Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 31:1 | And it will be in the eleventh year, in the third, in one to the month, the word of Jehovah was to me, saying, |
| 31:2 | Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude: To whom wert thou like in thy greatness? |
| 31:3 | Behold, Assur a cedar in Lebanon, fair of branch, and a shading thicket, and high of stature; and his foliage was between the thick boughs. |
| 31:4 | The water made him great, the deep raised him up with her rivers going round about her planting, and she sent forth her channels to all the trees of the field. |
| 31:5 | For this his height was lifted up more than all the trees of the field, and his boughs will be multiplied, and his branches will be extended from many waters, in his sending forth. |
| 31:6 | And all the birds of the heavens nested in his boughs, under his branches all the of the field brought forth, and in his shadow dwelt all the great nations. |
| 31:7 | And he was fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by many waters. |
| 31:8 | The cedars did not hide him in the garden of God: the cypresses were not like to his boughs, and the plane trees were not as his branches; every tree in the garden of God was not like to him in his beauty. |
| 31:9 | I made him fair by the multitude of his branches, and all the trees of Eden which are in the garden of God will envy him. |
| 31:10 | For this, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because thou wert lifted up in height, and he will give his foliage between the thick boughs, and his heart was lifted up in his height; |
| 31:11 | And I will give him into the hand of the God of the nations; he shall do his doing to him: I drove him out for his injustice. |
| 31:12 | And strangers, the terrible of the nations, shall cut him off and cast him down: upon the mountains and in all the galleys his branches fell, and his boughs shall be broken by all the torrents of the land; and all the people of the land shall go down from his shadow, and will cast him down. |
| 31:13 | Upon his fall shall all the fowls of the heavens sit, and upon his branches were all the beasts of the field: |
| 31:14 | So that all the trees of the waters shall not be lifted up in height, and they shall not give their foliage between the thick boughs, and all they drinking water shall not stand upon them in their height: for they all were given to death, to the earth underneath, in the midst of the sons of man, to those going down to the pit |
| 31:15 | Thus said the Lord Jehovah: In the day of his going down to hades caused to mourn: I covered the deep over him, and I shall restrain its floods, and many waters shall be withheld: and I will cause Lebanon to be darkened for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. |
| 31:16 | From the voice of his fall I caused the nations to tremble, in my causing him to go down to hades with those going down to the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and good of Lebanon, all drinking water and they shall be comforted in the earth underneath. |
| 31:17 | They also went down with him to hades, to those being wounded with the sword; and his arm they dwelt in his shadow in the midst of the nations. |
| 31:18 | To whom wert thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Men? and thou wert brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth underneath: in the midst of the uncircumcised thou shalt lie, with the wounded of the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord 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.