Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 18:1 | And Jethro, priest of Midian, the father-in-law of Moses, will hear all which God did to Moses and to Israel his people, for Jehovah brought forth Israel out of Egypt: |
| 18:2 | And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, will take Zipporah, Moses' wife, after her sending forth, |
| 18:3 | And her two sons, which the name of the one Gershom, for he said I was a stranger in a strange land; |
| 18:4 | And the name of the one Eliezer; for the God of my father for my help, and he will take me away from the sword of Pharaoh. |
| 18:5 | And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, will come, and and his sons and his wife, to Moses to the desert, where he encamped there in the mountain of God. |
| 18:6 | And he will say to Moses, I thy father-in-law, Jethro, came to thee, and thy wife and her two sons with her. |
| 18:7 | And Moses will go forth to the meeting of his father-in-law, and will worship him and kiss him: and they will ask each his friend of peace; and they will come into the tent. |
| 18:8 | And Moses will recount to his father-in-law all which Jehovah did to Pharaoh, and to Egypt on account of Israel, all the distress which found them in the way; and Jehovah will deliver them. |
| 18:9 | And Jethro will rejoice for all the good which Jehovah did to Israel, whom he took away out of the hand of Egypt. |
| 18:10 | And Jethro will say, Praised be Jehovah who took you away out of the hand of Egypt, and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who took away the people from under the hand of Egypt. |
| 18:11 | Now I knew that Jehovah is great above all gods; for in the word they acted proudly over them. |
| 18:12 | And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, will take a burnt-offering and sacrifices to God: and Aaron will come, and all the old men of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God. |
| 18:13 | And it will be on the morrow, and Moses will sit to judge the people: and they will stand by Moses from the morning to the evening. |
| 18:14 | And Moses' father-in-law will see all which he did for the people, and he will say, What this thou doest to the people? Wherefore wilt thou sit alone by thyself, and all the people stand by thee from morning to evening? |
| 18:15 | And Moses will say to his father-in-law, Because the people will come to me to seek God. |
| 18:16 | For when the word will be to them, they came to me, and I judged between a man and between his friend, and I made known the laws Of God and his precepts. |
| 18:17 | And Moses' father-in-law will say to him, The word is not good which thou doest. |
| 18:18 | Fading, thou wilt fade away, also thou, also this people that is with thee: for this word is heavy for thee; thou wilt not be able to do it thyself alone. |
| 18:19 | Now hear to my voice, I will advise thee, and God will be with thee: be thou for the people towards God, and bring thou their words to God; |
| 18:20 | And teach them the laws and the precepts and make known to them the way they shall go in it, and the work which they shall do. |
| 18:21 | And thou shalt look out from all the people men of ability, fearing God, men of truth, men hating gain; and set thou over them chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifties, and chiefs of ten. |
| 18:22 | And they judged the people in all time: and it will be every great word they will bring to thee, and every small word they shall judge: and it will be light for thee, and they shall lift up with thee. |
| 18:23 | If thou shalt do this word, and God commanded thee, and thou shalt be. able to stand, and all this people shall go to their place in peace. |
| 18:24 | And Moses will hear to the voice of Jethro, and will do all that he said. |
| 18:25 | And Moses will choose men of ability from all Israel, and he will give them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifties, chiefs of ten. |
| 18:26 | And they judged the people in all time; and the hard word they brought to Moses, and every small word they will judge themselves. |
| 18:27 | And Moses will, send away his father-in-law, and he will go for himself to his land. |
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.