Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 10:1 | And I saw another strong angel coming down from heaven, surrounded with a cloud: and a rainbow upon the head, and his face as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: |
| 10:2 | And he had in his hand a small book opened: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and the left upon the earth, |
| 10:3 | And he cried with a great voice, as a lion roars: and when he cried, the seven thunders spake their voices. |
| 10:4 | And when the seven thunders spake their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, Seal what the seven thunders spake, and thou mayest not write these. |
| 10:5 | And the angel which I saw standing upon the sea and upon earth lifted up his hand to heaven, |
| 10:6 | And sware by him living for ever and ever, who created the heaven, and all in it, and earth, and all things in it, and the sea, and all in it, that time shall be no more: |
| 10:7 | But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he should be about to sound the trumpet, and the mystery of God should be finished, as he announced the good news to his servants the prophets. |
| 10:8 | And the voice which I heard from heaven again speaking with me, and saying, Go, take the little book opened in the hand of the angel having stood upon the sea and upon the earth. |
| 10:9 | And I came forth to the angel, saying to him, Give me the little book. And he said to me, Take, and eat it up; and it shall render thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth shall it be sweet as honey. |
| 10:10 | And I took the small book from the angel's hand, and I was eating it; and in my mouth was as honey, sweet: and when I ate it, my belly was bitter. |
| 10:11 | And he says to me, Thou must again prophesy to peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings. |
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.