Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 46:1 | Bel bent; Nebo bowed down; their images were for the beast and for the cattle: your gifts were carried; a lifting up to the weary. |
| 46:2 | They bowed down, they bent together; they were not able to deliver the burden and their soul went into captivity. |
| 46:3 | Hear to me, ye house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, being carried from the belly, being lifted up from the womb: |
| 46:4 | find even to old age I am he; and even to grayness I will bear; I made and I will lift up, and I will bear, and I will deliver. |
| 46:5 | To whom will ye liken me and make equal? and compare me and we shall be like? |
| 46:6 | Squandering gold out of the bag and they will weigh silver in the balance, they will hire a founder, and he will make it a god: they will fall down, they will also worship |
| 46:7 | They will lift him up upon the shoulder, they will carry him, they will set him down in his place and he will stand; from his place he shall not depart: also he will cry out to him and he will not answer; he will not save him from his straits |
| 46:8 | Remember this, shew yourselves men: turn back, ye transgressing, upon the heart |
| 46:9 | Remember the former things from forever: for I am God and no god besides, and none like me. |
| 46:10 | Announcing the last part from the beginning, and from of old what was not done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my delight: |
| 46:11 | Calling a ravenous beast from the sunrising, from a land afar off a man of my counsel: also I spake, also I will bring it; I formed, also I will do it. |
| 46:12 | Hear to me, ye strong of heart, being far from justice. |
| 46:13 | I brought near my justice; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not delay: and I gave salvation in Zion for Israel my beauty. |
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.