Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 6:1 | And the sons of the prophets will say to Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell there before thee is narrow for us. |
| 6:2 | We will go now even to Jordan and take from thence each, one beam, and we will make for us a place to dwell there. And he will say, Go. |
| 6:3 | And one will say, Be content, now, and go with thy servants And he will say, I will go. |
| 6:4 | And he will go with them; and they will come to Jordan, and they will cut woods. |
| 6:5 | And one will be felling the beam, and the iron fell into the water: and he will cry out and say, Alas, my lord! and it was borrowed. |
| 6:6 | And the man of God will say, Where fell it? And he will cause him to see the place. And he will cut down wood and cast there; and the iron will overflow. |
| 6:7 | And he will say, Lift up to thee. And he will stretch forth his hand and take it |
| 6:8 | And the king of Aram was warring against Israel, and he counseled with his servants, saying, To such a certain place my encampments |
| 6:9 | And the man of God will send to the king of Israel, saying, Watch from passing through this place, for there Aram encamps. |
| 6:10 | And the king of Israel will send to the place which the man of God said to him and warned of it, and he watched himself there, not once, and not twice. |
| 6:11 | And the heart of the king of Aram will be agitated for this word; and he will call to his servants and say to them, Will ye not announce to me who is leading us astray to the king of Israel? |
| 6:12 | And one of his servants will say, No, my lord the king; but Elisha the prophet, who is in Israel, will announce to the king of Israel the words which thou wilt speak in thy bed-chamber. |
| 6:13 | And he will say, Go, and see where he is, and I will send and take him. And it will be announced to him, saying, Behold, in Dothan. |
| 6:14 | And he will send there horses and chariots, and weighty strength: and they will come by night, and they will surround upon the city. |
| 6:15 | And he serving the man of God will rise early to stand up, and he went forth, and behold, strength surrounding the city, and horse and chariot And his boy will say to him, Alas, my lord! how shall we do? |
| 6:16 | And he will say, Thou shalt not fear: for the many which are with us are more than with them. |
| 6:17 | And Elisha will pray, and say, Jehovah open now his eyes, and he shall see. And Jehovah will open the boy's eyes, and he will see: and behold, the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. |
| 6:18 | And they will come down to him, and Elisha will pray to Jehovah, and say, Strike now, this nation with blindness. And he will strike them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha. |
| 6:19 | And Elisha will say to them, This not the way, and this not the city: go ye after me, and I will take you to the man whom ye will seek. And he will cause them to go to Shomeron. |
| 6:20 | And it will be when they came to Shomeron, and Elisha will say to Jehovah, Open the eyes of these, and they shall see. And Jehovah will open their eyes, and they will see; and behold, in the midst of Shomeron. |
| 6:21 | And the king of Israel will say to Elisha when he saw them, Shall I strike? shall I strike, my father? |
| 6:22 | And he will say, Thou shalt not strike: whom thou tookest captive with thy sword and with thy bow; strikest thou? set bread and water before them, and they shall eat and drink and go to their lord. |
| 6:23 | And he will purchase for them a great purchase: and they will eat and drink, and he will send them, and they will go to their lord. And the troops of Aram will add no more to come into the land of Israel. |
| 6:24 | And it will be after this, and Benhadad king of Aram will gather all his camp and come up and press upon Shomeron. |
| 6:25 | And a great famine will be in Shomeron: and behold them pressing upon it till the head of an ass was for eighty of silver, and the fourth of a cup of doves dung, for five of silver. |
| 6:26 | And the king of Israel will be passing by upon the wall, and a woman cried out to him, saying, Save, O lord the king. |
| 6:27 | And he will say, Wilt not Jehovah save thee, from whence shall I save thee from the threshing-floor or from the wine-press? |
| 6:28 | And the king will say to her, What to thee? and she will say, This woman said to me, Thou shalt give thy son, and we will eat him this day, and my son we will eat to-morrow. |
| 6:29 | And we shall boil my son, and eat him: and saying to her on the day after, Thou shalt give thy son, and we will eat him: and she will hide her son |
| 6:30 | And it will be when the king heard the woman's words, and he will rend his garments; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people will see, and behold, sackcloth upon his flesh, from within. |
| 6:31 | And he will say, Thus will God do to me, and thus will he add, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat, shall stand upon him this day. |
| 6:32 | And Elisha sitting in his house, and the old men sitting with him; and he will send a man from before him: before the messenger will come to him, and he said to the old men, See ye that this son of a murderer sent to take away my head? see, when the messenger comes, shut the door and press him in the door: is not the voice of the feet of his lord behind him? |
| 6:33 | While yet speaking with them, behold, the messenger will come down to him: and he will say, Behold, this evil from Jehovah; what more shall I wait for 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.