Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 39:1 | in the ninth year to Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel, and all his army, against Jerusalem, and they pressed upon her. |
| 39:2 | In the eleventh year to Zedekiah, in the fourth month, in the ninth to the month, the city was broken. |
| 39:3 | And all the chiefs of the king of Babel will come and sit in the middle gate, Nergal-Sarezer, Samgar-Nebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sharezer, Rab-Mag, and all the remainder of the chiefs of the king of Babel. |
| 39:4 | And it will be as Zedekiah king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, and they will flee and go forth at night from the city the way of the king's garden, in the gate between the two walls: and he will go forth the way of the desert |
| 39:5 | And the army of the Chaldeans will pursue after them, and they will overtake Zedekiah in the sterile region of Jericho, and they will take him and bring him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel, to Riblah in the hand of Hamath, and he will speak with him judgments. |
| 39:6 | And the king of Babel will slaughter the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: and all the nobles of Judah the king of Babel slaughtered. |
| 39:7 | And he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah, and he will bind him with fetters of brass to bring him to Babel. |
| 39:8 | And the Chaldeans burnt the house of the king, and the house of the people, with fire, and they broke the walls of Jerusalem. |
| 39:9 | And the remainder of the people being left in the city, and those falling away which fell to him, and the remainder of the people being left, Nebuzaradan chief of the cooks, carried away captive to Babel. |
| 39:10 | And from the weak people which to them was nothing, Nebuzaradan chief of the cooks left in the land of Judah, and he will give to them vineyards and fields in that day. |
| 39:11 | And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel will command concerning Jeremiah by the hand of Nebuzaradan chief of the cooks, saying, |
| 39:12 | Take him and set thine eyes upon him, and thou shalt do to him nothing evil; but as he shall speak to thee thus do to him. |
| 39:13 | And Nebuzaradan chief of the cooks will send, and Nebushasban, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sharezer, Rab-Mag, and all the chiefs of the king of Babel; |
| 39:14 | And they will send and take Jeremiah from the enclosure of the prison and they will give him to Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, to carry him forth to the house: and he will dwell in the midst of the people. |
| 39:15 | And to Jeremiah was the word of Jehovah in his being shut up in the enclosure of the prison, saying, |
| 39:16 | Go and say to the king's servant the Cushite, saying, Thus said Jehovah of armies, God of Israel, Behold me bringing my words to this city for evil and not for good; and they were in that day before thee. |
| 39:17 | And I delivered thee in that day, says Jehovah: and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men thou wilt be afraid of their face. |
| 39:18 | For escaping, I will let thee escape, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, and thy soul was to thee for booty: for thou didst trust in me, says Jehovah. |
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.