The Bible of the Early Colonists

The Geneva Bible (over 140 editions were printed from 1560 to 1644) was the Bible that the early religious colonists brought to America’s shores and was the most widely read and influential English Bible of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This Bible, despite its size of nearly six inches by eight inches, was called a “pocket” Bible. Previous editions of the Bible were huge and unwieldy. However, with the Geneva Bible, a person could individually possess and also read the Word of God without having to rely on a king or church official to interpret what the Bible said.

The most unique feature of the Geneva Bible was its extensive marginal notes that were included to explain and interpret the scriptures for the common people. These notes run to approximately 300,000 words, or one-third the length of the text of the Bible itself, and were largely the work of reformers who had been driven from Great Britain during the reigns of Bloody Mary (1553) and James I (1603)—two monarchs who were advocates of the Divine Right of Kings and of the authority of the State over the Church. The commentaries in the Geneva Bible reflected reformation thought and took an anti-autocratic tone toward both church leaders and state leaders.

Taken from The American Patriot’s Bible