The Bishops' Bible was an attempt by the Church of England to create a Bible version to compete with the Geneva Translation. The Church didn't have too much problem with the Scripture Text in the Geneva Translation — but, ohh those Notes — the Marginal Notes, the ones printed in the left and right margins. The Geneva Translation was noted for its abundance of Notes. However many of them were highly critical of the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church. Shouldn't be surprising — they were written by Protestants who had to flee England to escape the persecution there.

In 1563 Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the project to revise the Great Bible. He was assisted by a number of scholars, most of them bishops. So it just became natural that their work, completed in 1568, should be called the Bishops' Bible.

But, alas — the Bishops' Bible never did measure up to the standard and quality of the Geneva Translation. It did, however, become the official Bible of the Church of England, and was the last major English Version before the great King James Version.

Use the Menu on the left to read the full story, or to view actual pages from the Bishops' Bible.