Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 62:1 | For sake of Zion I will not be silent, and for sake of Jerusalem I will not rest till its justice shall go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a flame shall burn. |
| 62:2 | And the nations shall see thy justice, and all kings thy glory: and a new name shall be called to thee which the mouth of Jehovah shall name it |
| 62:3 | And thou wert a crown of glory in the hand of Jehovah, and a tiara of royalty in the hand of thy God. |
| 62:4 | It shall no more be said to thee, Forsaken; and to thy land it shall no more be said, Desolation; for it shall be called to thee, My delight in her, and to thy land, Married: for Jehovah delighted in thee, and thy land shall be married. |
| 62:5 | As a young man will marry a virgin, thy sons shall marry thee: and the bridegroom rejoicing over the bride, thy God will rejoice over thee. |
| 62:6 | I appointed those watching over thy walls, O Jerusalem: all the day and all the night continually they shall not be silent: ye remembering Jehovah, no stillness to you. |
| 62:7 | And ye shall not give rest to him till he shall prepare, and till he shall set Jerusalem a praise in the earth. |
| 62:8 | Jehovah sware by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, If I shall give more thy grain for food to thine enemies, and if the sons of the stranger shall drink thy new wine which thou didst labor for it: |
| 62:9 | For they gathering it shall eat it, and praise Jehovah; and they collecting it shall drink it in the enclosures of my holy place. |
| 62:10 | Pass through, pass through in the gates; clear ye the way of the people; lift up, lift up the highway; free it from stone; raise up a signal for the peoples. |
| 62:11 | Behold, Jehovah caused to be heard to the extremity of the earth, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation coming: behold, his reward with him, and his work before his face. |
| 62:12 | And they called to them, The holy people, redeemed of Jehovah: and it shall be called to thee, A city sought for: not forsaken. |
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.