Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 52:1 | Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion; put on the garments of thy glory, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for the uncircumcised shall no more add to come into thee, and the unclean. |
| 52:2 | Shake thyself from dust: arise, sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bonds of thy neck, thou captive daughter of Zion. |
| 52:3 | For thus said Jehovah, Ye sold yourselves gratuitously, and ye shall not be redeemed with silver. |
| 52:4 | Thus said the Lord Jehovah, My people at first went down to Egypt to sojourn there, and Assur oppressed them for nothing. |
| 52:5 | And now what to me here, says Jehovah, that my people were taken gratuitously? ruling, they will cause to give a sharp sound, says Jehovah; and continually all the day my name being despised. |
| 52:6 | For this, my people shall know my name: for this in that day, for I am he speaking: behold me. |
| 52:7 | How exalted upon the mountains the feet of him announcing good news, causing peace to be beard: announcing good news of good, causing salvation to be heard; saying to Zion, Thy God reigns! |
| 52:8 | They watching thee lifted up the voice; the voice together they will shout: for they shall see eye to eye in Jehovah's turning back Zion. |
| 52:9 | Break forth into joy, shout together, ye wastes of Jerusalem, for Jehovah comforted his people, he redeemed Jerusalem. |
| 52:10 | Jehovah uncovered his holy arm to the eyes of all nations, and all the ends of the earth saw the salvation of our God. |
| 52:11 | Turn aside, turn aside, come ye forth from thence; ye shall not touch the unclean thing; come forth from the midst of her; be separated ye lifting up the vessels of Jehovah. |
| 52:12 | For ye shall not come forth with haste, and in flight ye shall not go; for Jehovah goes before you, and he gathering you the God of Israel. |
| 52:13 | Behold, my servant shall be wise, he shall be exalted, and lifted up, and be high exceedingly. |
| 52:14 | As many were astonished at thee, his appearance being so spoiled from man, and his form from the sons of men. |
| 52:15 | So shall he cause many nations to rejoice for him; kings shall shut their mouth; for what was not recounted to them they saw; and what they heard not, they considered. |
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.