Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
23:1 | The burden of Tyre. Wail, ye ships of Tarshish, for it was laid waste from a house from going in: from the land of Chittim it was uncovered to them. |
23:2 | Be ye silent, O inhabitants of the isle; the merchants of Zidon passing over the sea filled thee. |
23:3 | On many waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river her produce; and she shall be the emporium of nations. |
23:4 | Be thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the sea said, the strength of the sea, saying, I was not pained, I brought not forth, and I caused not youths to grow, and I raised not up virgins. |
23:5 | As the hearing to Egypt; they shall be pained as the hearing of Tyre. |
23:6 | Pass ye through Tarshish; wail, ye inhabitants of the isle. |
23:7 | This to you the exulting from the days of old, her beginning; her feet shall fail her sojourning from far off. |
23:8 | Who will counsel this against Tyre, encircled with a crown, whom her merchants, chiefs; her merchants the honored of the earth. |
23:9 | Jehovah of armies purposed it to profane the pride of all glory, to make light all the honored of the earth. |
23:10 | Pass through thy land as a river, thou daughter of Tarshish: no more girding. |
23:11 | He stretched forth his hand over the sea, he disquieted kingdoms: Jehovah commanded to Canaan to destroy her fortress. |
23:12 | And he will say, Thou shalt no more add to exalt, thou violated virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; also there it shall not be rest to thee. |
23:13 | Behold the land of the Chaldees; this people was not; Assur founded it for the inhabitants of the desert: they set up its watch-towers, they raised up its fortresses, he set it for ruins. |
23:14 | Wail, ye ships of Tarshish: your strength was laid waste. |
23:15 | And it was in that day, and Tyre was forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: from the end of seventy years it shall be to Tyre as the song of a harlot. |
23:16 | Take a harp, go about the city, O harlot having been forgotten; be cheerful, playing on the instrument; increase the song so that thou shalt be remembered. |
23:17 | And it was from the end of seventy years, Jehovah will review Tyre, and she turned back to her gift, and she committed fornication with all the kingdoms of the land upon the face of the earth. |
23:18 | And her traffic and her gift holy to Jehovah: it shall not be treasured up, and it shall not be laid up; for to those dwelling before Jehovah her traffic shall be for eating to be satisfied, and for a splendid covering. |
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.