Chapters and verses make it easy to read today’s modern versions of the Bible, but that wasn’t always the case. Although little known today, the Geneva Bible was considered by many as the most influential English Bible of the 16th and 17th centuries.

The King James Version of the Bible in 1611 owed much of its success to the popularity of the Geneva Bible. Translated by the best Protestant scholars of the day, the Geneva Bible was highly regarded. It’s thought to be the Bible Puritans brought with them to America on the Mayflower, and it was the first Bible to use chapters and numbered verses, as well as including marginal notes.

It’s no surprise that it became the most popular version of its time.

Sign up to receive The Book in your inbox daily at museumofthebible.org/thebook!

Copyright © 2017 Museum of the Bible. All rights reserved.