From "Answers To Your Bible Version Questions" ©2003 by David W. Daniels
Reproduced by permission

Question: I have an original 1611 print, handed down through the centuries. In it, Acts 12:4 clearly uses the word “Passover” and not “Easter”, as we have it in King James Bibles today. But according to an article on your website, revisions to the KJV did not change words, but corrected only spelling and printing errors.If some King James Bibles say “Passover” in Acts 12:4, and other say “Easter,” there clearly must have been a revision of the KJV.

Answer: The Bible you have is not a King James Bible, but rather a Geneva Bible, printed in 1611 in London by the King’s own printer, Robert Barker. Here is how we know.

1. From the text itself.
Thank you for scanning the page in your Bible, with Acts 12 circled(267K). It surely does say “Passover”! But if we make a verse by verse comparison of your Bible with the Geneva Bible and King James Bibles, it becomes clear that what you have is a Geneva Bible.

2. From the cover pages.
Here are the cover pages from the three Bibles.

       

Notice that the cover page of your Bible is very similar to the Geneva Bible, and that the cover page of the third Bible, a KJV, is quite different. You can click on these thumbnails to see a large view in which the text is readable. Once again, it is clear that the Bible you have is a Geneva Bible.

The Bible that you have appears to be a beautiful example of the Geneva Bible. This one was printed in 1611, the same year as the King James Bible (even by the same printer!). So we can see that the King James never had “Passover.” It always said “Easter,” from 1611 to the present day. It has never been revised.