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.