Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 34:1 | The word that was to Jeremiah from Jehovah and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel, and all his strength, and all the kingdoms of the earth, the dominion of his hand, and all the peoples warring against Jerusalem, and against all its cities, saying |
| 34:2 | Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, Go and say to Zedekiah king of Judah, and say to him, Thus said Jehovah, Behold me giving this city into the band of the king of Babel, and he burnt it with fire. |
| 34:3 | And thou shalt not escape from his hand, for being seized, thou shalt be seized and be given into his hand; and thine eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babel, and his mouth shall speak to thy mouth, and thou shalt go to Babel. |
| 34:4 | But hear the word of Jehovah, O Zedekiah, king of Judah: Thus said Jehovah concerning thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword: |
| 34:5 | In peace shalt thou die; and with the burnings of thy fathers the former kings which were before thee, thus shall they burn for thee; and, Alas, Lord they shall mourn for thee; for I spake the word, says Jehovah. |
| 34:6 | And Jeremiah the prophet will speak to Zedekiah king of Judah all these words in Jerusalem. |
| 34:7 | And the strength of the king of Babel warred against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah being left against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these remained of the cities of Judah, fortified cities. |
| 34:8 | The word which was to Jeremiah from Jehovah after king Zedekiah cut out a covenant with all the people which were in Jerusalem, to call to them liberty; |
| 34:9 | For a man to send away his servant, and a man his maid, the Hebrew or the Hebrewess, free; for a man not to serve with them with a Jew his brother. |
| 34:10 | And all the chiefs will hear, and all the people which came into the covenant, to send away a man his servant and a man his maid, free, no more to serve with them, and they will hear and will send away. |
| 34:11 | And they will turn back after this, and they will cause their servants and their maids to turn back whom they sent away free, and they subdued them for servants and for maids. |
| 34:12 | And the word of Jehovah will be to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, |
| 34:13 | Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, I cut out a covenant with your fathers in the day of my bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of servants, saying, |
| 34:14 | From the end of seven years ye shall send away a man his brother, the Hebrew who shall be sold to thee, and serving thee six years, and send him away free from thee; and your fathers heard not to me and inclined not their ear |
| 34:15 | And ye will turn back to-day and do the straight in mine eyes, to call liberty a man to his neighbor; and ye will cut out a covenant before me in the house which my name was called upon it |
| 34:16 | And ye will turn back and pollute my name, and ye will cause to turn back a man his servant and a man his maid, whom ye sent away free to their soul, and ye will subdue them to be to you for servants and for maids |
| 34:17 | For this, thus said Jehovah, Ye heard not to me to call liberty, a man to his brother and a man to his neighbor behold me calling to you lliberty, says Jehovah, to the sword, to the death and to the famine; and I gave you for agitation to all the kingdoms of the earth. |
| 34:18 | And I gave the men passing by my covenant who raised not up the words of the covenant which they cut out before me, the calf which they cut in two, and they will pass through between its parts. |
| 34:19 | The chiefs of Judah, and the chiefs of Jerusalem, the eunuchs and the priests, and all the people of the land passing between the parts of the calf. |
| 34:20 | And I gave them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those seeking their soul; and their corpses were for food to the birds of the heavens and to the beasts of the earth. |
| 34:21 | And Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his chiefs, I will give into the hand of their enemies, and, into the hand of those seeking their soul, and into the hand of the army of the king of Babel going up from you. |
| 34:22 | Behold me commanding, says Jehovah; and I turned them back to this city, and they warred against it and took it, and burnt it in fire: and the cities of Judah will I give to desolation from none inhabiting. |
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.