Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 1:1 | And it will be in the thirtieth year, in the fourth, in the fifth to the month, and I in the midst of the captivity by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened and I shall see visions of God. |
| 1:2 | In the fifth to the month, this the fifth year to the captivity of king Jehoiachin, |
| 1:3 | The word of Jehovah being, was to Jehezhel, son of Buzi, the priest, in the land of the Chaldean by the river Chebar; and the hand of Jehovah will be there upon him. |
| 1:4 | And I shall see, and behold, the spirit of a tempest came from the north, a great cloud, and a fire taking itself, and a shining to it round about, and from its midst as the appearance of burnished brass from the midst of the fire. |
| 1:5 | And from its midst the likeness of four living creatures: and this their vision; and the likeness of a man to them. |
| 1:6 | And four faces to one, and four wings to one, to them. |
| 1:7 | And their feet a straight foot; and the sole of their feet as the sole of a calf's foot; and sparkling as the appearance of polished brass. |
| 1:8 | And his hand of a man from under their wings upon their four sides; and their faces and their wings to these four. |
| 1:9 | And their wings joined every one to the other; they will not turn in their going, they will go each over against his face. |
| 1:10 | And the likeness of their face, the face of a man and the face of a lion, to the right, to these four: and the face of an ox from the left to these four; and the face of an eagle to these four. |
| 1:11 | And their faces: and their wings spread out from above; to each of the two being joined each, and two covering their bodies. |
| 1:12 | And they will go each over against his face; to where the spirit will be there to go, they will go; they will not turn in their going. |
| 1:13 | And the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance as burning coals of fire, as the appearance of flames going about between the living creatures; and a shining to the fire, and from the fire will go forth lightning. |
| 1:14 | And the living creatures ran and turned back as the appearance of lightning. |
| 1:15 | And I shall see the living creatures, and behold, one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, to his four faces. |
| 1:16 | The appearance of the wheels and their works as the appearance of topaz: and one likeness to these four: and their appearance and their works as a wheel will be in the midst of the wheel. |
| 1:17 | In their going they will go upon their four sides: they will not turn in their going. |
| 1:18 | And their backs, and the height to them, and terror to them; and their backs full of eyes round about to them four. |
| 1:19 | And in the going of the living creatures, the wheels will go by them: and in the lifting up of the living creatures from the earth the wheels will be lifted up. |
| 1:20 | To where the spirit will be there to go they will go, there the spirit to go; and the wheels will be lifted up with them: for the spirit of life in the wheels. |
| 1:21 | In their going, they will go: and in their standing, they will stand; and in their being lifted up from the earth the wheels will be lifted up with them: for the spirit of life in the wheels. |
| 1:22 | And the likeness upon the heads of the living creatures a firmament as the eye of the terrible crystal, stretched forth upon their heads from above. |
| 1:23 | And under the expansion their wings straight each to the other: to each, two, covering upon them, to each two covering to them their bodies. |
| 1:24 | And I shall hear the voice of their wings, as the voice of many waters, as the voice of the Almighty in their going, the voice of speech, as the voice of a camp: in their standing, their wings will slacken. |
| 1:25 | And a voice will be from above to the expansion which was over their head; in their standing their wings will slacken. |
| 1:26 | And from above to the expansion which was over their head as the appearance of a sapphire stone: the likeness of a throne, and over the likeness of a throne, the likeness as the appearance of a man upon it from above. |
| 1:27 | And I shall see as the appearance of burnished brass, as the appearance of fire within to it round about, from the appearance of his loins and above, and from the appearance of his loins to below, I saw as the appearance of fire, and a shining to it round about. |
| 1:28 | As the appearance of the bow which will be in the cloud in the day of rain, so the appearance of the shining round about This the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah. And I shall see it and I shall fall upon my face, and I shall hear the voice of him speaking. |
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.