleem in Iudea, in the dayes of Herod the King, beholde, there came Wisemen from the East to Hierusalem,
2:2	Saying, Where is that King of the Iewes that is borne? for wee haue seene his starre in the East, and are come to worship him.
2:3	When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and all Hierusalem with him.
2:4	And gathering together all the chiefe Priestes and Scribes of the people, hee asked of them, where Christ should be borne.
2:5	And they saide vnto him, At Beth-leem in Iudea: for so it is written by the Prophet,
2:6	And thou Beth-leem in the lande of Iuda, art not the least among the Princes of Iuda: For out of thee shall come the gouernour that shall feede that my people Israel.
2:7	Then Herod priuily called the Wisemen, and diligently inquired of them the time of the starre that appeared,
2:8	And sent them to Beth-leem, saying, Goe, and searche diligently for the babe: and when ye haue founde him, bring mee worde againe, that I may come also, and worship him.
2:9	So when they had heard the King, they departed: and loe, the starre which they had seene in the East, went before them, till it came and stoode ouer the place where the babe was.
2:10	And when they sawe the starre, they reioyced with an exceeding great ioy,
2:11	And went into the house, and founde the babe with Mary his mother, and fell downe, and worshipped him, and opened their treasures, and presented vnto him giftes, euen golde, and frankincense, and myrrhe.
2:12	And after they were warned of God in a dreame, that they should not go againe to Herod, they returned into their countrey another way.
2:13	After their departure, behold, the Angel of the Lord appeareth to Ioseph in a dreame, saying, Arise, and take the babe and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be there til I bring thee word: for Herod will seeke the babe, to destroy him.
2:14	So he arose and tooke the babe and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt,
2:15	And was there vnto the death of Herod, that that might be fulfilled, which is spoken of the Lord by the Prophet, saying, Out of Egypt haue I called my sonne.
2:16	Then Herod, seeing that he was mocked of the Wisemen, was exceeding wroth, and sent foorth, and slew all the male children that were in Beth-leem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two yeere old and vnder, according to the time which he had diligently searched out of the Wisemen.
2:17	Then was that fulfilled which is spoken by the Prophet Ieremias, saying,
2:18	In Rhama was a voyce heard, mourning, and weeping, and great howling: Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they were not.
2:19	And whe Herod was dead, behold, an Angel of the Lord appeareth in a dreame to Ioseph in Egypt,
2:20	Saying, Arise, and take the babe and his mother, and goe into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the babes life.
2:21	Then he arose vp and tooke the babe and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
2:22	But whe he heard that Archelaus did reigne in Iudea in stead of his father Herod, he was afraide to go thither: yet after he was warned of God in a dreame, he turned aside into the parts of Galile,
2:23	And went and dwelt in a citie called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophets, which was, That hee should be called a Nazarite. http://textusreceptusbibles.com/Geneva/40/2

Om du søker på internett, så finnes det flere som tilbyr teksten gratis, såsom linken over. 

Her er en link der teksten er modernisert, men som har beholdt kommentarene, og ergo er veldig attraktiv å bruke i din daglige bibellesning:

GenevaBible.pdf

  “In 1553, Mary Tudor ascended the throne of England and set about to stamp out the Reformation, ordering the burning of all copies of the Bible in the English tongue and causing more than three hundred reformers to be burned at the stake. Bloody Mary's vicious crusade drove scores of English reformers to Geneva, including some of the finest biblical scholars in history. Together, these men produced a new Bible based on the original languages not beholden to any king or prelate. The Geneva Bible featured extensive marginal commentary and annotations and was published in a variety of sizes that made the Bible affordable for many people.

“The Geneva Bible was a monumental achievement in the history of Protestant Bible translation. Born in a time of religious and political upheaval it helped foster Scripture literacy among the common people of England.

“English settlers that voyaged to the New World favored The Geneva Bible. It is probable that The Geneva Bible came to America in 1607 and was used in the Jamestown colony. Thirteen years later the Pilgrims brought it with them on the Mayflower's perilous voyage to religious freedom.

“The Geneva Bible is unique among all other Bibles. It was the first to use chapters and numbered verses. The extensive marginal notes, written by Reformation leaders such as John Calvin, John Knox, Miles Coverdale, William Whittingham, Anthony Gilby, and others, were included to explain and interpret the scriptures for the common people. Owing to the marginal notes and the superior quality of the translation, The Geneva Bible became the most widely read and influential English Bible of the 16th and 17th centuries. It was continually printed from 1560 to 1644 in over 200 different editions. The marginal notes enraged the Catholic Church, since the notes deemed the act of confession to men as unjustified by Scripture. The notes also infuriated King James since they allowed disobedience to tyrannical kings. King James went so far as to make ownership of the Geneva Bible a felony.

https://www.hendrickson.com/html/product/562132.trade.html

The History of the Geneva Bible

The Geneva Bible was the "Bible of the Protestant Reformation", and the Bible of the Puritans and Pilgrims. It was the first Bible taken to America, brought over on the Mayflower. The Geneva Bible is the Bible upon which America was founded. You can imagine, most early American colonists, who were fleeing the religious oppression of the Anglican Church (Church of England), wanted nothing to do with the King James Bible of the Anglican Church!

John Calvin

Textually, the Geneva Bible offered a number of radical never-before-seen changes: It was the first Bible in English to add numbered verses to each chapter of scripture. Also, the Geneva was the first Bible to introduce easier-to-read “Roman Style Typeface” rather than the “Gothic Blackletter Style Typeface” which had been used exclusively in earlier Bibles. Another curious innovation; the Geneva was the first “Study Bible ” with extensive commentary notes in the margins.

Queen Mary

The Geneva Bible is the version quoted from hundreds of times by William Shakespeare in his plays. Also called the “Breeches Bible”, the Geneva Bible is the only Bible ever able to outsell and exceed the popularity of the King James Bible, as it did in the early 1600’s until its printing ceased in 1644. In fact, one of the greatest ironies of history, is that Protestants of all denominations today embrace the King James Version of the Bible (which reads 90% the same as the Geneva), even though the King James Version is not a Protestant Bible (it’s Anglican / Church of England). Most Protestants have never even heard of the Bible of their own heritage: the Geneva Bible. It was produced by John Calvin, John Knox, Myles Coverdale, John Foxe, & other English refugees in ever-neutral Geneva, Switzerland… fleeing the persecution of Roman Catholic Queen “Bloody” Mary in England. Mary would not tolerate the Protestant Geneva Bible, which proclaimed the Pope an “antichrist” in its commentarynotes.

http://www.geneva-bible.com/geneva-bible-history.html