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The Geneva Bible, sometimes known by the sobriquet Breeches Bible, is an early modern English Protestant Bible translation. It is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into English, preceding the Douay Rheims Bible by 22 years, and the King James Version by 51 years.

It was the first complete English version to be translated entirely from the original languages and the first English bible to be printed in Roman type for ease of reading. It became the primary Bible of late 16th-century English Protestantism and was used by William Shakespeare, Oliver Cromwell, John Knox, John Donne and others. It was one of the Bibles taken to America on the Mayflower (Pilgrim Hall Museum has collected several Bibles of Mayflower passengers), and its frontispiece inspired Benjamin Franklin's design for the first Great Seal of the United States.

The Geneva Bible was used by many English Dissenters, and it was still respected by Oliver Cromwell's soldiers at the time of the English Civil War, in the booklet The Souldiers Pocket Bible.

Because the language of the Geneva Bible was more forceful and vigorous, most readers strongly preferred this version to the Great Bible. In the words of Cleland Boyd McAfee, "it drove the Great Bible off the field by sheer power of excellence".

History

The Geneva Bible followed the Great Bible of 1539, the first authorized Bible in English, which was the authorized Bible of the Church of England.

During the reign of Mary I (1553–1558), who restored Catholicism and outlawed Protestantism in England, a number of English Protestant scholars fled to Geneva, which was then a republic in which John Calvin and, later, Theodore Beza, provided the primary spiritual and theological leadership. while Gilby oversaw the Old Testament. Several members of this group would later become prominent figures in the Vestments controversy.

The first full edition of this Bible appeared in 1560. While the physical printing took place in Geneva, its introduction to England was facilitated by Sir Rowland Hill of Soulton. Hill is traditionally identified as the project's publisher; however, modern scholarship emphasizes his role as a high-level patron and legal protector. As a Commissioner for Ecclesiastical Causes under Elizabeth I, Hill held the authority to oversee "seditious books," a position that allowed him to authorize the circulation of the Geneva Bible during the volatile Elizabethan Settlement. The distribution was managed through a short-lived London printing business (often associated with the name Rowland Hall) that functioned specifically to handle the Bible and related humanistic texts, closing abruptly following the probate of Hill's estate in 1561.

It was not printed in England until 1575 (New Testament

The annotations, a significant part of the Geneva Bible, were Calvinist and Puritan in character, and as such were disliked by the ruling pro-government Anglicans of the Church of England, as well as by 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 Douay–Rheims edition by the Catholic community. The Geneva Bible nevertheless remained popular among Puritans and was in widespread use until after the English Civil War. The last edition was printed in 1644.

The Geneva Bible acquired the sobriquet "Breeches Bible" because it describes Adam and Eve as having made “breeches” to cover their nakedness (Genesis 3:7).

1576 Tomson revision

Some editions from 1576 onwards

Textual basis

The Geneva Bible was translated from scholarly editions of the Greek New Testament and the Hebrew Scriptures that comprise the Old Testament. The English rendering was substantially based on the earlier translations by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale (the Geneva Bible relies significantly upon Tyndale).

Format

thumb|upright=1.4|(a–b) Characteristics of Blackletter and Roman font; (c–d) corresponding text snippets

Size

thumb|Geneva Bible title page 1589

The Geneva Bible was also issued in more convenient and affordable sizes than earlier versions. The 1560 Bible was in quarto format (218 × 139 mm type area), but pocket-size octavo editions were also issued, and a few large folio editions. The New Testament was issued at various times in sizes from quarto down to 32º (the smallest, 70×39 mm type area).

Breeches Bible

Here are both the Geneva, Tyndale and the King James versions of Genesis 3:7 with original spelling (not modernized):

{| class="wikitable"

|Tyndale Bible

: And the eyes of both them were opened that they vnderstode how that they were naked. Than they sowed fygge leves togedder and made them apurns.

|Geneva Bible

: Then the eies of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed figge tree leaves together, and made themselves breeches.

|King James Bible

: Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed figge tree leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

King James I and the Geneva Bible

thumb|Title page of a New Testament from the Geneva Bible, dated 1599 but probably printed circa 1616–1625

King James I's distaste for the Geneva Bible was not caused by the translation of the text into English, but rather the annotations in the margins. He felt strongly that many of the annotations were "very partial, untrue, seditious, and savoring too much of dangerous and traitorous conceits". In all likelihood, he saw the Geneva's interpretations of some biblical passages as anti-clerical "republicanism", which could imply church hierarchy was unnecessary. Other passages appeared particularly seditious, most notably references to monarchs as "tyrants".

Examples of the commentary in conflict with the monarchy in the Geneva Bible (modern spelling) include:

Daniel 6:22 – "For he [<nowiki/>Daniel] disobeyed the king’s wicked commandment in order to obey God, and so he did no injury to the king, who ought to command nothing by which God would be dishonoured."
Daniel 11:36 – "So long the tyrants will prevail as God has appointed to punish his people: but he shows that it is but for a time."
Exodus 1:19 – To the Hebrew midwives lying to their leaders, "Their disobedience herein was lawful, but their dissembling evil."
2 Chronicles 15:15-17 – King Asa "showed that he lacked zeal, for she should have died both by the covenant and by the law of God, but he gave place to foolish pity and would also seem after a sort to satisfy the law."

When toward the end of the conference two Puritans suggested that a new translation of the Bible be produced to better unify the Anglican Church in England and Scotland, James embraced the idea. He would not only be rid of those inconvenient annotations but have greater influence on the translation of the Bible as a whole. He commissioned and chartered a new translation of the Bible which would eventually become the most famous version of the Bible in the history of the English language. Officially known as the Authorized Version as it was ordered to be read in churches, the new version would commonly be called the King James Version (KJV). The first and early editions of the King James Bible from 1611 and the first few decades thereafter lack annotations, unlike nearly all editions of the Geneva Bible up until that time.

thumb|upright=1.4|Puritans bringing the Geneva Bible to the New World

Initially, the King James Version did not sell well and competed with the Geneva Bible. Shortly after the first edition of the KJV, King James banned the printing of new editions of the Geneva Bible to further entrench his version. However, Robert Barker continued to print Geneva Bibles even after the ban, placing the fictitious date of 1599 on new copies of Genevas which were actually printed between about 1616 and 1625.

Legacy

Although the King James Version was intended to replace the Geneva Bible, the King James translators relied heavily upon this version. Bruce Metzger, in Theology Today 1960, observes the inevitable reliance the KJV had on the Geneva Bible. Some estimate that twenty percent of the former came directly from the latter. He further revels in the enormous impact the Geneva Bible had on Protestantism: "In short, it was chiefly owing to the dissemination of copies of the Geneva version of 1560 that a sturdy and articulate Protestantism was created in Britain, a Protestantism which made a permanent impact upon Anglo-American culture."

The Puritan Separatists or Pilgrim Fathers aboard the Mayflower in 1620 brought to North America copies of the Geneva Bible. German historian Leopold von Ranke observed that "Calvin was virtually the founder of America."

References

External links

;Text

Scanned copy of the original 1560 Geneva Bible
Geneva Bible (1599)
Geneva Bible Footnotes
Geneva Bible online (1599)
Modern Spelling Geneva Bible with Footnotes for the Gospels

;Articles

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

;Editions currently in print

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