Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 18:1 | And Jehovah will be seen to him at the oaks of Mamra: and he will sit at the entrance of his tent at the heat of the day. |
| 18:2 | And he shall lift up his eyes and shall see, and behold, three men stood by him: and he will see and will run to meet them from the door of the tent, and will bow himself to the earth. |
| 18:3 | And he will say, Lord, if now I found grace in thine eyes, now thou wilt not pass away from thy servant |
| 18:4 | Now he shall take a little water, and will wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. |
| 18:5 | And I will take a bit of food, and strengthen your heart, afterwards ye shall pass away; for, for this ye passed over to your servant And they will say, Thou shalt do according to what thou saidst |
| 18:6 | And Abraham will hasten to the tent to Sarah, and will say, Hasten thou measures of the finest flour; knead and make cakes. |
| 18:7 | And Abraham running to the oxen, will take the son of a cow, tender and good, and will give to the youth, and he will hasten to do it |
| 18:8 | And he will take curdled milk, and new milk, and the son of the cow which he did, and he will give before their face; and he stood by them under the tree, and they shall eat |
| 18:9 | And they will say to him, Where is Sarah thy wife? and he will say, Behold, in the tent. |
| 18:10 | And he will say, Returning, I will return to thee according to the time of life; and behold, a son to Sarah thy wife. And Sarah heard at the door of the tent, and she behind him. |
| 18:11 | And Abraham and Sarah were old, being gone in days; the way according to women ceased to be to Sarah. |
| 18:12 | And Sarah will laugh within her, saying, After it has not been to me till now, and my lord, being old. |
| 18:13 | And Jehovah will say to Abraham, For what did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall truly even I bring forth, and I have become old? |
| 18:14 | Shall the word of Jehovah be difficult, at the appointed time? I will return to thee, according to the time of life, and a son to Sarah. |
| 18:15 | And Sarah will deny, saying, I did not laugh; for she was afraid. And he will say, Nay, for thou didst laugh. |
| 18:16 | And the men will rise up from thence, and will look forth upon the face of Sodom: and Abraham went forth with them to accompany them. |
| 18:17 | And Jehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham what I do? |
| 18:18 | And Abraham being, shall be for a great and numerous nation, and all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves in him. |
| 18:19 | For I know him, for that he will command his sons and his house after him; and they watched the way of Jehovah to do justice and judgment, for Jehovah to bring upon Abraham what he spake to him. |
| 18:20 | And Jehovah will say, The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah became great, and because their sin was exceedingly heavy, |
| 18:21 | I will go now and see whether they did wholly according to its cry coming to me; and if not, I shall know. |
| 18:22 | And the men will turn back from thence, and will go forth to Sodom: and Abraham stood yet before the face of Jehovah. |
| 18:23 | And Abraham will draw near, and will say, Wilt thou also destroy the just with the wicked |
| 18:24 | Perhaps there is fifty just in the midst of the city: wilt thou also destroy and not forgive the place for the sake of the fifty just which are within it? |
| 18:25 | Far be it with respect to thee doing as this word to kill the just with the wicked; and for the just to be as the wicked, far be it with respect to thee: shall not the judge of all the earth do judgment? |
| 18:26 | And Jehovah will say, If I shall find in Sodom fifty just, in the midst of the city, I forgive all the place for their sakes. |
| 18:27 | And Abraham will answer and say, Behold now, I have undertaken to speak to my Lord, and I dust and ashes. |
| 18:28 | If the fifty just shall lack five: wilt thou destroy for sake of five all the city? And he will say, I will not destroy, if I shall find there forty and five. |
| 18:29 | And he added yet to speak to him, and he will say, If forty shall be found there? And he will say, I will not do for sake of forty. |
| 18:30 | And he will say, Now will it not kindle to the Lord, and I will speak: If thirty shall be found there? And he will say, I will not do, if I shall find thirty there. |
| 18:31 | And he will say, Behold now, I have begun to speak to the Lord If twenty shall be found there? And he will say, I will not destroy for sake of twenty. |
| 18:32 | And he will say, Now will it not be angry to the Lord, and I will speak only this once: If ten shall be found there? And he will say, I will not destroy for sake of ten. |
| 18:33 | And Jehovah went forth after that he finished to speak to Abraham: and Abraham returned to his place. |
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.