Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 1:1 | And Solomon son of David will be strengthened over his kingdom, and Jehovah his God with him, and he will magnify him to above |
| 1:2 | And Solomon will say to all Israel, to the chiefs of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to every prince to all Israel, the heads of the fathers. |
| 1:3 | And Solomon and all the convocation with him will go to the height which is in Gibeon; for there was the tent of appointment of God, which Moses servant of Jehovah made in the desert. |
| 1:4 | But the ark of God David brought up from the city of forests in David's preparing for it: for he spread out for It a tent in Jerusalem. |
| 1:5 | And the altar of brass which Bezaleel, son of Uri, son of Hur, made, he set before the dwelling of Jehovah: and Solomon and the convocation will seek it |
| 1:6 | And Solomon will go up there upon the altar of brass before Jehovah, which is at the tent of appointment, and he will bring up a thousand burnt-offerings upon it |
| 1:7 | In that night God was seen to Solomon, and he will say to him, Ask what I shall give to thee. |
| 1:8 | And Solomon will say to God, Thou didst great mercy with David my father, and hast caused me to reign in his stead. |
| 1:9 | Now, O Jehovah God, shall thy word with David my father be firm: for thou didst cause me to reign over a people a multitude as the dust of the earth. |
| 1:10 | Now wilt thou give to me wisdom and knowledge, and I shall go out before this people, and come in: for who shall judge this thy great people? |
| 1:11 | And God will say to Solomon, Because this was with thy heart, and thou askedst not riches, treasures and honor, and the soul of those hating thee, and also many days thou askedst not, and thou wilt ask for thee wisdom and knowledge that thou shalt judge my people that I caused thee to reign over them: |
| 1:12 | Wisdom and knowledge are given to thee; and riches and treasures and honor will I give to thee which was not thus to the kings that were before thee; and after thee it shell not be thus. |
| 1:13 | And Solomon will come to the height which is in Gibeon to Jerusalem from before the tent of appointment, and he will reign over Israel. |
| 1:14 | And Solomon will gather together chariots and horsemen: and there will be to him a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; and he will deposit them in the cities of the chariots, and with the king in Jerusalem. |
| 1:15 | And the king will give the silver and the gold in Jerusalem as stones, and he gave cedars as sycamore trees which are in the low country for multitude. |
| 1:16 | And the going forth of horses which was to Solomon from Egypt, and a collection of merchants of the king will take a collection at a price. |
| 1:17 | And they will go up and bring forth from Egypt a chariot for six hundred of silver, and a horse for fifty and a hundred: and thus for all the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of Aram, by their hand will they bring forth. |
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.