The Geneva Bible

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1380 Wyclif's Bible
1526 Tyndale Bible
1535 Coverdale Bible
1537 The Matthew Bible
1539 Taverner's Bible
1539 The Great Bible
1560 The Geneva Bible
1568 The Bishops' Bible
1610 Douay-Rheims Bible
1611 King James Version
1833 Websters Bible
1881 Revised Version
1898 Young's Literal Translation
1952 Revised Standard Version
1971 King James II Version of the Bible
1971 New American Standard Bible
1973 New International Version
1982 New King James Version
1991 21st Century King James Version
1999 Modern King James Version
1999 American King James Version
2000 Updated King James Version
2001 English Standard Version
2001 Holy Scriptures Version
2005 New Cambridge Paragraph Bible
2005 Today's New International Version
2006 Authorized Version Update
2006 AV7 (New Authorized Version)
2014 Modern English Version
2016 King James Version 2016 Edition
2023 King James Version 2023 Edition buy the revised and updated printed 2023 Edition New Testament here

The Geneva Bible is one of the earliest translations of the Bible into the English language, predating the King James translation by 51 years. It was the primary Bible of the 16th century protestant movement and was the Bible used by William Shakespeare, John Knox, John Donne, and John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's Progress. It was one of the Bibles taken to America on the Mayflower, was used by many English Dissenters, and by Oliver Cromwell's soldiers at the time of the English Civil War.

Because the language of the Geneva Bible was more forceful and vigorous, most readers preferred this version strongly over the Bishops' Bible, the translation authorised by the Church of England under Elizabeth I. In the words of Cleland Boyd McAfee, "it drove the Great Bible off the field by sheer power of excellence".

History

During the reign of Queen Mary I of England (1553 – 1558), a number of Protestant scholars fled from England to Geneva in Switzerland, which was then ruled as a republic in which John Calvin and Theodore Beza provided the primary spiritual and theological leadership. Among these scholars was William Whittingham, who would come to supervise what would become the effort to create the translation now known as the Geneva Bible, in collaboration with Myles Coverdale, Christopher Goodman, Anthony Gilby, Thomas Sampson, and Willian Cole – several of whom became prominent figures in the proto-Puritan Nonconformist faction of the Vestments controversy. Whittingham was directly responsible for the New Testament, which was complete and published in 1557,^[2] while Gilby oversaw the Old Testament.

The first full edition of this Bible, with a further revised New Testament, appeared in 1560,^[2] but it was not printed in England until 1575 (New Testament^[2]) and 1576 (complete Bible^[2]). Over 150 editions were issued; the last probably in 1644.^[2] The very first Bible printed in Scotland was a Geneva Bible, which was first issued in 1579.^[2] In fact, the involvement of Knox and Calvin in the creation of the Geneva Bible made it especially appealing in Scotland, where a law was passed in 1579 requiring every household of sufficient means to buy a copy.^[3]

Some editions from 1576 onwards^[2] included Tomson's revisions of the New Testament. Some editions from 1599 onwards^[2] used a new "Junius" version of the Book of Revelation, in which the notes were translated from a new Latin commentary by Junius on Revelation.

Like most English translations of the time, the Geneva Bible was translated from scholarly editions of the Greek New Testament and the Hebrew Scriptures that comprise the Christian Old Testament. The English rendering was substantially based on the earlier translations by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale (80-90% of the language in the Genevan New Testament is from Tyndale). However, the Geneva Bible was the first English version in which all of the Old Testament was translated directly from the Hebrew (cf. Coverdale Bible, Matthew's Bible).

The annotations which are an important part of the Geneva Bible were Calvinist and Puritan in character, and as such they were disliked by the ruling pro – government Protestants of the Church of England, as well as King James I, who commissioned the "Authorized Version," or King James Bible, in order to replace it. The Geneva Bible had also motivated the earlier production of the Bishops' Bible under Elizabeth I, for the same reason, and the later Rheims-Douai edition by the Catholic community. The Geneva Bible remained popular among Puritans and remained in widespread use until after the English Civil War. The Geneva notes were surprisingly included in a few editions of the King James version, even as late as 1715.^[2]

It has been stated by some that the Geneva Bible was the Bible present at the signing of the U. S. Declaration of Independence and the U. S. Constitution, because it was the Bible that the Puritans brought with them to America. However, the U. S. Library of Congress and the Independence National Historical Park both state that they do not know what version/translation of the Bible was present at these signings (Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania being the location of both of the signings).

