Note 5 — WHAT ENGLISH IS.

“Genevan Bible.” This famous Bible appeared in 1557, so called because the translation was made in Geneva by several English divines who had fled from the persecutions of the bloody Mary. It was long the favorite version of the English Puritans. It was accompanied by notes. Sometimes the name Breeches Bible is given to it, on account of the rendering of Gen. iii:7. “Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves breeches.” The authorized version, or King James’s Bible, has been in common use for over 250 years. In 1604 the king wrote a letter, intimating the appointment of fifty-four scholars for the preparation of the version, though only forty-seven undertook it. The work of translation and revision occupied three years. The superiority of their work soon proved itself, for in forty years all versions had quietly succumbed to it; it became the English Bible.