The Geneva Bible including the Marginal Notes of the Reformers. 1587 version.

by Anonymous, E.C. Marsh (Narrator)

The Geneva Bible is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into the English language, preceding 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, Oliver Cromwell, John Milton, John Knox, John Donne, and John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's Progress. It was one of the Bibles taken to America on the Mayflower, it was used by many English Dissenters, and it was still respected by Oliver Cromwell's soldiers at the time of the English Civil War.What makes this version of the Holy Bible significant is that, for the very first time, a mechanically printed, mass-produced Bible was made available directly to the general public which came with a variety of scriptural study guides and aids (collectively called an apparatus), which included verse citations which allow the reader to cross-reference one verse with numerous relevant verses in the rest of the Bible, introductions to each book of the Bible which acted to summarize all of the material that each book would cover, maps, tables, woodcut illustrations, indexes, as well as other included features — all of which would eventually lead to the reputation of the Geneva Bible as history's very first study bible.Because the language of the Geneva Bible was more forceful and vigorous, most readers preferred this version strongly over the Bishops' Bible, the translation authorized 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".The two other most significant editions of the Geneva Bible are the 1587 Tomson New Testament edition and the use of the notes of Franciscus Junius on Revelation from 1599 on. Also of note are the Geneva Bible editions of 1568-1570, which contain Calvin’s Catechism, and later editions which included Calvinistic doctrine as catechism.Lawrence Tomson brought out a New Testament in 1576, based on Beza’s Greek and Latin New Testaments, and using Beza’s Latin New Testament notes. Tomson’s New Testament, including the margin notes, replaced the Geneva 1560 New Testament in a 1587 quarto edition of the Geneva Bible. While there were some changes in the biblical text, the major difference in the Tomson New Testament was in the margin notes. Some readers continued to prefer the Geneva Bible 1560 New Testament version. This resulted in some Geneva Bibles having the 1560 New Testament and notes and others having Tomson’s New Testament and notes, from 1587 on. 1587 Geneva Bible with marginal notes, formatted for the Kindle E-Book reader.

Genres: Reference

3908 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 26, 2010

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Laura Lee]

Obviously this isn't a read it all at once kind of book. I love how the first line of Genesis reads: "In the First of all, and before any creature was, God made heaven and earth out of nothing."

The old English and the interspersed commentary make it a bit of a challenge.

I find it amusing to see the various author listings for Bibles. This one is credited on Amazon as being by God and E.C. Marsh. God is kind of an intimidating co-author to have, one would think.

[John · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

I'm kind of a nerd when it comes to Bible versions. I try to read a different English version each year. This year I'm reading the Geneva Bible, I'm through the entire New Testament and most of the Old Testament. The Geneva Bible is historical for several reasons, but can be somewhat difficult to read at first. It's the first "study Bible," more on that later. It was the first English version to be versified. It was also the first English version to be translated entirely from the Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic, no mean feat. This is a long review, so the tl;dr version is: A colossus in terms of the history of English Bible translations, but not for the faint of heart to wade into.

Some thoughts on the Geneva Bible:

1. At first glance it is quite difficult to read. Here is one example: “Then God said, Let the earth budde forthe the budde of the herbe, that sedeth sede, the fruteful tre, wͨ beareth frute according to his kinde, which maie have his sede in it self upon the earth; & it was so.” (Genesis 1:11, GB) - You can see that the spelling of words is not like modern English; they truncate certain words to save print space, etc. At first this is confusing, but it doesn't take too long to get the hang of most of the weird way of spelling things. Here is another example from the study notes commenting on the Queen of Sheba: "Josephus faith that she was quene of Ethiopia, and ye Sheba was the name of yc chief citie of Meroe, which is an yland of Nilus."

2. The Geneva Bible was the first study Bible. This is pretty cool. It has pretty extensive notes, very good cross references, even some illustrations and maps. In this way it is the forerunner of the myriad of study bibles available today.

3. The Bible notes. The Geneva Bible isn't the greatest for notes, but it is very, very good considering that there was no pattern to follow beforehand. Every study bible after this one, more or less follows the pattern of the Geneva Bible, and it can be very good in its comments, not to mention very succinct. Some examples:

In the comment on Lot's choice of good land when he and Abraham split up in Gen 13.13, the Geneva Bible Notes say simply: "Lot thinking to get paradise found hel." In 1 Kings 19.2 discussing the titanic battle between Elijah on one side and Ahab and Jezebel on the other, the Geneva Bible comments: "Thogh the wicked rage against Gods children, yet he holdeth them backe yt they can not execute their malice.” Of Acts 17.27, the Geneva Bible comments: "Men grope in darkenes til Christ the true light shine in their hearts." There is a lot of good stuff in the study notes, and we are in debt to the Geneva Bible for any study bible that followed it (and they are legion).

4. The translation. The Geneva Bible is for the most part straightforward in its translation, especially for its time (it predates the KJV by some 50 years). Nevertheless, it does have some engaging translations. In Numbers 14, in the great rebellion in the wilderness there is this translation: “But even your carkeises shal fall in this wildernes.” (Numbers 14:32, GB). Quite descriptive, don't you think? Here is another vivid translation from the psalms: “For our soule is beaten downe unto the dust: our belly cleveth unto the grounde. Rise up for our succour, and redeme us for thy mercies sake.” (Psalm 44:25–26, GB)

There are, occasionally, weird and somewhat humorous translations, as this passage from the Song of Solomon: “Thine head upon thee is as skarlet, and the bushe of thine head like purple: the King is tyed in the rafters.” (Song of Solomon 7:5, GB) I'm not sure what the king was doing "tyed in the rafters," but it certainly does fire the imagination.

It can also be quite blunt in its translation such as this verse: “Thus were they steined with their owne workes, and went a whoring with their owne inventions.” (Psalm 106:39, GB) Of course, the Bible itself in the original languages can be quite blunt as well.

Overall, I am very thankful for the Geneva Bible, for the translators who worked so long and diligently to translate it, and how it originated the idea of a study bible, which can be so helpful to Christians who are reading God's word.