Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 40:1 | The word which was to Jeremiah from Jehovah after Nebuzaradan chief of the cooks sent him from Ramah, in his taking him, he being bound in manacles in the midst of all the captivity of Jerusalem and Judah, being carried away captive to Babel. |
| 40:2 | And the chief of the cooks will take to Jeremiah and say to him, Jehovah thy God spake this evil against this place. |
| 40:3 | And Jehovah will bring and do as he spake: because ye sinned against Jehovah, and ye heard not to his voice, and this word was to you. |
| 40:4 | And now behold I loosed thee this day from the manacles which were upon thy hand. If good in thine eyes to go with me to Babel, come; and I will set mine eye upon thee: and if evil in thine eyes to go with me to Babel, desist: see all the land before thee: if good and for the straight in thine eyes to go, go. |
| 40:5 | And while he will not turn back, And turn back to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babel appointed over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him in the midst of the people: or to all the straight in thine eyes to go, go. And the chief of the cooks: will give to him a portion and a gift, and he will send him away. |
| 40:6 | And Jeremiah will go to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, to Mizpeh, and he will dwell with him in the midst of the people being left in the land. |
| 40:7 | And all the chiefs of the armies which were in the field, they and their men will hear, for the king of Babel appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam over the land, and that he committed to him the men and the women and children and the poor of the land from whom they were not carried away captive to Babel. |
| 40:8 | And they will come to Gedaliah to Mizpeh, and Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan, sons of Kareah, and Seraiah, son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah son of the Maachathite, they and their men. |
| 40:9 | And Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, will swear to them and to their men, saying, Ye shall not fear serving the Chaldeans: dwell in the land and serve the king of Babel, and it shall be well to you. |
| 40:10 | And I, behold me dwelling in Mizpeh to stand before the Chaldeans who will come to us: and ye, gather ye Wine, and the fruit harvest, and oil, and put in your vessels, and dwell in your cities which ye took |
| 40:11 | And also all the Jews which are in Moab, and among the sons of Ammon, and in Edom, and in the lands, heard that the king of Babel gave a remnant to Judah, and that he appointed over them Gedaliah son of Alukam, son of Shaphan. |
| 40:12 | And all the Jews from all the places where they were thrust out there will turn back, and they will come to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, to Mizpeh, and they will gather wine and the fruit harvest exceeding much. |
| 40:13 | Johanan son of Kareah, and all the chiefs of the armies which were in the field came to Gedaliah to Mizpeh. |
| 40:14 | And they will say to him, Knowing, wilt thou know that Baalis, king of the sons of Ammon sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to strike thee in soul? And Gedaliah son of Ahikam believed not in them. |
| 40:15 | And Johanan son of Kareah said to Gedaliah in Mizpeh, in secret, saying, I will go now and strike Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know: wherefore shall he strike the soul, and all the Jews gathered to thee be scattered, and the remnant of Judah perish? |
| 40:16 | And Gedaliah son of Ahikam will say to Johanan son of Kareah, Thou shalt not do this word, for thou speakest falsehood concerning Ishmael. |
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.