Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 37:1 | The hand of Jehovah was upon me, and he will bring me forth in the spirit of Jehovah, and he will set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was filled with bones. |
| 37:2 | And he caused me to pass over them round about, round about: and behold, exceeding many upon the face of the valley; and behold, exceedingly dry. |
| 37:3 | And he will say to me, Son of man, shall these bones live? And saying, Thou Lord Jehovah knoweth. |
| 37:4 | And he will say to me, Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, Ye dry bones, hear the word of Jehovah. |
| 37:5 | Thus said the Lord Jehovah to these bones: Behold, I bring upon you the spirit, and ye lived. |
| 37:6 | And I gave sinews upon you, and I brought up flesh upon you, and I drew skin over you, and I gave spirit in you, and ye lived; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. |
| 37:7 | And I prophesied as I was commanded: and there will be a voice as I prophesied, and behold a shaking, the bones will draw near, bone to his bone. |
| 37:8 | And I saw and behold, upon them sinews and flesh came up, and the skin will draw over them from above: and no spirit in them. |
| 37:9 | And he will say to me, prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, son of man, and say to the spirit, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Come from the four winds, O wind and blow upon these slain, and they shall live. |
| 37:10 | And I prophesied as he commanded me, and the spirit will come upon them and they will live, and they will stand upon their feet, an army great, exceedingly, exceedingly. |
| 37:11 | And he will say to me, Son of man, these bones all the house of Israel: behold them saying, Our bones were dried up, and our hope perished, and we were cut off to us. |
| 37:12 | For this, prophesy and say to them, Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I opened your graves and brought you up from your graves, O my people, and I brought you to the land of Israel. |
| 37:13 | And ye knew that I was Jehovah in my opening your graves and in my bringing you up from your graves, O my People |
| 37:14 | And And I gave my spirit in you, and ye lived, and I caused you to rest upon your land: and ye knew that I Jehovah spake, and I did, says the Lord Jehovah. |
| 37:15 | And the word of Jehovah will be to me, saying, |
| 37:16 | And thou son of man, take to thee one tree and write upon it, For Judah, and for the sons of Israel his company: and take one tree and write upon it, For Joseph, the tree of Ephraim, and all the house of Israel his company: |
| 37:17 | And draw them near one to one to thee, for one tree; and they were for one in thine hand. |
| 37:18 | And when the sons of thy people shall say to thee, saying, Wilt thou not announce to us what these to thee? |
| 37:19 | Speak to them, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Behold I take the tree of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his company, and I gave them upon him with the tree of Judah, and ye made them for one tree, and they were one in my hand. |
| 37:20 | And the trees which thou shalt write upon them were in thy hand before their eyes. |
| 37:21 | And speak to them, Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they went there, and I gathered them from round about, and I brought them to their land: |
| 37:22 | And I made them for one nation in the land in the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be to them all for king: and they shall no more be for two nations, and they shall no more be divided into two kingdoms at all. |
| 37:23 | And they shall no more be defiled with their blocks and with their abominable things, and in all their transgressions: and I saved them from all their dwellings where they sinned in them, and I cleansed them: and they were to me for a people, and I will be to them for God. |
| 37:24 | And my servant David a king over them; and one shepherd shall be to all of them: and in my judgments they shall go and they shall watch my laws and do them. |
| 37:25 | And they shall dwell upon the land which I gave to my servant to Jacob which your fathers dwelt upon it, and they shall dwell upon it, they and their sons and their sons' sons, even to forever: and David my servant a prince to them forever. |
| 37:26 | And I cut out to them a covenant of peace; it shall be an eternal covenant with them: and I gave them, and I multiplied them, and I gave my holy place in the midst of them forever. |
| 37:27 | And my dwelling was with them, and I was to them for God, and they shall be to me for a people. |
| 37:28 | And the nations shall know that I am Jehovah consecrating Israel in my holy place, being in the midst of them forever. |
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.