Geneva Bible

Timeline

1. 1557–1560Geneva · GenevaEnglish exiles who fled to Geneva during Mary I's persecutions, in the scholarly environment of the Calvinist city, translated a complete English Bible from Hebrew, Greek, and the Tyndale–Coverdale tradition, adding verse numbers and marginal notes for convenient family reading.
2. 1560–1579London—Edinburgh · British IslesAfter Elizabeth's accession the translation entered the English market with returning exiles and was reprinted many times in London; around 1579 an English edition was also printed in Scotland, making it the most popular family Bible in both British kingdoms.
3. 1580–1611Puritan communities of England · EnglandThe Calvinist marginal notes read Israel's history as a warning against idolatry and tyranny, providing scriptural language for Puritan church-reform proposals from late Elizabethan to Jacobean times; writers such as Shakespeare were also familiar with its phrasing.
4. 1611–1644London · LondonAfter James I promoted the King James Version without Calvinist marginal notes, the royal printing privilege gradually squeezed out the Geneva Bible; by the mid-17th century popular new printings had essentially ceased, but its verse numbering and some renderings were inherited by later English Bibles.