Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 5:1 | Remember, O Jehovah, what was to us: look and see our reproach. |
| 5:2 | Our inheritance was turned to strangers, our houses to foreigners. |
| 5:3 | We were orphans, no father; our mothers as widows. |
| 5:4 | We drank our water for silver; our wood will come for a price. |
| 5:5 | Upon our necks were we pursued: we labored and no rest to us. |
| 5:6 | We gave the hand to Egypt, to Assur, to be filled with bread. |
| 5:7 | Our fathers sinned, they are not; we bore their iniquities. |
| 5:8 | Servants ruled over us: none delivering from their hand. |
| 5:9 | With our souls we shall bring our bread from the face of the sword of the desert |
| 5:10 | Our skin was scorched as a furnace from the face of the violent heat of famine. |
| 5:11 | They humbled the women in Zion the virgins in the cities of Judah. |
| 5:12 | Chiefs were hung by their hand: the faces of old men were not honored. |
| 5:13 | They took away the chosen ones to grind, and the young men were weak in the wood. |
| 5:14 | Old men ceased from the gate, the chosen ones from their stringed instruments. |
| 5:15 | The joy of our heart ceased; our dance was turned to mourning. |
| 5:16 | The crown of our head fell: wo! now to us, for we sinned. |
| 5:17 | For this our heart was languid; for this our eyes were darkened. |
| 5:18 | For mount Zion was laid waste, the foxes went upon it. |
| 5:19 | Thou, O Jehovah, shalt dwell forever; thy throne to generation and generation. |
| 5:20 | Wherefore wilt thou forget us forever? wilt thou forsake us to length of days? |
| 5:21 | Turn us back, O Jehovah, to thee, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old. |
| 5:22 | But rejecting, thou didst reject us; thou wert angry against us even greatly. |
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.