Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 25:1 | Also these the proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah transcribed. |
| 25:2 | The glory of God to conceal the word: and the glory of kings to search the word. |
| 25:3 | The heavens for height, and the earth for depth, and the heart of kings not searched out |
| 25:4 | Take ye away the dross from the silver, and a vessel shall come forth for the goldsmith. |
| 25:5 | Take ye away the unjust one from before the king, and his throne shall be prepared in justice. |
| 25:6 | Thou shalt not show thyself proud before the king, and thou shalt not stand in the place of the great. |
| 25:7 | For good to say to thee, Come up hither, rather than humbling thyself before the noble whom thine eye saw. |
| 25:8 | Thou shalt not go forth hastily to strive, lest what thou shalt do in its latter state in thy neighbor putting thee to shame. |
| 25:9 | Contend thy contention with thy neighbor; and thou shalt not reveal the secret of another: |
| 25:10 | Lest he hearing shall reproach thee, and thine infamy shall not turn away. |
| 25:11 | Apples of gold in images of silver is the word spoken upon its wheels. |
| 25:12 | An earring of gold and a necklace of gold, the wise one reproving upon the hearing ear. |
| 25:13 | As the cold of snow in the day of harvest a faithful messenger to those sending him: he shall restore the soul of his lord. |
| 25:14 | Clouds and wind and not rain, a man boasting in a gift of falsehood. |
| 25:15 | In slowness to anger shall the prince be persuaded, and the soft tongue shall break the bones. |
| 25:16 | Thou didst find honey; eat thy sufficiency, lest thou shalt be satiated, and thou vomit it forth. |
| 25:17 | Make rare thy foot from thy neighbor's house, lest he shall be satiated with thee, and hate thee. |
| 25:18 | A mallet and a sword and an arrow sharpened, the man answering against his neighbor testimony of falsehood. |
| 25:19 | A bad tooth and a wavering foot, the confidence of the faithless one in the day of straits |
| 25:20 | He removing a covering in the day of cold, and vinegar upon nitre, and he singing in songs to an evil heart. |
| 25:21 | If thine enemy hunger, give him bread to eat; and if he thirst, give him water to drink: |
| 25:22 | For thou tookest up coals of fire upon his head, and Jehovah will recompense to thee. |
| 25:23 | The north wind will set free the rain, and an angry face, a hidden tongue. |
| 25:24 | Good to dwell upon a corner of the roof rather than with a woman of strifes and a house of community. |
| 25:25 | Cold waters to the fainting soul, and a good message from a land far off. |
| 25:26 | A fountain trampled down, and a fountain corrupted, the just one turned aside before the unjust one. |
| 25:27 | To eat much honey is not good: and to seek out their honor, not honor. |
| 25:28 | A city being broken down, and not a wall, a man who restrains not to his spirit. |
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.