Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 3:1 | To all a season, and a time to every inclination under the heavens: |
| 3:2 | A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up the planting |
| 3:3 | A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build: |
| 3:4 | A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance: |
| 3:5 | A time to cast away stones, and a time to collect stones a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embracing: |
| 3:6 | A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to watch, and a time to cast away |
| 3:7 | A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak: |
| 3:8 | A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace: |
| 3:9 | What the excellence of him working in what he labored? |
| 3:10 | I saw the labor which God gave to the sons of man to be humbled in it |
| 3:11 | He made everything beautiful in his time: also he gave hidden time in their heart, so that man shall not find the work which God did from the beginning and even to the end. |
| 3:12 | I knew that no good is in them, but to rejoice and to do good in his life. |
| 3:13 | And also every man shall eat and drink, and see the good in all his labor; it is the gift of God. |
| 3:14 | I knew that all which God will do it shall be forever: to it not to be added, and from it not to be taken away: and God doing they shall be afraid from his face. |
| 3:15 | What was, it is already; and what to be, was already; and God will seek him being driven away. |
| 3:16 | And yet I saw under the sun the place of judgment, there the unjust one; and the place of the just one, there the unjust one. |
| 3:17 | I said in my heart, The just one and the unjust one, God will judge: for a time for every inclination and for every work there. |
| 3:18 | I said in my heart concerning the speeches of the sons of man, for God to separate them, and for them to see that they are cattle to themselves. |
| 3:19 | For the event of the sons of man, and the event of the cattle, one event to them: as this, so dies this; and the breath of one to all; and the preeminence of man not above the cattle: for all is vanity. |
| 3:20 | All go to one place; all were from dust, and all turned back to dust. |
| 3:21 | Who shall know the spirit of the sons of man? it ascending to above, and the spirit of cattle, it going downwards to the earth. |
| 3:22 | And I saw that no good more than that man shall rejoice in his works; for this is his portion: for who shall bring him to look upon what shall be after him? |
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.