Tyrants have always feared God’s Word, especially when it is translated so the average person can read, understand, and apply it to every area of life. This is no less true today…

The Geneva Bible is unique among all other Bibles. It was the first Bible to use chapters and numbered verses and became the most popular version of its time because of the extensive marginal notes. These notes, written by Reformation leaders such as John Calvin, John Knox, Miles Coverdale, William Whittingham, Anthony Gilby, and others, were included to explain and interpret the Scriptures for the common people.

The King of England (James I) was displeased by some of these notes, particularly as it pertained to tyranny of leaders, adultery, and other thorny differences. In an effort to censor these Scriptural explanations and settle himself as the authority on what Scripture intended, he demanded a government “Authorized” version (known today as the King James Bible) be created—without the notes with which he disagreed.

Many who adhered to the 1599 Geneva Bible were persecuted, and even found themselves traveling across high seas to unknown and uncharted lands. When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock that cold winter day, it was the 1599 Geneva Bible that was carefully studied to develop the laws of this new colony.

Discover the 1599 Geneva Bible

When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in the New World on November 11, 1620, they brought along supplies, a consuming passion for advancing the Kingdom of Christ, and the Word of God. Clearly, their most precious cargo was the Bible—specifically, the Geneva Bible. The trading establishment they were heading to before they were blown off course to Massachusetts, Jamestowne, had also brought with them this same Geneva Bible.

All but forgotten in our day, this version of the Bible was the most widely read and influential Bible in the English language of the 16th and 17th centuries. A superb translation, it was the product of the best Protestant scholars of the day and became the Bible of choice for many of the greatest writers and thinkers of that time. Men such as William Shakespeare, John Bunyan, and John Milton used the Geneva Bible in their writings. William Bradford cited the Geneva Bible in his famous book Of Plymouth Plantation.

The 1599 Geneva Bible

The 1599 Geneva Bible

Tyrants have always feared God’s Word, especially when it is translated so the average person can read, understand, and apply it to every area of life. What was true then is no less true today. Having your own copy of the Geneva Bible will connect you to a time when many faithful and brave Christians understood what it meant to stand and act on the Word of God no matter the cost. This completely re-typeset edition of the 1599 Geneva Bible commemorates this history.

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The Geneva Bible was first printed by Rowland Hall in 1560, and “conteyned the Olde and Newe Testament.” Often referred to as “the Breeches Bible” due to the translation of Genesis 3:7, a 2nd and 3rd edition would quickly follow in 1562 and 1570. But it is the 1599 Geneva Edition that Tolle Lege Press has been honored to obtain in its entirety, and after painstakingly typesetting, updating spelling and punctuation, printed for the modern scholar of the Scriptures to own for themselves! Leaving intact word-for-word all notes and Scriptures as the Reformers left it, the 1599 Geneva Bible is America’s greatest treasure!

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Features of this edition:

  • Bonded Black Leather
  • Word-for-word accuracy with the 1599 Geneva Bible
  • Original cross-references
  • Modern spelling & punctuation
  • 300,000+ original study notes by Reformers
  • Old English Glossary
  • Printed in the USA