Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 29:1 | And Job will add to lift up his parable, and say, |
| 29:2 | Who will give me as the months of old, as the days God will watch me? |
| 29:3 | In his causing his light to shine upon my head, before his light I shall go through darkness; |
| 29:4 | As I was in the days of my ripeness, in the intercourse of God upon my tent; |
| 29:5 | In the Almighty being yet with me, my youths round about me; |
| 29:6 | In washing my goings with butter, and the rock will pour out with me streams of oil; |
| 29:7 | In my going forth to the gate upon the city, in the street I shall prepare my seat |
| 29:8 | The young men saw me and hid themselves, and the old men rose up and stood. |
| 29:9 | Chiefs held back in words, and they will put the hand to the mouth. |
| 29:10 | The voice the leaders hid, and their tongue was joined to their palate. |
| 29:11 | If the ear heard, and it will pronounce me happy; and the eye saw, and it will testify to me: |
| 29:12 | For I shall deliver the poor crying, and the orphan, and none helping to him. |
| 29:13 | The praise of him perishing will come upon me, and I shall cause the heart of the widow to rejoice. |
| 29:14 | I put on justice and it will clothe me: my judgment as an upper garment and a turban. |
| 29:15 | Eyes was I to the blind one, and feet to the lame was I. |
| 29:16 | I was a father to the needy, and the contention I knew not I shall search it out |
| 29:17 | And I shall break the biter's teeth of the evil one, and I shall cast the prey from his teeth. |
| 29:18 | And saying, I shall expire with my nest I shall multiply days as the sand. |
| 29:19 | My root opened to the waters, and the dew will lodge upon my foliage. |
| 29:20 | My glory new with me, and my bow will be changed in my hand. |
| 29:21 | To me they heard, and they waited, and they will be silent for them at my counsel. |
| 29:22 | After my words they will not repeat, and my speech will drop upon them. |
| 29:23 | And they waited for me as the rain, and they opened wide their mouth for the latter rain. |
| 29:24 | I shall laugh at them, they will not believe; and the light of my face they will not cast down. |
| 29:25 | I shall choose their way, and I shall sit the head, and I shall dwell as king in the troop, as he shall comfort those mourning. |
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.