Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 2:1 | And it will be in Jehovah bringing up Elijah in a tempest to the heavens, and Elijah went up, and Elisha, from Gilgal. |
| 2:2 | And Elijah will say to Elisha, Sit now, here; for Jehovah sent me even to the house of God. And Elisha will say to him, Jehovah lives, and thy soul lives, if I shall forsake thee. And they will go down to the house of God. |
| 2:3 | And the sons of the prophets that were in the house of God will come forth to Elisha and say to him, Knewest thou that this day Jehovah takes thy lord from above thy head? And he will say, I also knew; be silent |
| 2:4 | And Elijah will say to him, Elisha, sit now here; for Jehovah sent me to Jericho. And he will say, Jehovah lives, and thy soul lives, if I shall forsake thee. And they will come to Jericho. |
| 2:5 | And the sons of the prophets which were in Jericho will come near to Elisha and say to him, Knewest thou that this day Jehovah takes thy lord from above thy head? And he will say, I also knew; be silent |
| 2:6 | And Elijah will say to him, Sit now, here; for Jehovah sent me to Jordan. And he will say, Jehovah lives and thy soul lives if I shall forsake thee. And they two will go. |
| 2:7 | And fifty men from the sons of the prophets went, and they will stand from opposite from afar off: and they two stood by Jordan. |
| 2:8 | And Elijah will take his wide cloak and roll together, and strike the waters, and they will be divided hence and thence, and they two will pass through into the desert |
| 2:9 | And it will be as they passed through and Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee before I shall be taken from thee. And Elisha will say, Now shall the mouth of two in thy spirit be to me. |
| 2:10 | And he will say, Thou wert hard to ask: if thou shalt see me taken from thee, it shall be thus to thee; and if not, it shall not be. |
| 2:11 | And it will be they went, going speaking, and behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and they will separate between them two; and Elijah will up in a tempest to the heavens. |
| 2:12 | And Elisha saw, and he crying, My father, my father!, the chariot of Israel and his horsemen! and he saw him no more: and he will lay hold upon his garments and rend them into two rents. |
| 2:13 | And he will lift, up the wide cloak of Elijah which fell from above him, and he will turn back and stand by the lip of Jordan. |
| 2:14 | And he will take the wide cloak of Elijah which fell from off him and strike the waters, and say, Where is Jehovah the God of Elijah, even he? And he will strike the waters and they will divide hence and thence, and Elisha will pass through. |
| 2:15 | And the sons of the prophets who were opposite in Jericho will see, and they will say, The spirit of Elijah rested upon Elisha. And they will come to meet him, and they will worship to him to the earth. |
| 2:16 | And they will say to him, Behold now, there is with thy servants fifty men, sons of strength: they shall go now and seek thy lord, lest the spirit of Jehovah lifted him up, and it will cast him upon one of the mountains or into one of the valleys. And he will say, Ye shall not send. |
| 2:17 | And they will press upon him till he was ashamed, and he will say, Send. And they will send fifty men; and they will seek three days, and they found not |
| 2:18 | And they will turn back to him, and he sitting in Jericho; and he will say to them, Did I not say to you, Ye shall not send? |
| 2:19 | And the men of the city will say to Elisha, Behold the situation of the city good, as my lord sees: and the waters evil and the land barren. |
| 2:20 | And he will say, Take to me a new dish, and put salt there. And they will take to him. |
| 2:21 | And he will go forth to the going forth of the waters, and he will cast salt there, and be will say, Thus said Jehovah, I healed these waters; there shall be no more from thence death and barren. |
| 2:22 | And the waters will be healed even to this day, wording to the word of Elisha which he spake. |
| 2:23 | And he will go up from thence to the house of God: and he going up in the way, and little boys will come forth from the city, and will scoff at him, and say to him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. |
| 2:24 | And he will turn behind him and see them, and he will curse them in the name of Jehovah. And, two she-bears will come forth from the forest and will rend of them forty and two children. |
| 2:25 | And he will go from thence to mount Cannel, and from thence he turned back to Shomeron. |
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.