Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 10:1 | Flies of death will cause the oil of the perfume to stink, it will ferment: the preciousness of wisdom above the honor of the least folly. |
| 10:2 | The heart of the wise one to his right, and the heart of the foolish one to his left. |
| 10:3 | And also as the foolish one went in the way, his heart was wanting, and he said to all, It is folly. |
| 10:4 | If the spirit of him ruling shall go up against thee, thou shalt not leave thy place; for quietness will put down great sins. |
| 10:5 | There is an evil I saw under the sun as an error going forth from before him having power: |
| 10:6 | Folly was given to great heights, and the rich were set in lowness. |
| 10:7 | I saw servants upon horses, and chiefs going as servants upon the earth. |
| 10:8 | He digging a ditch shall fall into it; he breaking down a wall, a serpent shall bite him. |
| 10:9 | He removing stones; shall suffer pain by them; and he cleaving woods asunder shall be endangered by them. |
| 10:10 | If the iron became dull and he polished not the face, and he will strengthen the forces: and wisdom will make preeminence to prosper. |
| 10:11 | If a serpent will bite without magic; and no preëminence to the possessor of the tongue. |
| 10:12 | The words of the wise one's mouth, grace; and the lips of the foolish one shall swallow him down. |
| 10:13 | The beginning of the words of his mouth, folly: and the latter state of his mouth the folly of evil. |
| 10:14 | And the foolish one will multiply words: man shall not know what shall be; and what shall be after him, who shall announce to him? |
| 10:15 | The labor of the foolish will weary them, because he knew not to go to the city. |
| 10:16 | Wo! to thee, O land: thy king a youth, and thy chiefs will eat in the morning. |
| 10:17 | Happy thou, O land: thy king the son of nobles, and thy chiefs shall eat in time, in strength and not in drinking. |
| 10:18 | By sloth the frame work will pine away; and by the letting down of the hands, the house will drop. |
| 10:19 | For laughter they make bread, and wine will gladden the living: and silver will answer with all. |
| 10:20 | Thou shalt not curse the king in thy consciousness, and in thy bed-chamber thou shalt not curse the rich for the bird of the heavens will bring the voice, and the possessor of wings shall announce the word. |
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.