Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 8:1 | In that day the king Ahasuerus gave to Esther the queen, the house of Haman the Jews' enemy. And Mordecai came before the king; for Esther announced what he was to her. |
| 8:2 | And the king will remove his signet ring which he caused to pass from Haman, and he will give it to Mordecai. And Esther will set Mordecai over the house of Haman. |
| 8:3 | And Esther will add and she will speak before the king, and she will fall before his feet and weep, and make supplication to him to cause the evil of Haman the Agagite to pass away, and his purpose that he purposed against the Jews. |
| 8:4 | And the king will stretch out to Esther the scepter of gold: and Esther will rise and stand before the king, |
| 8:5 | And she will say, If good to the king, and if I found favor before him, and the word be right before the king, and I good in his eyes, it shall be written to turn back the writings, the purposes of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, that he wrote to destroy the Jews that were in all the king's provinces: |
| 8:6 | For how shall I be able and I looked upon the evil which shall be found with my people? And how shall I be able and I looked upon the destruction of my kindred? |
| 8:7 | And the king Ahasuerus will say to Esther the queen, and to Mordecai the Jew, The house of Haman I gave to Esther, and they hung him upon the tree because he stretched forth his hand against the Jews. |
| 8:8 | And write ye for the Jews as is good in your eyes, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's signet ring: for the writing which was written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's signet ring, none to turn back. |
| 8:9 | And the king's scribes will be called in that time in the third month, (this the month Sivan) in the three and twentieth in it; and it will be written according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews, and to the satraps, and the prefects, and the chiefs of the provinces which are from India and even to Cush, seven and twenty and a hundred provinces, province and province according to its writing, and people and people according to their tongue, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their tongue. |
| 8:10 | And he will write in the name of the king Ahasuerus, and seal with the king's signet ring; and he will send letters by the hand of runners on horses riding the courser, the mules, sons of mares: |
| 8:11 | Which the king gave to the Jews which were in every city and city to gather together, and to stand for their soul, to cut off, and to kill and to destroy all the power of the people and province pressing upon them, little ones and women, and their spoil for booty, |
| 8:12 | In one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, in the thirteenth to the twelfth month, this the month Adar. |
| 8:13 | The copy of the writing to be given an edict in every province and province, revealed to all the peoples, and for the Jews to be ready for this day to avenge themselves of their enemies. |
| 8:14 | The runners riding the courser, the mules, went forth, being hastened and impelled by the word of the king. And the edict was given in Shushan the fortress. |
| 8:15 | And Mordecai went forth from before the king in clothing of the kingdom, cerulean purple, and white, and a great crown of gold, and a wide robe of byssus and purple: and the city Shushan shouted and was glad: |
| 8:16 | There was to the Jews light and gladness and joy and honor. |
| 8:17 | And in every province and province, and in every city and city, the place where the word of the king and his edict coming, gladness and joy to the Jews, a drinking and a good day. And many peoples of the land becoming Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them. |
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.