In the words of Cleland Boyd McAfee, "it drove the Great Bible off the field by sheer power of excellence".

During the reign of Mary I (1553–1558), who restored Catholicism and outlawed Protestantism in England, a number of English Protestant scholars fled to Geneva, which was then a republic in which John Calvin and, later, Theodore Beza, provided the primary spiritual and theological leadership.

[7] In fact, the involvement of Knox (1514–1572) and Calvin (1509–1564) in the creation of the Geneva Bible made it especially appealing in Scotland, where in 1579 a law was passed requiring every household of sufficient means to buy a copy.

[7] Benjamin Franklin is understood to have been inspired by the frontispiece of the Geneva Bible in his design proposal for the first Great Seal of the United States.

[15] Christianity • Protestantism The Geneva Bible was the first English version to be translated entirely from the original languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

He felt strongly that many of the annotations were "very partial, untrue, seditious, and savoring too much of dangerous and traitorous conceits".

In all likelihood, he saw the Geneva's interpretations of some biblical passages as anti-clerical "republicanism", which could imply church hierarchy was unnecessary.

[23] Bruce Metzger, in Theology Today 1960, observes the inevitable reliance the KJV had on the Geneva Bible.

"[24] The Puritan Separatists or Pilgrim Fathers aboard the Mayflower in 1620 brought to North America copies of the Geneva Bible.

[25][26][27] German historian Leopold von Ranke observed that "Calvin was virtually the founder of America.