You are about to purchase eBook versions of the 1560 and 1599 Geneva Bibles (facsimile) on CD disk.

Shipping is FREE to the USA!

Not sure what an "eBook" is? See a thorough description at the end of this page.

Don't pass up this opportunity to obtain a copy of this rare Bible! Original hard copy editions have sold on eBay for thousands of dollars. With this CD you can read the same pages on your computer, or print out any pages you like at your convenience. Serious students of the Bible should not be without these historical 1560 and 1599 Geneva versions. Its rich poetry and faithful accuracy to the original languages make it a must-have for any reference library.

History (courtesy of Wikipedia)

The Geneva Bible was a Protestant translation of the Bible into English. It has also been known as the Breeches Bible, after its rendering of Genesis 3:7, "Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knewe that they were naked, and they sewed figge tree leaues together, and made them selues breeches."

This was the Bible read by William Shakespeare, by John Donne, and by John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's Progress. It was the Bible that was brought to America on the Mayflower and used by Oliver Cromwell in the English Civil War.

Because the language of the Geneva Bible was more forceful and vigorous, most readers preferred this version strongly over the Bishops' Bible, the translation authorised by the Church of England under Elizabeth I.

During the time when England was ruled by Queen Mary I, who persecuted Protestants, a number of Protestant scholars fled to Geneva in Switzerland, which was then ruled as a republic in which John Calvin and Theodore Beza provided the primary spiritual and theological leadership. Among these scholars was William Whittingham, who supervised the translation in collaboration with Miles Coverdale, Christopher Goodman, Anthony Gilby, Thomas Sampson, and William Cole--several of whom became prominent figures in the proto-Puritan nonconformist faction of the Vestments controversy. Whittingham was directly responsible for the New Testament, which was complete in 1557, while Gilby oversaw the Old. The first full edition of this Bible appeared in 1560. It was revised substantially in 1576 and again in 1599, with over 150 editions coming out by 1644.

Like most English translations of the time, the Geneva Bible was translated from scholarly editions of the Greek New Testament and Hebrew scriptures that comprise the Christian Old Testament. The English rendering was substantially based on the earlier translations by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale. (80-90% of the language in the Genevan New Testament is from Tyndale.)

The Geneva Bible was the first English Bible to use verse numbers and an elaborate system of commentary in marginal glosses. This annotation was done by Laurence Tomson, who translated (for the 1560 Geneva Bible) L'Oiseleur's notes on the Gospels, which themselves came from Camerarius. In 1576 Tomson added L'Oiseleur's notes for the Epistles, which came from Beza's 1565 and 1589/1598 Greek and Latin edition of the Bible. Beginning in 1598 Franciscus Junius' notes on Revelation were added, replacing the original notes deriving from John Bale and Heinrich Bullinger. Bale's The Image of bothe churches had a great impact on these notes as well as Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Both the Junius and Bullinger-Bale annotations are explicitly anti-Roman Catholic and representative of much popular Protestant apocalypticism during the Reformation.

The annotations (which are a necessary and integral part of the text) were Calvinistic and Puritan in character, and as such they were disliked by the ruling conservative Protestants of the Church of England, as well as King James I, who commissioned the Authorised Version or King James Bible to replace it. The Geneva Bible also motivated the production of the Douay-Rheims edition by the recusant Catholic community. The Geneva Bible remained popular among Puritans and remained in widespread use until after the English Civil War.

It has been stated by some, that the Geneva Bible was the Bible present at the signing of the U. S. Declaration of Independence and the U. S. Constitution, due to the fact that it was the bible that the Puritans brought with them to America. However, the U. S. Library of Congress and the Independence National Historical Park both state that they do not know what version/translation of the Bible was present at these signings. (Independence Hall in Philadelphia, PA being the location of both of the signings).

The eBook versions of the 1560 & 1599 Geneva Bibles also contains the Apocryphal Books, as well as the Old and New Testaments in their entirety.

Not sure what an "eBook" is?

The term 'eBook' simply means "electronic book", meant for viewing on your computer or other device. eBooks usually come in Adobe PDF format, as the one being offered in this auction. All that is required to read the eBook is a software program called Adobe Acrobat Reader, which will open PDF files. Most computers already have the Adobe Acrobat reader software already installed, but in the rare instance your computer may not have it, you can download the latest version for FREE at adobe d o t com. For viewing on a mobile device such as Kindle, iPhone, Droid, etc. you must have an 'app' installed which allows reading of PDF files.

I will send this item by postal mail. Sending this item by email or by any other digital delivery method is not allowed and violates eBay policy.


Don't forget, shipping is FREE! ...Due to recent changes in eBay policy, shipping prices have gone up considerably for these items. The cost to send ONE CD via First Class Mail is now over $3.50 (USA), but we still ship for FREE. Beware of others who charge more than this. They might be ripping you off...and laughing all the way to PayPal!






ATTENTION EBAY: This book is has been verified and documented to be in the public domain, and is lawfully authorized for publication by us from the U.S. Library of Congress. No copyright laws have been violated. This listing complies with all eBay policies and regulations. This book is not a digitally delivered item or a compilation item.