Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 4:1 | And the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin will hear that the sons of the captivity were building the temple to Jehovah God of Israel; |
| 4:2 | And they will come near to Zerubbabel, and to the heads of the fathers, and they will say to them, We will build with you: for like you we will seek for your God: for we sacrifice not from the days of Esa-Haddon king of Assur bringing us up hither. |
| 4:3 | And to them Zerubbabel will say, and Joshua, and the rest of the heads of the fathers to Israel, Not to you and to us to build a house to our God; for we together will build to Jehovah God of Israel, as the king Cyrus king of Persia commanded us. |
| 4:4 | And the people of the land will be slackening the hands of the people of Judah, and terrifying them in building, |
| 4:5 | And counselors being hired against them to annul their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, and even to the kingdom of Darius king of Persia. |
| 4:6 | And in the kingdom of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his kingdom, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. |
| 4:7 | And in the days of Arthasatha, wrote Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his colleagues, to Arthasatha, king of Persia; and the writing of the letter' being written in Syriac, and being interpreted in Syriac. |
| 4:8 | Rehum, lord of judgment, and Shimshai, the scribe, wrote one epistle against Jerusalem to Arthasatha the king, thus: |
| 4:9 | Then Rehum lord of judment, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their colleagues, the Danites and the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babelites, the Susanchites, the Dehavites, the Elamites, |
| 4:10 | And the rest of the nations that the great and honored Asnapper carried into exile, and he caused them to dwell in the cities of Shomeron, and the rest beyond the river, and thus. |
| 4:11 | This the copy of the epistle that they sent to him to Arthasatha the king; thy servants the men beyond the river, and thus. |
| 4:12 | To be known to the king that the Jews who went up from with thee to us, came to Jerusalem, building the perverse and bad city, and they completed its wall, and they will repair its foundations. |
| 4:13 | Now to be known to the king that if this city shall be built and the walls be completed, tribute, excise, and toll, they will not give, and in the end it will endamage the kings. |
| 4:14 | Now for the cause that we were salted with the salt of the temple, and not being fit to us to see the king's nakedness, for this we sent and made known to the king; |
| 4:15 | That it shall be sought in the book of the records of thy fathers: and thou wilt find in the book of the records, and thou wilt know that this city a city perverse and endamaging kings and provinces, and working rebellion in the midst of it from days forever: for this, this city was laid waste. |
| 4:16 | We making known to the king that if this city shall be built, and its walls be completed, for this cause a portion beyond the river shall not be to thee. |
| 4:17 | And the king sent word to Rehum, lord of judgment, and to Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their colleagues who dwelt in Shomeron, and the rest beyond the river, Peace and as now. |
| 4:18 | The epistle that ye sent to us being read distinctly before me. |
| 4:19 | And a decree being set from me, and they sought and found that this city from days forever lifting itself up against kings, and perverseness and rebellion being made in it |
| 4:20 | And strong kings were over Jerusalem, and ruling over all beyond the river: and tribute, excise, and, toll, being given to them. |
| 4:21 | Now set up a decree to cause these men to cease, and this city shall not be built till a decree shall be set up from me. |
| 4:22 | And be ye warned from doing wrong upon this: wherefore shall harm overtake to endamage the kings? |
| 4:23 | Then after the copy of the epistle of Arthasatha the king being read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their colleagues, they went away to Jerusalem to the Jews, and caused them to cease by arm and strength. |
| 4:24 | At that time ceased the work of the house of God which is in Jerusalem. And it was ceasing even till two years to the kingdom of Darius king of Persia. |
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.