Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 23:1 | And Job will answer and say, |
| 23:2 | Also to-day is my complaint bitter: my hand heavy over my groaning, |
| 23:3 | Who will give, I knew to find him: I will come even to his place. |
| 23:4 | I will arrange judgment before him, and I will fill the mouth with proofs. |
| 23:5 | I shall know the words he will answer me, and I shall understand what he will say to me. |
| 23:6 | Will he contend with me in great power? No; but he will put in me. |
| 23:7 | There the upright one disputed with him; and I shall be delivered forever from my judge. |
| 23:8 | Behold, I shall go before, and he is not; and behind, I shall not understand for him. |
| 23:9 | The left hand in his working, and I shall not behold: he will cover himself on the right hand, and I shall not see. |
| 23:10 | For he knew the way with me,: he tried me.; I shall come forth as gold. |
| 23:11 | My foot laid hold upon his going, I watched his way and not softly. |
| 23:12 | From the command of his lips and I will not waver; from his law I hid the words of his mouth. |
| 23:13 | And he is in one, and who shall turn him back? and his soul desired, and he will do. |
| 23:14 | For he will finish my appointing: and many such with him. |
| 23:15 | For this I shall tremble from his face: I shall consider, and I shall be afraid of him. |
| 23:16 | God relaxed my heart, and the Almighty caused me to tremble. |
| 23:17 | For I was not cut off from the face of darkness, and he covered misfortune from my face. |
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
The Julia Evelina Smith Parker Translation is considered the first complete translation of the Bible into English by a woman. The Bible was titled The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments; Translated Literally from the Original Tongues, and was published in 1876.
Julia Smith, of Glastonbury, Connecticut had a working knowledge of Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Her father had been a Congregationalist minister before he became a lawyer. Having read the Bible in its original languages, she set about creating her own translation, which she completed in 1855, after a number of drafts. The work is a strictly literal rendering, always translating a Greek or Hebrew word with the same word wherever possible. Smith accomplished this work on her own in the span of eight years (1847 to 1855). She had sought out no help in the venture, even writing, "I do not see that anybody can know more about it than I do." Smith's insistence on complete literalness, plus an effort to translate each original word with the same English word, combined with an odd notion of Hebrew tenses (often translating the Hebrew imperfect tense with the English future) results in a translation that is mechanical and often nonsensical. However, such a translation if overly literal might be valuable to consult in checking the meaning of some individual verse. One notable feature of this translation was the prominent use of the Divine Name, Jehovah, throughout the Old Testament of this Bible version.
In 1876, at 84 years of age some 21 years after completing her work, she finally sought publication. The publication costs ($4,000) were personally funded by Julia and her sister Abby Smith. The 1,000 copies printed were offered for $2.50 each, but her household auction in 1884 sold about 50 remaining copies.
The translation fell into obscurity as it was for the most part too literal and lacked any flow. For example, Jer. 22:23 was given as follows: "Thou dwelling in Lebanon, building as nest in the cedars, how being compassionated in pangs coming to thee the pain as in her bringing forth." However, the translation was the only Contemporary English translation out of the original languages available to English readers until the publication of The British Revised Version in 1881-1894.(The New testament was published in 1881, the Old in 1884, and the Apocrypha in 1894.) This makes it an invaluable Bible for its period.