Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 9:1 | For all this I gave to my heart, and to examine all this, that the just and the wise and their works are in the hand of God: also love, also hatred, no man shall know of all before them. |
| 9:2 | All according to all: one event to the just one and to the unjust one; to the good one and to the clean one, and to the unclean one; to him sacrificing and to him not sacrificing: as the good one, so the sinning one; he swearing, as he who shall fear an oath. |
| 9:3 | This an evil in all being done under the sun, thus one event is to all: and also the heart of the sons of man being full of evil, and folly in their heart in their living, and after it to their deaths. |
| 9:4 | For whoever shall choose to all the living there is hope: for to a living dog it is good above a dead lion. |
| 9:5 | For the living know they shall die: and the dead know not any thing, and no more to them a reward; for their remembrance was forgotten. |
| 9:6 | Also their love, also their hatred, also their envy perished already; and no more portion to them forever in all which was done under the sun. |
| 9:7 | Go eat in joy thy bread, and drink thy wine in a good heart; for already God was satisfied with thy works. |
| 9:8 | In all time thy garments shall be white; and ointment shall not be wanting upon thy head. |
| 9:9 | See life with the wife which thou didst love all the days of the life of thy vanity which he gave to thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for this thy portion in life, and in thy labor which thou laborest under the sun. |
| 9:10 | All which thy hand shall find to do, with thy strength, do thou; for no work and understanding and knowledge and wisdom, in hades where thou goest there. |
| 9:11 | I turned back, and saw under the sun that not to the fleet the race, and the war not to the strong, and also not to the wise, bread; and also not to the understanding ones, riches; and also not to the knowing, favor; for time and chance will light upon all of them. |
| 9:12 | For also man knew not his time: as the fishes being laid hold of in an evil net, and as the birds laid hold of in the snare, as they, the sons of men being snared for an evil time, as it will fall upon them suddenly. |
| 9:13 | Also this I saw, the wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me: |
| 9:14 | A little city, and men in it few; and a great king came against it, and surrounded it, and built against it great entrenchments: |
| 9:15 | And a poor wise man was found in it, and he delivered the city by his wisdom; and not a man remembered that poor man. |
| 9:16 | And I said, Wisdom is good above strength: and the wisdom of the poor one was despised, and his words not heard. |
| 9:17 | The words of the wise being heard in quiet more than the cry of him ruling among the foolish. |
| 9:18 | Wisdom is good above the instruments of encounter: and one sinning will destroy much good. |
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.