Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 49:1 | To the overseer, to the sons of Korah: chanting. Hear this, all ye peoples; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the World: |
| 49:2 | Also ye sons of Adam, also ye sons of man together, ye rich and needy. |
| 49:3 | My mouth shall speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart understanding. |
| 49:4 | I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my enigma upon the harp. |
| 49:5 | Wherefore shall I fear in the days of evil, the iniquity of my heel shall surround me. |
| 49:6 | They trusting upon their wealth, and they will glory in the multitude of their riches. |
| 49:7 | A man redeeming shall not redeem the brother, he shall not give to God his ransom: |
| 49:8 | (And the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceased forever:) |
| 49:9 | And he shall yet live forever, he shall not see destruction. |
| 49:10 | For he shall see the wise shall die: together the fool and the stupid one shall perish, and they left their wealth to others. |
| 49:11 | The midst of them their houses forever, their dwellings to generation and generation; they called in their names upon their lands. |
| 49:12 | And man shall not abide in honor, being like as the beasts they perished. |
| 49:13 | This their way folly to them: and those after them will delight in their mouth. Silence. |
| 49:14 | As sheep they were laid in hades; death shall rule over them, and the upright shall come down upon them in the morning; and their rock for falling away in hades from a dwelling to him. |
| 49:15 | But God will redeem my soul from the hand of hades, for he will receive me. Silence. |
| 49:16 | Thou shalt not fear when a man shall be enriched, and when the honor of his house shall be increased; |
| 49:17 | For not in his dying shall he take anything: his honor shall not go down after him. |
| 49:18 | For in his living he will praise his soul, (and he will praise thee for thou wilt do good to thyself,) |
| 49:19 | It shall go even to the generation of his fathers; even forever they shall not see light |
| 49:20 | Man in honor shall not understand; being like as the beasts, they perished. |
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.