Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 8:1 | In that time, says Jehovah, and they shall bring forth the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his chiefs, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves: |
| 8:2 | And they spread them to the sun and to the moon, and to all the army of the heavens which they loved, and which they served, and which they, went after, and which they sought and which they worshiped to them: they shall not be gathered and they shall not be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth. |
| 8:3 | And death was chosen above life to all the remnant of those being left from this evil family, in all the places being left where I cast them out there, says Jehovah of armies. |
| 8:4 | And say to them, Thus said Jehovah, Shall they fall and not rise? if he shall turn back, and not turn back? |
| 8:5 | Wherefore did this people of Jerusalem turn away a continual turning away? they laid hold upon deceit; they refused to turn back. |
| 8:6 | I hearkened and I will hear, they shall not speak thus: no man lamented for his evil, saying, What did I? Every one turned back in his race as the horse rushing into battle. |
| 8:7 | Also the stork in the heavens knew her appointment; and the turtle-dove, and the swallow, and the twitterer watched the time of their coming; and my people knew not the judgment of Jehovah. |
| 8:8 | How shall ye say, We are wise, and the law of Jehovah with us? Behold, surely for falsehood he made the style of the scribes a lie. |
| 8:9 | The wise were ashamed, they were confounded, and they will be taken: behold, they rejected in the word of Jehovah; and what wisdom to them? |
| 8:10 | For this I will give their wives to others; their fields to those inheriting them: for from small and even to great all plundering a plunder, from the prophet and even to the priest, all did falsehood. |
| 8:11 | And they will heal the breaking of the daughter of my people by making light of, saying, Peace, peace; and no peace. |
| 8:12 | Were they ashamed when they did abomination? also shaming they will not be ashamed, and they knew not to feel shame: for this they shall fall among the falling: in the time of their reviewing they shall faint, said Jehovah. |
| 8:13 | Destroying, I will destroy them, says Jehovah; no grapes upon the vine, and no figs upon the fig-tree, and the leaf fell away; and what I shall give to them shall pass by them. |
| 8:14 | For what are we sitting? gather ye together and we will go into the fortified cities, and we shall be silent there: for Jehovah our God caused us to cease, and he will give us to drink the water of poison, for we sinned against Jehovah. |
| 8:15 | Hoping for peace, and no good; for a time of healing, and behold, terror. |
| 8:16 | From Dan was heard the snorting of his horses; from the voice of the neighings of his strong ones all the land trembled: and they will come and cut up the land, and its fulness; the city and those dwelling in it |
| 8:17 | For behold me sending serpents, vipers among you, which to them no hissing, and they bit you, says Jehovah. |
| 8:18 | Because I afflicted not sorrow upon myself, my heart was sick upon me. |
| 8:19 | Behold the voice of the cry for help of the daughter of my people from the land of those being far off: is not Jehovah in Zion? or her king not in her? wherefore did they irritate me with their carved images, with strange vanities? |
| 8:20 | The harvest passed by, the summer was completed, and we were not saved. |
| 8:21 | For the breaking of the daughter of my people was I broken; I was darkened; astonishment took hold of me. |
| 8:22 | Is there no balsam in Gilead, or healing there? for wherefore did not the health of the daughter of my people go up? |
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.