Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 42:1 | Behold my servant, I will hold fast in him; my chosen, my soul delighted; I gave my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the nations. |
| 42:2 | He shall not cry, and be shall not lift up, and he shall not cause his voice to be heard without |
| 42:3 | A broken reed he shall not break, and bedimmed flax shall he not quench it: he shall bring forth judgment to truth. |
| 42:4 | He shall not be weak, and he shall not break, till he shall set judgment in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his law: |
| 42:5 | Thus said God Jehovah, creating the heavens and stretching them out; and spreading out the earth and its productions; giving breath to the people upon it, and spirit to those going upon it: |
| 42:6 | I Jehovah called thee in justice, and I will hold by thy hand, and I will guard thee and give thee for a covenant of the people, for the light of the nations, |
| 42:7 | To open the eyes of the blind, to bring forth the bound out of prison, those sitting in darkness out of the house of the prison. |
| 42:8 | I Jehovah, this my name: and my glory I will not give to another, and my praise to carved images. |
| 42:9 | The first things, behold, they came, and new things I announce: before they shall spring up I will cause you to hear. |
| 42:10 | Sing ye to Jehovah a new song, and his praise from the extremity of the earth, ye going down to the sea, and its fulness; the isles and their inhabitants. |
| 42:11 | The desert and its cities shall lift up, the enclosures shall Kedar inhabit: they inhabiting the rock shall shout for joy, from the head of the mountains they shall shout for joy. |
| 42:12 | They shall set glory to Jehovah, and they shall announce' his praise in the islands. |
| 42:13 | Jehovah as a strong one shall go forth; as a man of war he shall raise up jealousy: he shall shout, also he shall cry aloud; he shall be strong against his enemies. |
| 42:14 | I was silent of old; I will be still, I will restrain myself: as she bringing forth I will cry out; I will lay waste and snuff up together. |
| 42:15 | I will lay waste mountains and hills, and I will dry up all their green herbage; and I set the rivers for islands, and I will dry up the pools. |
| 42:16 | I brought the blind by a way they knew not; and I will cause them to tread in beaten paths they knew not: I will set darkness for light before them, and crooked ways into straightness; these words I did them, and I forsook them not |
| 42:17 | They were turned back, they will be ashamed with shame, trusting in the carved image, saying to the molten image, Thou our God. |
| 42:18 | Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, to see. |
| 42:19 | Who blind but my servant? and deaf as my messenger I shall send? who blind he being perfect? and blind as the servant of Jehovah? |
| 42:20 | Seeing many things, and thou wilt not watch; opening the ears, and he will not bear. |
| 42:21 | Jehovah was pleased for sake of his justice; he will magnify the law and make glorious. |
| 42:22 | And this people was plundered and spoiled; snaring all of them in holes, and they were hid in houses of prisons: they were for plunder and none delivering; a treading down, and none said, Turn back |
| 42:23 | Who among you will give ear to this? and will attend and hear hereafter? |
| 42:24 | Who gave Jacob for a treading down, and Israel for spoils? did not Jehovah against whom we sinned? and they would not go in his ways and they heard not to his laws. |
| 42:25 | And be will pour upon him the heat of his anger, and the strength of war: and it will burn him from round about, and he will not know; and it will feed upon him and he will not lay to the heart. |
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.