The Geneva Bible: The Bible of the Protestant Reformation Hardcover – Illustrated, November 1, 2007

The 1560 Geneva Bible is a milestone in the continuum of English Bibles starting with the Wycliffite Bible of the late 1300s, culminating in the King James Bible of 1611. Of the English Bibles coming out of the 16th century, this one is the most readable: it's written in plain Roman type, not blackletter; it's the first Bible with verse divisions, an immense help in locating scripture passages, and the first to use italics to indicate words inserted by the translators. It's also the first to be completely translated from the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.There are copious marginal glosses to help the reader understand the text, though they promote a very Calvinist theology, so one has to be circumspect when studying them. The woodcut illustrations add the the beauty of this volume.Some pages printed lighter than others, but are still quite readable. This volume seems to be well made. Though it would likely hold up better for desk study, than to carry it back and forth to church! Like all Hendrickson Bibles, the pages turn easily and seem to be well constructed.Compared to the KJB, the Geneva uses plainer speech, whereas the latter has a beautiful cadence and elegance therein making it ideal for reading from the pulpit.

I like the history behind this translation that it came to the u.s. on the mayflower on their mission towards freedom for religion and for our rights. I love the authoritativeness of this also and prefer it over kjv. When I read kjv it just didn't do it for me, but this one I feel like is better. I like all the things it has for its day such as introductions/arguments , notes, maps and illustrations and the 14 book Apocrypha. The Apocrypha is from 1 esdras to 2 maccabees. There is no book of Enoch so you'll have to get that separately, but there is an introduction to the 14 that are in it. For the individual books themselves in the Apocrypha there seem to be no introductions to them except for ecclesiasticus where it says this argument was found in a certain Greek copie. The ot and nt books all seem to have arguments in them. The marginal notes are pretty helpful, but they are small and a lot of the letters are faded making it challenging to read, but if you ask God he will tell you what it says. The chapter summaries tell you what the chapter is about. There are subheadings at the top as well to tell what the chapters key theme is. For example on Matthew 1 the theme is genealogies so that's what's on the top. For the Apocrypha however it dosnt seem to have these key themes at the tops of the pages nor are there a lot of marginal notes as with the ot and nt books. The chapter summaries in here I don't see in a lot of other study bibles so that makes me think this book is unique. You could use this as your main translation although you might be better off in terms of readability if you get one that's not a facsimile. Since this is the first geneva edition then the notes and cross references are all jumbled up without any organization to them but the 1599 remakes have much better organization. The remakes of the1599 don't have things like the Apocrypha, maps, introductions or illustrations so there's that to consider. Altogether I love this because it's nice to have the same translation my ancestors used to read when it came out and before King James executed order 66 on all genevas lol. It makes me proud of my English Irish Scottish American heritage and what it means. There's nothing wrong with the translation itself from what I've read and researched. There are verses in this translation that talk about amending your lives in place of repent. Some people like kjv onlyists say that this means that we are saved by works because when they think of amend they think of going out and physically doing good works to get people to forgive them. This isn't true because I did research on this word amend and the way they use it in this translation is its a transitive verb meaning to change or modify something for the better and this means to change your mindset for the better. The word repent means the same thing where your having a change of mind. The theif on the cross had a change of mind for the better. They are two ways of saying the same thing and in no way refers that works are required. When you have this amendment of life, what's happening is first your having a change of mindset which is the amend/repent part and the part that follows where it says of life means what follows after you go through this. Paul says we are transformed by the renewing of our minds and when we go through this, then we do good things for others like giving, not lusting at others and not lying. There's a note in Luke 13:3 that explains this further by the translator saying and I quote "He warneth them rather to consider their owne estate, then to reprove other men's." This means they should consider and have a change of mind of their own sins rather than to condemn and criticize other men for their suffering because condemning others is a sin as Jesus says. It's amazing what this Bible had in its day as some modern study bibles don't even have the stuff this one from 500 Yeats ago had. The dust jacket design is also pretty cool and the colors of green and tan give off an Irish theme. The hardback cover itself is grey and has one bookmark. In the beginning there's a epistle to the queen of England at that time who was Elizabeth and also one that follows called to the followers of christ in England, Ireland and Scotland. Also a new addition is some history on geneva and the amazing story it had with the reformation and its journey to the America's.

I already have the 1611 King James facsimile from Hendrickson and am very pleased with that one, so I knew I would love this Bible before I got it, and I do. First, I have to note that this Bible is LARGE, about the size of a modern study Bible (Reformation, MacArthur e.g.) so I don't consider this one to be an EDC. However, the print quality is exceptional, the paper is quality, the binding/stitching is sturdy, and I can see using this Bible for my personal and pastoral study for many years to come. I have an electronic version of the Geneva Bible but this one is even better, with the original woodcut illustrations and the copious marginal notes. This really was the first Study Bible in English. The commentary is thoroughly Reformed, being birthed in the city of Calvin, though produced by English ex-pats and religious refugees. This tome is a treasure. For all those who consider themselves Reformed (and ever reforming), I highly recommend getting this Bible to add to your collection. It will take some time to get used to the old style of printing, where English words were "fpeled" differently and where leading S's looked like F's. But in time (and I have experienced this with the 1611 King James fac) it becomes even natural to read, and the printing and old-Modern spelling are no longer an obstacle. It's well worth the investment both in time and money. This is a Bible you will treasure for years.