Geneva Bible Translators

William Whittingham
Anthony Gilby (who oversaw the translation of the OT)
Thomas Sampson
Christopher Goodman
William Cole
John Knox
Laurence Tomson
Miles Coverdale

KJV Authors on the Geneva Bible

Mickey Carter

Mickey Carter noted that the Geneva “differs from the King James Version only in differing English renderings of the same Greek texts” (Things That Are Different, p. 48). Carter acknowledged that "the Geneva Bible was hated by the Catholic Church" (Ibid.). In addition, Carter asserted that the Geneva Bible “is from the same manuscripts as the King James” (Revival Fires, Sept., 1996, p. 17).

Murray

Murray, another KJV-only advocate, claimed: "There is not one difference suggested in the Geneva and the KJ Bible" (Authorized KJB Defended, p. 160).

Gail Riplinger

Gail Riplinger maintained that the earlier English Bibles such as Tyndale's and the Geneva are "practically identical to the KJV" (Language of the KJB, p. 5). Riplinger stated that the Geneva “follows the traditional text that underlies the King James Version” (Which Bible, p. 51).

David Cloud

KJV-only author David Cloud suggested that the earlier English versions such as the Geneva Bible “differed only slightly from the King James Bible” (Bible Version Question/Answer, p. 92). Cloud also stated: "The Geneva quickly became the most popular English Bible and wielded a powerful influence for almost 100 years" (Rome and the Bible, p. 108).

David Loughran

David Loughran, a KJV-only author, wrote: “The Geneva Bible is a true ‘version’ having been translated from the original Hebrew and Greek throughout” (Bible Versions, p. 11).

H. D. Williams

H. D. Williams listed the Geneva Bible as a “literal, verbal plenary translation” (Word-for-Word, p. 121).

Robert Sargent

Robert Sargent referred to it as “a very good translation” (English Bible, p. 197).

Peter Ruckman

Peter Ruckman included the Geneva Bible on his good tree that is described at the bottom of the page as “the one, true, infallible, God-breathed Bible” (Bible Babel, p. 82). Ruckman wrote: "We will not condemn them [Tyndale and Wycliffe, or the Geneva Bible]. They have substantially the same Greek and Hebrew text as the King James Bible" (Bible Babel, p. 2). Ruckman also stated: "I recommend Tyndale's version, the Great Bible, the Geneva Bible, Valera's Spanish version, Martin Luther's German version, and a number of others" (Scholarship Only Controversy, p. 1).

Laurence Vance

Robert Sargent and Laurence Vance both confirmed that the Geneva Bible "became the Bible of the people" (English Bible, p. 197; Brief History, p. 19).

Phil Stringer

Phil Stringer referred to the Geneva as “the people’s Book“ and as “the Bible of the common man” (History, p. 13).

William Bradley

William Bradley wrote: "The Geneva Bible was the Bible of the people, the Bible of the persecuted Christians and martyrs of the faith, the Bible of choice among English-speaking people for over one hundred years" (Purified Seven Times, p. 87).

Bradley also commented: “The Geneva Bible was the most widespread English Bible for a period of about one hundred years, from the 1560’s to the 1660’s” (To All Generations, p. 64).

Also: “The translators changed virtually nothing from William Tyndale’s New Testament in the New Testament of the Geneva Bible” (Purified Seven Times, p. 87).

External Links

Articles

KJV Supportive

Other

The Geneva Bible of 1560: article by Bruce Metzger originally printed in Theology Today
Online version of Sir Frederic G. Kenyon’s article in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, 1909

Facsimiles

A Digital Facsimile of the 1560 Geneva Bible at The DCL.

Text

Editions Currently in Print

1560 First Edition: Facsimile Reproduction
1560 First Edition Reduced size Facsimile Reproduction by Hendrickson
1599 Edition: 2 volume Facsimile Reprint of the 1599 edition
1599 Edition: Modern Spelling and Typesetting from The 1599 Geneva Bible Restoration Project (no illustrations)

Wikipedia

Wikipedia Article on The Geneva Bible

The King James Version 2023 Edition New Testament is now complete and in print format here.

Internal Links

Old Testament - New Testament KJV 1900

New Testament KJV 2016

Scrivener's 1894 Textus Receptus

2016 Urdu New Testament (TR Based)

Russian Synodal Version (TR Based)

Reina Valera Gómez Spanish (TR Based)

Marginal Notes in the 1611 Authorized Version

Ephesians 3:9

Why We Should Not Passover Easter 1, 2, & 3

Will Kinney

List of TR/KJV based foreign bibles

List of New Testament minuscules

List of New Testament lectionaries

List of New Testament Papyri

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