Geneva Bible
A.D. 1560
The first English Bible with verse numbers
Queen Mary I (“Bloody Mary”) was an ardent Roman Catholic advocate who took brutal action against those who were sympathetic to the Protestant Reformation and those who produced or possessed Bibles in the English language. During her reign (1553-1558) almost 300 persons were burned at the stake solely for their contrary religious persuasions (including John Rogers, Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, etc.).
Hundreds of Christians escaped the Marian persecution by leaving England and going into exile on the European Continent. Many of them congregated in Geneva, finding a safe haven under the protection of John Calvin and Theodore Beza who were leaders in the Protestant community located there. Geneva was a center for biblical and theological scholarship. Robert Estienne’s Greek New Testament (1551) and at least 22 editions of French Bibles were published in Geneva in the 1550’s. The scholars in Geneva determined that a more accurate English Bible was needed.
William Whittingham, John Calvin’s brother-in-law, was in charge of the translation of the New Testament, printed in Geneva June 10, 1557 with a sixteen page preface letter from John Calvin regarding "Christ is the end of the Lawe.” Anthony Gilby headed a committee of scholars in preparation of the first English Old Testament translated entirely from the original Hebrew. With slight revisions of the New Testament, the entire Bible was printed by Rowland Hall in Geneva April 10, 1560, and henceforth known as “The Geneva Bible.”
This new continental English Bible was entitled, The Bible and Holy Scriptvres conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. Translated according to the Ebrue and Greke, and conferred With the best translations in diuers langages. With moste profitable annotations vpon all the hard places, and other things of great importance as may appeare in the Epistle to the Reader.
Due to a passage in Genesis 3:7, describing the clothing that Adam and Eve fashioned after their sin in the Garden of Eden as “breeches” (an antiquated form of “britches”), the Geneva Bible has long been referred to as the “Breeches Bible” (even though the Wycliffite translation had used the same word previously).
The Geneva Bible was quite innovative. It was the first English Bible to add verse numbers. (No readers had previously referenced a single verse such as John 3:16.) It was the first English Bible to be printed in Roman typeface instead of the Gothic blackletter typeface, employing italic text to indicate interpolated words not in the original languages. Chapters had introductory summaries, and there was an abundance of cross-references to parallel scriptures, indices, dictionaries, maps, woodcut illustrations, informative tables, etc. Perhaps the foremost innovation was the insertion of extensive (over 300,000 words) marginal annotations providing interpretive commentary on the text. Many comments were polemical and critical of the institutional church. They were also theologically biased towards a Calvinist perspective. These notes are the basis of identifying the Geneva Bible as the first English “study Bible.” They served to promote popular interest in the Geneva Bible for almost 100 years, but also served to precipitate its demise by the adverse reaction of the Anglican bishops requesting King James I to authorize a new translation (KJB) which superseded it.
The Geneva Bible became the Bible of choice for almost 100 years among English speaking Christians. Between 1560 and 1644 at least 144 editions of this Bible were published. This is the Bible that is quoted extensively in the works of Shakespeare, and by John Milton and John Bunyan. A copy of this Bible is reported to have been brought to America on the Mayflower in 1620. Many American colonists, who were fleeing the religious oppression of the Church of England, wanted nothing to do with the King James Bible of the Anglican Church and clung to their attachment to the Geneva Bible. The Geneva Bible has been called “The Bible of the Protestant Reformation,” “The Calvinist Bible,” “The Puritan Bible,” and “The Pilgrims’ Bible.”
As Scottish reformer, John Knox, participated in the translation, the Geneva Bible was the first Bible printed in Scotland, and long remained popular in that country. In fact, a law was passed in 1579 requiring every household of sufficient means to purchase a copy.
Hundreds of Christians escaped the Marian persecution by leaving England and going into exile on the European Continent. Many of them congregated in Geneva, finding a safe haven under the protection of John Calvin and Theodore Beza who were leaders in the Protestant community located there. Geneva was a center for biblical and theological scholarship. Robert Estienne’s Greek New Testament (1551) and at least 22 editions of French Bibles were published in Geneva in the 1550’s. The scholars in Geneva determined that a more accurate English Bible was needed.
William Whittingham, John Calvin’s brother-in-law, was in charge of the translation of the New Testament, printed in Geneva June 10, 1557 with a sixteen page preface letter from John Calvin regarding "Christ is the end of the Lawe.” Anthony Gilby headed a committee of scholars in preparation of the first English Old Testament translated entirely from the original Hebrew. With slight revisions of the New Testament, the entire Bible was printed by Rowland Hall in Geneva April 10, 1560, and henceforth known as “The Geneva Bible.”
This new continental English Bible was entitled, The Bible and Holy Scriptvres conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. Translated according to the Ebrue and Greke, and conferred With the best translations in diuers langages. With moste profitable annotations vpon all the hard places, and other things of great importance as may appeare in the Epistle to the Reader.
Due to a passage in Genesis 3:7, describing the clothing that Adam and Eve fashioned after their sin in the Garden of Eden as “breeches” (an antiquated form of “britches”), the Geneva Bible has long been referred to as the “Breeches Bible” (even though the Wycliffite translation had used the same word previously).
The Geneva Bible was quite innovative. It was the first English Bible to add verse numbers. (No readers had previously referenced a single verse such as John 3:16.) It was the first English Bible to be printed in Roman typeface instead of the Gothic blackletter typeface, employing italic text to indicate interpolated words not in the original languages. Chapters had introductory summaries, and there was an abundance of cross-references to parallel scriptures, indices, dictionaries, maps, woodcut illustrations, informative tables, etc. Perhaps the foremost innovation was the insertion of extensive (over 300,000 words) marginal annotations providing interpretive commentary on the text. Many comments were polemical and critical of the institutional church. They were also theologically biased towards a Calvinist perspective. These notes are the basis of identifying the Geneva Bible as the first English “study Bible.” They served to promote popular interest in the Geneva Bible for almost 100 years, but also served to precipitate its demise by the adverse reaction of the Anglican bishops requesting King James I to authorize a new translation (KJB) which superseded it.
The Geneva Bible became the Bible of choice for almost 100 years among English speaking Christians. Between 1560 and 1644 at least 144 editions of this Bible were published. This is the Bible that is quoted extensively in the works of Shakespeare, and by John Milton and John Bunyan. A copy of this Bible is reported to have been brought to America on the Mayflower in 1620. Many American colonists, who were fleeing the religious oppression of the Church of England, wanted nothing to do with the King James Bible of the Anglican Church and clung to their attachment to the Geneva Bible. The Geneva Bible has been called “The Bible of the Protestant Reformation,” “The Calvinist Bible,” “The Puritan Bible,” and “The Pilgrims’ Bible.”
As Scottish reformer, John Knox, participated in the translation, the Geneva Bible was the first Bible printed in Scotland, and long remained popular in that country. In fact, a law was passed in 1579 requiring every household of sufficient means to purchase a copy.
