Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 1:1 | The words of the preacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem. |
| 1:2 | Vanity of vanities, said the preacher; vanity of vanities, all vanity. |
| 1:3 | What the profit to a man in all the labor he will labor under the sun? |
| 1:4 | A generation went away, and a generation came: and the earth stood forever. |
| 1:5 | The sun arose and the sun went down, and panted after its place which it arose there. |
| 1:6 | Going to the south and turning round about to the north, it turned round about; the wind turned round about, going, and the wind turned back upon its circuits. |
| 1:7 | All the torrents going into the sea, and the sea not full: to the place the torrents going, there they turn back to go. |
| 1:8 | All words becoming weary; man shall not be able to speak: the eye shall not be satisfied to see, and the ear shall not be filled from hearing. |
| 1:9 | What was, that shall be; and what was done, that shall be done: and not anything new under the sun. |
| 1:10 | Is there a word will be said, See, this is new? This was already to a long time which was before us. |
| 1:11 | No remembrance to former things; and also to the latter things that shall be; to them shall be no remembrance with them which shall be for the latter state. |
| 1:12 | I the preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. |
| 1:13 | And I gave my heart to seek and to search out in wisdom concerning all which was done under the heavens: this evil business God gave to the sons of man to be occupied in it |
| 1:14 | I saw all the works they did under the sun; and behold, all vanity and striving of the spirit |
| 1:15 | The crooked thing shall not be able to be made straight: and the deficiency shall not be able to be numberd |
| 1:16 | It spake with my heart, saying, Behold, I was magnified, and added wisdom over all that were before me at Jerusalem: and my heart saw much of wisdom and knowledge. |
| 1:17 | And I will give my heart to know wisdom, and the knowledge of praise and understanding: I knew this also it is the striving of the spirit |
| 1:18 | For in abundance of wisdom, abundance of trouble: and he adding knowledge will increase pain. |
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.