Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 38:1 | And Jehovah will answer Job from the whirlwind, and he will say, |
| 38:2 | Who this darkening counsel in words without knowledge? |
| 38:3 | Gird now thy loins as a man; and I will ask thee, and make thou known to me. |
| 38:4 | Where wort thou in my founding the earth? Announce, if thou knewest understanding. |
| 38:5 | Who set its measures, if thou shalt know? or who stretched the line upon it? |
| 38:6 | Upon what were its bases impressed? or who placed its corner-stone? |
| 38:7 | In the rejoicing together of the stars of morning, and all the sons of God will shout for joy? |
| 38:8 | And he will hedge in the sea with doors in its breaking forth, going forth from the womb. |
| 38:9 | In my making the cloud its garment, and darkness its bandage: |
| 38:10 | And I shall break upon it my law, and I shall set bars and doors; |
| 38:11 | And saying, Even to this shalt thou come, and thou shalt not add: and here in the pride of thy waves, stand thou. |
| 38:12 | In thy days didst thou command the morning? and didst thou make the dawning know its place? |
| 38:13 | To take hold upon the wings of the earth, and the unjust shall be shaken out of it? |
| 38:14 | It shall be turned as clay to the seal; and they shall stand as clothing. |
| 38:15 | And their light shall be withheld from the unjust, and the high arm shall be broken. |
| 38:16 | Didst thou go even to the fountains of the sea? and didst thou go about in searching the depth? |
| 38:17 | Were the gates of death uncovered to thee? and shalt thou see the gates of the shadow of death? |
| 38:18 | Wilt thou consider even to the breadth of the earth? Announce if thou knewest all of it |
| 38:19 | Where the way light shall dwell? and darkness, where its place? |
| 38:20 | That thou shalt take it to its bound, and that thou shalt understand the beaten paths of its house? |
| 38:21 | Knewest thou? for shalt thou then be born, and the number of thy days great? |
| 38:22 | Didst thou come into the treasures of snow? and shalt thou see the treasures of hail, |
| 38:23 | Which I kept back for the time of straits, for the day of encounter and war? |
| 38:24 | Where that way the light will divide, it will scatter the east wind upon the earth? |
| 38:25 | Who divided a channel for the overflowing, and a way for the lightning of the voices? |
| 38:26 | To cause it to rain upon the earth, not a man; the wilderness not a man in it? |
| 38:27 | To satisfy the desolation and burning, and to cause the springing up of the finding of the tender grass? |
| 38:28 | Is there a father to the rain? or who begat the reservoirs of the dew? |
| 38:29 | From whose womb came forth the ice? and the hoarfrost of the heavens, who brought it forth? |
| 38:30 | The waters shall be hid as a stone, and the face of the depth will be taken. |
| 38:31 | Wilt thou bind the bands of the cluster, or wilt thou open the cords of Orion? |
| 38:32 | Wilt thou bring forth the twelve signs in its time? and the great bear and his sons, wilt thou guide them? |
| 38:33 | Knewest thou the laws of the heavens? or wilt thou set up its dominion in the earth? |
| 38:34 | Wilt thou lift up thy voice to the cloud, and abundance of waters shall cover thee? |
| 38:35 | Shalt thou send lightnings, and shall they go and shall they say to thee, Behold us? |
| 38:36 | Who put wisdom in the reins? or who gave understanding to the mind? |
| 38:37 | Who shall number the clouds in wisdom? and who shall cause the bottles of heaven to lie down? |
| 38:38 | In the pouring out of the dust into a melted mass, and the clods will adhere |
| 38:39 | Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? and wilt thou fill up the life of the young lions? |
| 38:40 | For they will sink down in the dwellings; they will dwell in the thicket to lie in wait |
| 38:41 | Who will prepare for the raven his food? for his young will cry to God; they will wander without food. |
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.