Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 30:1 | And now the younger than I laughed upon me, which I rejected their fathers to set with the dogs of my flock. |
| 30:2 | Also the strength of their hands wherefore to me? Upon them old age perished. |
| 30:3 | In want and in hunger, barren, gnawing the dry land, yesternight desolation and burning. |
| 30:4 | Plucking off sea purslain upon the shrub, the root of broom their bread. |
| 30:5 | They shall be driven forth from the midst, they shall cry after them as a thief: |
| 30:6 | To dwell in the horror of the valleys, holes of the dust, and the rocks. |
| 30:7 | Between the shrubs they will bray; they will be poured out under the thorn bush. |
| 30:8 | The sons of the foolish one, also the sons of no name: they were beaten from the land. |
| 30:9 | And now I was their song, and I to them for a by word. |
| 30:10 | They abhorred me, they removed far from me, and withheld not spittle from my face. |
| 30:11 | Because he loosed his cord and he will afflict me, and they cast off the bridle from before me. |
| 30:12 | Upon the right the brood will rise up; they cast away my feet, and they will cast up the paths of their destruction against me. |
| 30:13 | They tore up my beaten path, they helped for my fall, no help to them. |
| 30:14 | They will come as a wide breach under a destroying tempest, they rolled themselves. |
| 30:15 | Terror turned upon me, it will pursue my willingness as the wind, and my salvation passed away as a cloud. |
| 30:16 | And now my soul shall be poured out upon me; and the days of affliction will hold me fast |
| 30:17 | The night my bones pierced from above me, and my gnawers will not lie down. |
| 30:18 | By the multitude of power my clothing will be disguised: it will gird me about as the mouth of my coat |
| 30:19 | He cast me to the clay; I shall become like as dust and ashes. |
| 30:20 | I shall cry to thee and thou wilt not answer me: I stood up and thou wilt not attend to me. |
| 30:21 | Thou wilt turn to be cruel to me: with the strength of thy hand thou wilt lie in wait for me. |
| 30:22 | Thou wilt lift me up to the wind; thou wilt cause me to ride, and thou wilt melt to me counsel. |
| 30:23 | For I knew thou wilt turn me back to death, and the house appointed to all living. |
| 30:24 | But prayer is nothing; he will send forth the hand, if in his calamity to them a cry for help. |
| 30:25 | If I wept not for him being hard of day: my soul was grieved for the needy. |
| 30:26 | For I hoped for good and evil will come: and I shall wait for light and darkness will come. |
| 30:27 | My bowels boiled, and were not silent: the days of affliction anticipated me. |
| 30:28 | I went darkened without warmth: I rose up, I shall cry in the convocation. |
| 30:29 | I was a brother to jackals, and a companion to the daughters of the ostrich. |
| 30:30 | My skin was black from above me, and my bones burnt from heat |
| 30:31 | And my harp will be for mourning, and my pipe for the voice of those weeping. |
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.