Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 4:1 | And one woman from the wives of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband died, and thou knewest that thy servant was fearing Jehovah: and the creditor came to take my two children for servants. |
| 4:2 | And Elisha will say to her, What shall I do for thee? announce to me what is to thee in the house. And she will say, Not anything to thy servant in the house but a flask of oil. |
| 4:3 | And he will say, Go ask for thyself vessels from without from all thine dwelling near; empty vessels; thou shalt not be little. |
| 4:4 | And come in and shut the door after thee and after thy sons, and thou shalt pour into all these vessels, and the full thou shalt remove. |
| 4:5 | And she will go from him and shut the door after her and after her sons, they bringing near to her, and she pouring out |
| 4:6 | And it will be as the vessels being full, and she will say to her son, Bring to me yet a vessel. And he will say. Not a vessel more. And, the oil will stand. |
| 4:7 | And she will go and announce to the man of God, and he will say, Go sell the oil and requite thy creditor, and thou shalt live with thy sons by the rest |
| 4:8 | And it will be the day, and Elisha will pass through to Shunem, and a great woman there; and she will lay hold on him to eat bread. And it will be as often as he passed by, he will turn aside there to eat bread. |
| 4:9 | And she will say to her husband, Behold now, I knew that he is a holy man of God, passing by us continually. |
| 4:10 | Now we will make a little wall chamber and put for him there a bed and a table, and a throne and a candlestick; and being in his coming to us he will turn aside there. |
| 4:11 | And the day will be and he will come there, and he will turn aside into the chamber, and lie there. |
| 4:12 | And he will say to Gehazi his boy, Call for this Shunamitess. And he will call for her, and she will stand before him. |
| 4:13 | And he will say to him, Say now to her, Behold, thou didst hasten for us all this concern; what to be done for thee? is it to speak for thee to the king, or to the chief of the army? And she will say, In the midst of my people I dwell. |
| 4:14 | And he will say, And what to be done for her? And Gehazi will say. Truly, not a son to her, and her husband an old man. |
| 4:15 | And he will say, Call to her. And he will call to her, and she will stand in the door. |
| 4:16 | And he will say, At this appointment about the time thou living to embrace a son. And she will say, My lord, thou man of God, do not deceive With thy servant |
| 4:17 | And the woman will conceive and bear a son at this appointment about the time of living which Elisha spake to her. |
| 4:18 | And the child will grow; and the day will be and he will go forth to his father to those reaping. |
| 4:19 | And he will say to his father, My head, my head. And he will say to the boy, Lift him up to his mother. |
| 4:20 | And he will lift him up and bring him to his mother, and he will lift him up and bring him to his mother, and he will sit upon her knees till noon, and he will die. |
| 4:21 | And she will go up and lay him down upon the bed of the man of God, and she will shut up after her and go forth. |
| 4:22 | And she will call to her husband and say, Send now to me one of the boys, and one of the she asses, and I will run even to the man of God, and I will turn back |
| 4:23 | And he will say, Wherefore goest thou to him this day? not new moon, and not Sabbath. And she will say, Peace. |
| 4:24 | And she will saddle the ass, and say to her boy, Lead on, and go; thou shalt not hold back for me to ride except I said to thee. |
| 4:25 | And she will go and come to the man of God to mount Carmel. And it will be when the man of God saw her from opposite, and he will say to Gehazi his boy, Behold this Shunamitess. |
| 4:26 | Now run now to her meeting, and say to her, Is peace to thee? and to thy husband? and peace to the child And she will say, Peace. |
| 4:27 | And she will come to the man of God to the mountain, and she will lay hold upon his feet; and Gehazi will come near to push her away; and the man of God will say, Let go to her, for her soul is bitter to her: and Jehovah hid from me and announced not to me. |
| 4:28 | And she will say, Did I ask a son from my lord? said I not, Thou shalt not deceive me? |
| 4:29 | And he will say to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins and take my prop in thy hand, and go: If thou shalt find a man, thou shalt not praise him; and if a man shall praise thee, thou shalt not answer him: and put my prop upon the face of the boy. |
| 4:30 | And the mother of the boy will say, Jehovah lives and thy soul lives, I will not leave thee. And he will rise and go after her. |
| 4:31 | And Gehazi passed over before them, and he will put the prop upon the face of the boy, and no voice and no attention. And he will turn back to meet him; and he will announce to him, saying, The boy awaked not |
| 4:32 | And Elisha will go into the house, and behold, the boy dead, lying upon his bed. |
| 4:33 | And he will go in and shut the door after them two, and he will pray to Jehovah. |
| 4:34 | And he will come up and lie down upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hand; and he will bow himself upon him, and the flesh of the child will be warm. |
| 4:35 | And he will turn back and go into the house, once hence, and once thence; and he will go up, and he will bow himself upon him: and the boy will sneeze, even to seven times; and the boy will open his eyes. |
| 4:36 | And he will call to Gehazi and say, Call to this Shunamitess. And he will call her, and she will come to him, and he will say, Lift up thy son. |
| 4:37 | And she will go in and fall at his feet, and worship him to the earth; and she will lift up her son and go forth. |
| 4:38 | And Elisha turned back to Gilgal. And the famine in the land; and the sons of the prophets sitting before him: and he will say to his boy, Place the great pot, and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets. |
| 4:39 | And one will go forth to the field to gather green herbs, and he will find a vine of the field, and he will gather from it wild cucumbers of the field his garment full, and he will come and cut up into the pot of pottage: for he knew it not. |
| 4:40 | And they will pour out for the men to eat., and it will be as they were eating from the pottage, and they cried out, and they will say, Death in the pot O man of God. And they could not eat. |
| 4:41 | And he will say, Take flour. And he will cast into the pot and say, Pour out for the people, and they shall eat And there was not a word of evil in the pot. |
| 4:42 | And a man came from the lord of three, and he will bring to the man of God bread of the first-fruits, twenty of bread of barley, and garden fruits in his sack; and he will say, Give to the people, and they shall eat |
| 4:43 | And he serving will say, What I shall I give this before a hundred men? and he will say, Give to the people, and they shall eat; for thus said Jehovah, Eating, and they leave. |
| 4:44 | And he will give before them, and they will eat and leave, according. to the word of Jehovah. |
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.