Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 14:1 | The word of Jehovah which was to Jeremiah concerning the words of the drought. |
| 14:2 | Judah mourned and her gates languished; they were darkened to the earth, and the outcry of Jerusalem went up. |
| 14:3 | And their great ones sent their small ones to the waters; they came to the wells, they found no water; they turned back their vessels empty; they were ashamed and disgraced, and they covered their head. |
| 14:4 | For the land was broken, for there was no rain in the land; the husband-men were ashamed, they covered their head. |
| 14:5 | For also the hind brought forth in the field, and forsook, for there was no grass. |
| 14:6 | And the wild asses stood upon the naked hills, they panted after the wind as the jackals; their eyes failed because no grass. |
| 14:7 | If our iniquities answered against us, O Jehovah, do for sake of thy name: for our turnings back were many; we sinned against thee. |
| 14:8 | The hope of Israel, saving him in time of straits, wherefore wilt thou be as a sojourner in the earth, and as a traveler turning aside to lodge? |
| 14:9 | Wherefore shalt thou be as a man struck dumb? as a strong one he shall not be able to save? and thou in the midst of us, O Jehovah, and thy name was called upon us; thou wilt not leave us. |
| 14:10 | Thus said Jehovah to this people, Thus they loved to wander, they restrained not their feet, and Jehovah accepted them not; now will he remember their iniquity and he will review their sin. |
| 14:11 | And Jehovah will say to me, Thou shalt not pray for this people for good. |
| 14:12 | When they shall fast I hear not their outcry; and when they shall bring up a burnt-offering and gift, I accept them not; for with the sword and by famine and by death I consume them. |
| 14:13 | And saying, Ah, Lord Jehovah! behold, the prophets saying to them, Ye shall not see the sword, and famine shall not be to you; for the peace of truth will I give to you in this place. |
| 14:14 | And Jehovah will say to me, The prophets are prophesying a lie in my name: I sent them not, and I commanded them not, and I spake not to them: a vision of falsehood and a divination, and nought, and the deceit of their heart they are prophesying to you. |
| 14:15 | For this, thus said Jehovah concerning the prophets prophesying in my name, and I sent them not, and they saying, The sword and famine shall not be in this land; by the sword and by famine shall these prophets die. |
| 14:16 | And the people which they are prophesying to them shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, from the face of the famine and the sword; and none to them burying them, their wives and their sons and their daughters; and I poured their evil upon them. |
| 14:17 | And say to them this word: Mine eyes shall bring down tears night and day, and they shall not rest: for the virgin daughter of my people was broken with a great breaking, a very sickly wound. |
| 14:18 | If I shall go forth into the field, and behold, the wounded of the sword and if I came into the city, and behold, they shall be sick with famine for also the prophet, also the priest went about to a land they knew not |
| 14:19 | Rejecting, didst thou reject Judah? if thy soul abhorred in Zion? wherefore didst thou smite us, and no healing to us? waiting for peace, and no good; and for a time of healing, and behold terror. |
| 14:20 | We knew, O Jehovah, our evil, the iniquity of our fathers: for we sinned to thee. |
| 14:21 | Thou wilt not despise us; for sake of thy name, thou wilt not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, thou wilt not break thy covenant with us. |
| 14:22 | Is there among the vanities of the nations those causing ruin? and if the heavens will give showers? Art not thou he, Jehovah our God? And we will wait for thee: for thou didst make all these. |
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.