Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 29:1 | Wo to Ariel, Ariel, the city David encamped in! add ye year upon year; the festivals shall run their circle. |
| 29:2 | And I pressed upon Ariel, and there was sorrow and sighing, and it was to me as Ariel. |
| 29:3 | And I encamped as a circle upon thee, and I pressed upon thee with a garrison, and I raised intrenchments against thee. |
| 29:4 | And thou being brought down, thou shalt speak from the earth, and thy word shall be depressed out of the dust, and thy voice as a necromancer from the earth, and thy saying Shall peep from the dust |
| 29:5 | And the multitude of thy strangers was as the thin dust, and Its the chaff passing away, the multitude of the terrible ones: and it was at a moment suddenly. |
| 29:6 | From Jehovah of armies shalt thou be reviewed, with thunder and with shaking, and a great voice, whirlwind and storm, and the flames of consuming fire. |
| 29:7 | And it was as a dream of a vision of the night, the multitude of all the nations warring against Ariel and all warring against her and her fastnesses, and those pressing upon her. |
| 29:8 | And it was as when the hungry shall dream, and behold, he ate; and he awoke and his soul was empty: and as when the thirsty shall dream, and behold, he drank, and he awoke, and behold, he fainted, and his soul desired: thus shall be the multitude of all the nations warring against mount Zion. |
| 29:9 | Linger ye, and wonder; delight yourselves, and be ye blinded; they were drunken and not with wine; they reeled and not with strong drink. |
| 29:10 | For Jehovah poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and he will close your eyes: the prophets and your heads, the seeing he covered. |
| 29:11 | And the vision of all will be to you as the words of the book being sealed, which they shall give to him, to him knowing writing, saying, Read now, this: and he said, I shall not be able, for it was sealed. |
| 29:12 | And the book was given to him not knowing writing, saying, Read now, this: and he said, I know not writing. |
| 29:13 | And Jehovah will say, Because that this people drew near with their month, and honored me with their lips, and their heart was far from me, and their fear towards me shall be taught from the command of men. |
| 29:14 | For this, behold me adding to be wonderful with this people, dealing wonderfully and being a wonder: and the wisdom of their wise perished, and the understanding of their understanding ones shall be hid. |
| 29:15 | Wo to those making deep to hide counsel from Jehovah, and their work was in darkness, and they will say, Who saw us? and who knew us? |
| 29:16 | Shall not your perverting be reckoned as the potter's clay? for shall the work say to him making it, He made me not? andhebeing formed, say to him forming, He understood not? |
| 29:17 | Is it not yet a very little and Lebanon turned back to Carmel, and Carmel shall be reckoned for a forest? |
| 29:18 | In that day the deaf heard the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of thick darkness, and darkness. |
| 29:19 | And the humble shall add joy in Jehovah, and the poor of men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. |
| 29:20 | For the terrible one ceased, the mocker was consumed, and they watching vanity were cut off: |
| 29:21 | Leading a man into sin by a word, and laying snares for him doing justice in the gate, and they will turn aside the just one by vanity. |
| 29:22 | For this, thus said Jehovah, to the house of Jacob, who redeemed Abraham, Jacob shall not now be ashamed and his face shall not now become pale. |
| 29:23 | For in his seeing his children, the work of my hand, in his midst, they shall consecrate my name, and consecrate the Holy One of Jacob, and they shall fear the God of Israel. |
| 29:24 | And they going astray shall know understanding, and they murmuring shall learn knowledge. |
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.