Q
The work of Wescott and Hort, at first and almost without exception, was accepted by the majority of so-called biblical authorities. Later, as they learned more and more about the work of Wescott and Hort, they changed their minds; I think that is also true of some of the modern versions; they were accepted too quickly without study. What do you think of the Geneva Bible?

A
The Geneva Bible was one in a line, preceded by the Great Bible and followed by the Bishops Bible, marking the ascent to the King James Version. After the King James was finalized, revision was of a retrograde nature; English revision work started going downhill. It was going uphill with the Geneva, and then it started going downhill after the KJV.

The Geneva, like those English bibles preceding it and immediately following it (except the Jesuit Douey Rheims Bible), follows the traditional text underlying the King James Version. Historically, the church has always used the traditional Greek text that underlies the King James Version, not the Jesuit text now underlying the NIV and NASB. The Geneva Bible was written in about 1560, and was used by those people who were exiles from the persecution of Bloody Mary, queen of England.

The Geneva New Testament was written by a gentleman named William Whittingham. It had a number of good points. Each verse was separate. This would encourage memorization and was new for English bibles. It had many anti-Catholic footnotes.

Some of the areas in which it needed improvement include Psalms 12:7 where it followed the Septuagint and its denial of the preservation of scripture. In several places, the Geneva Bible uses the term “master” instead of “Lord.” In Hebrews 4:11, it had the term “disobedience”; it really should be “unbelief.” The KJV corrected all of these errors.

There are also some funny words in the Geneva Bible. It was called the Breeches Bible because in Genesis 3, it said that Adam and Eve wore breeches. The “abusers of themselves” (1 Cor. 6:9) were called “buggerers.” The King James was an improvement of the Geneva Bible, but the Geneva was definitely within the line of the traditional text bible.