Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 38:1 | And Shephatiah son of Mattan, will hear, and Gedaliah son of Pashur, and Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashur son of Malchiah, the words which Jeremiah was speaking to all the people, saying, |
| 38:2 | Thus said Jehovah, He dwelling in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by death; and he going forth to the Chaldeans shall live; and his soul was to him for booty, and he lived. |
| 38:3 | Thus said Jehovah, Being given, this city shall be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babel, and he took it. |
| 38:4 | And the chiefs will say to the king, Now shall this man be put to death: for thus he is relaxing the hands of the men of war remaining in this city, and the hands of all the people to speak to them according to these words; for this man sought not for peace to this people but for evil. |
| 38:5 | And king Zedekiah will say, Behold him in your hands; for the king will not be able a word with you. |
| 38:6 | And they will take Jeremiah and send him to the pit of Malchiah son of the king which was in the enclosure of the prison: and they will cast Jeremiah with cords, and in the pit no water but mud: and Jeremiah will sink in the mud. |
| 38:7 | And the king's servant, the Cushite, a man, an eunuch, will hear, and he in the house of the king, that they gave Jeremiah to the pit; and the king sitting in the gate of Benjamin. |
| 38:8 | And the king's servant went forth from the house of the king, and he will speak to the king, saying, |
| 38:9 | My lord the king, these men did evil all which they did to Jeremiah the prophet whom they cast into the pit; and he will die in his low place from the face of hunger, for no more bread in the city. |
| 38:10 | And the king will command the king's servant the Cushite, saying, Take in thy hand from here thirty men, and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the pit before he shall die. |
| 38:11 | And the king's servant will take the men in his hand and go to the house of the king under the store-house, and he will take from thence old torn rags, and rags rubbed small, and he will cast them to Jeremiah into the pit with cords. |
| 38:12 | And the king's servant the Cashite will say to Jeremiah, Put now the old rags torn and rubbed small, under the joints of thy hands from under the cords; and Jeremiah will do so. |
| 38:13 | And they will draw up Jeremiah with the cords, and bring him up out of the pit: and Jeremiah dwelt in the enclosure of the prison. |
| 38:14 | And king Zedekiah will send and take Jeremiah the prophet to him to the third entrance which was in the house of Jehovah; and the king will say to Jeremiah, I ask thee a word; thou shalt not hide a word from me. |
| 38:15 | And Jeremiah will say to Zedekiah, If I shall announce to thee, killing, wilt thou not put me to death? and if I shall counsel thee, thou wilt not hear to me? |
| 38:16 | And king Zedekiah will swear to Jeremiah in secret, saying, Jehovah lives who made to us this soul, if I shall put thee to death, and if I shall give thee into the hand of these men who are seeking thy soul |
| 38:17 | And Jeremiah will say to Zedekiah, Thus said Jehovah, God of armies, God of Israel, If going forth, thou wilt go forth to the chiefs of the king of Babel, and thy soul lived, and this city shall not be burnt with fire; and thou livedst and thy house: |
| 38:18 | And if thou wilt not go forth to the chiefs of the king of Babel, and this city was given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they burnt it with fire, and thou shalt not escape from their hand. |
| 38:19 | And king Zedekiah will say to Jeremiah, I fear the Jews who fell to the Chaldeans, lest they shall give me into their hand and they illtreated me. |
| 38:20 | And Jeremiah will say, They shall not give. Hear, now, to the voice of Jehovah for which I speak to thee: and it shall be well to thee, and thy soul shall live. |
| 38:21 | And if thou refuse to go forth, this the word which Jehovah caused me to see: |
| 38:22 | And behold, all the women which were left in the house of the king of Judah being brought forth to the chiefs of the king of Babel, and they say, The men of thy peace enticed thee, and they prevailed against thee: they sank thy foot in mire, they turned away back. |
| 38:23 | And all thy women and all thy sons being brought forth to the Chaldeans: and thou shalt not escape from their hand, for thou shalt be seized by the hand of the king of Babel: and thou shalt burn this city with fire. |
| 38:24 | And Zedekiah will say to Jeremiah, No man shall know of these words, and thou shalt not die. |
| 38:25 | And if the chiefs shall hear that I spake with thee, and they came to thee, and said to thee, Announce now to us what thou spakest to the king; thou shalt not hide from us, and we will not put thee to death; and what said the king to thee: |
| 38:26 | And say thou to them, I cause my supplication to fall before the king, not to turn me back to the house of Jonathan, to die there. |
| 38:27 | And all the chiefs will come to Jeremiah, and they will ask him: and he will announce to them according to all these words which the king commanded. And they will be silent from him, for the word was not heard. |
| 38:28 | And Jeremiah dwelt in the enclosure of the prison even to the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was when Jerusalem was taken. |
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.