Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 49:1 | Hear to me, ye islands, and attend ye people from far off; Jehovah called me from the belly; from my mother's bowels he made mention of my name. |
| 49:2 | And he set my mouth as a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me, and he will set me for a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me. |
| 49:3 | And he will say to me, Thou my servant, Israel, whom I will be honored in thee. |
| 49:4 | And I said, I labored in vain, for emptiness; and I finish my strength vainly; surely my judgment is with Jehovah and my work with my God. |
| 49:5 | And now, said Jehovah, forming me from the belly for servant to him to turn back Jacob to him, And Israel shall not be gathered, and I shall be honored in the eyes of Jehovah, and God was my strength. |
| 49:6 | And he will say, It was light thou being to me a servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to turn back the preserved of Israel: and I gave thee for a light of the nations to be my salvation even to the extremity of the earth. |
| 49:7 | Thus said Jehovah redeeming Israel, his Holy One, to the despised of soul, to him being abhorred of the nations, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and princes arose, and they shall worship him for sake of Jehovah who was faithful, the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee. |
| 49:8 | Thus said Jehovah, In a time of acceptance I answered thee, and in the day of salvation I helped thee: and I will guard thee, and I will give thee for a covenant of the people to cause the earth to stand, to cause to inherit the inheritance of desolations, |
| 49:9 | To say to the bound, Go forth; to those in darkness, Uncover yourselves. They shall feed upon the ways, and in all naked hills their pastures. |
| 49:10 | They shall not hunger and they shall not thirst, and the heat shall not strike them, and the sun: for he pitying them shall lead them, and to fountains of water he shall conduct them. |
| 49:11 | And I set all the mountains for a way, and the highways shall be raised up. |
| 49:12 | Behold, these shall come from far off; and behold, these from the north, and from the sea; and these from the land of Sinim. |
| 49:13 | Shout, ye heavens, and rejoice thou earth; and the mountains shall break forth with shouting: for Jehovah comforted his people and he will pity his afflicted. |
| 49:14 | And Zion will say, Jehovah forsook me, and the Lord forgot me. |
| 49:15 | Shall a woman forget her child, from pitying the son of her womb? also these shall forget, and I shall not forget thee. |
| 49:16 | Behold, upon the palms I engraved thee; thy walls before me continually. |
| 49:17 | Thy sons hastened; they destroying thee and laying thee waste shall come forth from thee. |
| 49:18 | Lift up round about thine eyes and see: they all gathered themselves together, they came to thee. I live, says Jehovah, thou shalt put them all on as an ornament, and thou shalt bind them as a bride. |
| 49:19 | For thy wastes and thy desolations, and the land of thy destruction, for now it shall press for the inhabitants, and they swallowing thee up were far away. |
| 49:20 | Yet shall the sons of thy bereavement say in thine ears, The place is strait to me: draw near to me and I shall dwell. |
| 49:21 | And thou saidst in thy heart, Who begat these to me, and I being bereaved and barren, an exile, and departing? and who caused these to grow? Behold, I was left alone; they, where were they? |
| 49:22 | Thus said the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and to the peoples I will raise up my signal: and they brought thy sons in the bosom, and thy daughters shall be lifted up upon the shoulder. |
| 49:23 | And kings were thy supporters, and princesses thy nurses: their faces to the earth they shall worship to thee, and the dust of thy feet shall they lick up; and thou knewest that I Jehovah, that they shall not be ashamed waiting for me. |
| 49:24 | Shall the prey be taken from the strong? and if the captivity of the just shalt be delivered? |
| 49:25 | For thus said Jehovah, Also the captivity of the strong shall be taken, and the prey of the terrible shall escape: and I will contend with him contending with thee, and thy sons I will save. |
| 49:26 | And I will cause those oppressing thee to eat their own flesh, and they shall drink their blood to the full as new wine: and all flesh shall know that I am Jehovah saving thee, and redeeming thee, the Mighty One of Jacob. |
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.