Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 20:1 | And Pashur, son of Immer the priest, and he appointed overseer of the house of Jehovah, will hear Jeremiah prophesying these words. |
| 20:2 | And Pashur will strike Jeremiah the prophet and give him upon the stocks which were in the gate of Benjamin the highest, which were in the house of Jehovah. |
| 20:3 | And it will be on the morrow, and Pashur will bring forth Jeremiah from the stocks. And Jeremiah will say to him, Jehovah called not thy name Pashur, but Terror from round about. |
| 20:4 | For thus said Jehovah, Behold me giving thee for terror to thyself and to all loving thee; and they fell by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes seeing: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babel, and he carried them captive to Babel, and be struck them with the sword. |
| 20:5 | And I gave all the strength of this city, and all her labors, and everything precious of hers, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, and they spoiled them, and took them and brought them to Babel. |
| 20:6 | And thou, Pashur, and all dwelling in thy house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babel, and thou shalt die there, and there shalt thou be buried, and all those loving thee to whom thou didst prophesy to them in falsehood. |
| 20:7 | Thou didst persuade me, O Jehovah, and I shall be persuaded: thou didst hold me fast, and thou wilt prevail: I was for a derision all the day, all mocking to me. |
| 20:8 | For as often as I shall speak I shall cry; violence and oppression I shall call; for the word of Jehovah was to me for a reproach and for a derision all the day. |
| 20:9 | And I said, I will not bring him to remembrance, and I will no more speak in his name. And it was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was wearied to endure, and I shall not be able. |
| 20:10 | For I heard the slander of many, terror from round about Announce ye, and we will announce. Every man of my peace watching my halting: perhaps he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we will take our vengeance of him. |
| 20:11 | And Jehovah is with me as a strong terrible one: for this, they pursuing shall be weak, and they shall not prevail; they were greatly ashamed, for they prospered not; perpetual shame shall not be forgotten. |
| 20:12 | And Jehovah of armies trying the just, seeing the reins and the heart, I shall see thy vengeance of them: for to thee I uncovered my cause. |
| 20:13 | Sing ye to Jehovah, praise ye Jehovah: for he delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of those doing evil. |
| 20:14 | Cursed the day which I was born in it; the day which my mother brought me forth shall not be blessed. |
| 20:15 | Cursed the man who announced to my father, Good news; saying, A son, a male was born to thee; with rejoicing, making him rejoice. |
| 20:16 | And that man being as the cities which Jehovah overthrew, and lamented not: and hearing the cry in the morning and the loud noise in time of noon. |
| 20:17 | Because he killed me not from the womb, and my mother will be to me my grave, and her womb pregnant forever. |
| 20:18 | Wherefore this came I forth from the womb to see labor and sorrow, and my days shall be finished with shame? |
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.