Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 31:1 | And Jehovah will speak to Moses, Saying, |
| 31:2 | See, I called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. |
| 31:3 | And I will fill him with the spirit of God, in wisdom and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all work. |
| 31:4 | To meditate work of skill, to work in gold and in silver and in brass. |
| 31:5 | And in graving stone for filling up, and in graving wood, to work in all work. |
| 31:6 | And I, behold, I gave him Aholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the heart of all the wise of heart I gave wisdom; and they shall make all which I commanded thee: |
| 31:7 | The tent of appointment, and the ark of testimony, and the cover which is upon it, and all the vessels of the tent, |
| 31:8 | And the table and its vessels, and the pure chandelier and all its vessels, and the altar of incense, |
| 31:9 | And the altar of burnt-offering and all its vessels, and the wash-basin and its base, |
| 31:10 | And the garments of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons to be priests, |
| 31:11 | The oil of anointing, and the incense of aromatics for the holy place: according to all which I commanded thee they shall do. |
| 31:12 | And Jehovah will say to Moses, saying. |
| 31:13 | Speak thou to the sons of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths shall ye watch: for it is a sign between me and between you for your generations, to know that I am Jehovah consecrating you. |
| 31:14 | And watch ye the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. He profaning it, dying, shall die; for all doing work in it, and that soul shall be cut off from the midst of his people. |
| 31:15 | Six days shall work be done, and the seventh day the Sabbath, a holy rest to Jehovah: all doing work in the day of the Sabbath, dying, shall die. |
| 31:16 | And the sons of Israel shall watch the Sabbath to do the Sabbath for their generation, a covenant forever. |
| 31:17 | Between me and between the sons of Israel it is a sign forever: for six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, and in the seventh day he rested and he will be refreshed. |
| 31:18 | And he will give to Moses when he ceased to speak to him in mount Sinai, two tables of the testimony, tables of stone written by the finger of God. |
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.