A Bible for the People:

The Geneva Bible

When Mary’s persecution forced Protestant reformers to flee England, many of them settled in the early Protestant stronghold of Geneva. In Geneva, they had access to the thriving scholarly community there and many resources that Mary’s administration had denied them including the printing press.

They now had the resources necessary to produce a translation of the Bible in English for the common person to use in personal study. This revision of the Great Bible clearly was a product of the Protestant community. This is especially evident in its strongly Calvinistic commentary notes. In 1557, John Calvin’s brother-in-law, William Whittingham, published the first edition of the Geneva New Testament. This was the first English version with chapters divided into verses. The Old Testament was completed in 1560, and the complete Geneva Bible was then published and dedicated to the new Queen Elizabeth I.

Elizabeth returned England to a policy of tolerance and reform, and the English Bible was once again welcome in its homeland. As Protestants returned from the Continent, they brought the Geneva Bible with them. Although it never gained official authorization for use in the Anglican Church, it remained very popular with the people nonetheless. On average, a new edition was printed about every six months until the 1640’s. The Geneva Bible truly was the Bible of the people; it was the Bible of Shakespeare, the Bible of John Bunyan, and most likely the Bible brought by the Pilgrims to America in 1620. 

Printed in London, England: 1579