During the reign of Queen Mary I, Protestant Christians faced severe persecution for their beliefs. In response to this hostile environment, English Protestant exiles sought refuge in Geneva, Switzerland where they collaborated to produce the Geneva Bible.

The Geneva Bible was primarily the work of William Whittingham, with contributions from other scholars like John Knox and Miles Coverdale.

The Geneva Bible was nicknamed the "Breeches Bible" due to its distinctive translation choice in Genesis 3:7 that says, "Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig tree leaves together, and made them selves breeches."

Later on, people started calling the Geneva Bible the "Pilgrims’ Bible" because the Pilgrims took it with them when they sailed to the New World in 1620.