Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 31:1 | In that time, says Jehovah, I will be for God to all the families of Israel, and they shall be to me for a people. |
| 31:2 | Thus said Jehovah, The people escaped of the sword found grace in the desert; Israel going to cause him to rest |
| 31:3 | Jehovah was seen to me from afar off; and I loved thee an eternal love: for this I drew thee in kindness. |
| 31:4 | I will yet build thee, and thou wert built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt yet be adorned with the tabret, and thou wentest forth into the dance of those playing. |
| 31:5 | Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Shomeron: they planting, planted, and they made common |
| 31:6 | For there is a day they watching upon mount Ephraim called, Arise ye, and we will go up to Zion to Jehovah our God. |
| 31:7 | For thus said Jehovah, Shout gladness to Jacob, and cry aloud to the head of the nations: cause ye to be heard, praise ye and say, O Jehovah save thy people, the remnant of Israel. |
| 31:8 | Behold me bringing them from the land of the north, and I gathered them from the thighs of the earth, with them the blind and the lame, her being Pregnant, and her bringing forth together: a great convocation shall turn back hither. |
| 31:9 | In weeping will they come, and I will lead them in mercies; I will cause them to go to the streams of waters in a straight way; they shall not stumble in it: for I was to Israel for a father, and Ephraim he is my first-born. |
| 31:10 | Hear the word of Jehovah, ye nations, and announce in the islands from far off, and say, He scattering Israel will gather him, and watch him as the shepherd his flock. |
| 31:11 | For Jehovah redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of the stronger than he. |
| 31:12 | And they came and shouted in the height of Zion, and they flowed together to the goodness of Jehovah, for the grain and for the new wine, and for the oil, and for the sons of the flock and the herd: and their soul was as a watered garden, and they shall not add to pine away any more. |
| 31:13 | Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and old men together: and I turned their mourning to joy, and I comforted them and caused them to rejoice from their sorrow. |
| 31:14 | And I satiated the soul of the priests with fatness and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says Jehovah. |
| 31:15 | Thus said Jehovah, A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping of bitterness; Rachel, weeping for her sons, refused to be comforted for her sons, for they are not |
| 31:16 | Thus said Jehovah, Restrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for there is a reward to thy work, says Jehovah; and they turned back from the land of the enemy. |
| 31:17 | And there is hope to thy latter state, says Jehovah, and thy sons turned back to their bound. |
| 31:18 | Hearing, I heard Ephraim being thrust away: Thou didst correct me, and I shall be corrected as a calf not being taught: turn me back and I shall be turned back, for thou Jehovah my God. |
| 31:19 | For after my being turned back I was comforted; and after my knowing I struck upon the thigh: I was ashamed and also disgraced for I bore the reproach of my youth. |
| 31:20 | Is Ephraim a precious son to me? if a child of delights? for whenever my speaking against him, remembering, I shall remember him yet; for this the bowels were put in motion to me compassionating, I will compassionate him, says Jehovah. |
| 31:21 | Set up to thee thorns, set to thee bitternesses: place thy heart to the highway, the way thou wentest: turn back, O virgin of Israel, turn back to these thy cities. |
| 31:22 | How long wilt thou wander about, O daughter turning away? for Jehovah created a new thing in the earth: A female shall go about a male. |
| 31:23 | Thus said Jehovah of armies, God of Israel: Yet shall they say this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, in my turning back their captivity; Jehovah shall bless thee, thou habitation of justice, thou mountain of holiness |
| 31:24 | And in Judah shall dwell in it, and in all its cities together, husband-men, and they removed with the flock. |
| 31:25 | For I satiated the weary soul, and every soul pining away I filled. |
| 31:26 | Upon this I awoke, and I shall see; and my sleep sweet to me |
| 31:27 | Behold, the days coming, says Jehovah, and I sowed the house of Israel and the house of Judah, the seed of man and the seed of beast. |
| 31:28 | And it was as I watched over them to pluck up and to break down, and to destroy and to cut off, and to break in pieces; so will I watch over them to build and to plant, says Jehovah. |
| 31:29 | In those days they shall no more say, The fathers ate sour grapes and the sons' teeth will be blunted. |
| 31:30 | But each shall die in his iniquity: every man eating the sour grape, his teeth shall become dull. |
| 31:31 | Behold the days coming, says Jehovah, and I cut out the house of Israel and the house of Judah a new covenant |
| 31:32 | Not according to the covenant which I cut out with their fathers in the day I laid hold upon their hand to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt; which they brake my covenant, and I was Lord over them, says Jehovah. |
| 31:33 | For this the covenant that I will cut out with the house of Israel: After those days, says Jehovah; I gave my law in the midst of them, and upon their heart will I write it; and I was to them for God, and they shall be to me for a people. |
| 31:34 | And they shall teach no more a man his neighbor and a man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah: for they all shall know me to their small and even to their great, says Jehovah: for I will forgive their iniquity, and to their sin I will have no more remembrance |
| 31:35 | Thus said Jehovah, giving the sun for light the day, the laws of the moon and the stars for a light the night., causing the sea to tremble, and its waves shall roar; Jehovah of armies his name. |
| 31:36 | If these laws shall depart from my face, says Jehovah, also the seed of Israel shall cease from being a nation before me all the days. |
| 31:37 | Thus said Jehovah: If the heavens from above shall be measured, and the foundations of the earth shall be searched out beneath, I also will reject in all the seed of Israel for all which they did, says Jehovah. |
| 31:38 | Behold the days, says Jehovah, and the city was built to Jehovah, from the tower of Hananeel, even to the gate of the corner. |
| 31:39 | And the line of measure shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and it went about Goath. |
| 31:40 | And all the valley of the carcasses and the ashes, and all the fields even to the torrent Kidron, even to the corner of the gate of horses, from the sunrising, a holy place to Jehovah; it shall not be plucked up, and it shall no more be destroyed forever. |
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.