Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 19:1 | And Jehoshaphat king of Judah will turn back to his house in peace to Jerusalem. |
| 19:2 | And Jehu son of Hanani the seer will go forth to his face, and say to king Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou love to help to the unjust, and to those hating Jehovah? and in this, wrath upon you from before Jehovah. |
| 19:3 | But good words were found with thee, for thou didst burn the images from the land, and didst prepare heart to seek God. |
| 19:4 | And Jehoshaphat will dwell in Jerusalem: and he will turn back and go forth among the people from the Well of the Oath, even to mount Ephraim; and he will turn them back to Jehovah the God of their fathers. |
| 19:5 | And he will set up judges in the land in all the fortified cities of Judah, to city and city; |
| 19:6 | And he will say to the judges, See ye what ye do: for not for man shall ye judge, but for Jehovah; and he with you in the word of judgment |
| 19:7 | And now the fear of Jehovah shall be upon you: watch ye and do: for not iniquity with Jehovah our God, and lifting up of faces, and taking a gift |
| 19:8 | And also in Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat set up from the Levites and the priests, and from the heads to the fathers to Israel, for the judgment of Jehovah and for contention; and they will turn back to Jerusalem. |
| 19:9 | And he will command upon them, saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of Jehovah, with faithfulness and with the whole heart. |
| 19:10 | And every contention which shall come upon you from your brethren dwelling in their cities, between blood to blood, between law to command, to precepts and to judgments, and warn ye them and they shall not trespass against Jehovah, and wrath being upon you and upon your brethren: thus shall ye do and not trespass. |
| 19:11 | And behold, Amariah the head priest over you for every word of Jehovah; and Zebadiah son of Ishmael the leader to the house of Judah, for every word of the king: and the scribes, the Levites, before you. Be strong and do, and Jehovah will be with the good. |
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.