The Genevan version of the Bible was made by several English exiles
at Geneva in Queen Mary's reign--viz., Cole, Coverdale, Gilby, Knox,
Sampson, Whittingham and Woodman--and was first printed in 1560.
It went through fifty editions in the course of thirty years. This
translation was very popular with the Puritan party. In this version
the first division into verses was made. It is commonly known as the
"Breeches Bible," from the peculiar rendering of Genesis iii. 7--"
breeches of fig-leaves." To the Geneva Bible we owe the beautiful
phraseology of the admired passage in Jeremiah viii. 22. Coverdale,
Matthew and Taverner render it, "For there is no more treacle at
Gilead?" Cranmer, "Is there no treason at Gilead?" The Genevan first
gave the poetic rendering, "Is there no balm in Gilead?"
In the year 1568 another translation appeared, which is
indiscriminately known as "Matthew Parker's Bible," the "Bishops'
Bible" and the "Great English Bible." This version was undertaken and
carried on under the inspection of Matthew Parker, second Protestant
archbishop of Canterbury. Of the fifteen translators, six were
bishops, hence this edition is often called the Bishops' Bible, though
it is sometimes designated the Great English Bible, from its being a
huge folio volume. In 1569 it was published in octavo form. There is a
well-preserved copy of the first edition of Matthew Parker's Bible in
the possession of a gentleman residing in New York City.
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