Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 4:1 | Nebuchadnezzar the king to all peoples, nations and tongues, that dwell in all the earth, your peace shall become great |
| 4:2 | The signs and wonders. that the most high God made with me, it was pleasant before me to show. |
| 4:3 | His signs, how many! and his wonders, how mighty! his kingdom, an eternal kingdom, and his dominion with generation and generation. |
| 4:4 | I Nebuchadnezzar, was secure in my house, and green in my temple: |
| 4:5 | I saw a dream, and it will terrify me; and the conceptions upon my bed and the visions of my head, will cause me to tremble. |
| 4:6 | And an edict being set from me to bring up before me to all the wise of Babel, that they shall make known to me the interpretation of the dream. |
| 4:7 | At that time the sacred scribes, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the diviners, coming in: and I told the dream before them: and its interpretation they making not known to me. |
| 4:8 | And even at last Daniel came up before me, whose name Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and the spirit of the holy gods in him: and before him I told the dream: |
| 4:9 | O Belteshazzar, leader of the sacred scribes, for I knew that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and my secret pressed not upon thee; the visions of my dream that I saw, and its interpretation, say thou. |
| 4:10 | And the visions of my head upon my bed; I was seeing, and lo, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height great |
| 4:11 | And the tree increased and was strong, and its height will reach to the heavens, and its sight to the end of all the earth: |
| 4:12 | Its foliage beautiful, and its fruit great, and food for all in it: and the beasts of the open field will be shaded under it, the buds of the heavens will dwell in its boughs, and all flesh will be nourished from it |
| 4:13 | I was seeing in the visions of my head upon my bed, and lo, a watcher and holy one came down from the heavens; |
| 4:14 | He called with strength, and thus he said, Hew down the tree, and cut off its branches, shake off its foliage and scatter its fruit: the beasts shall flee from under it, and the birds from its branches. |
| 4:15 | But leave the stump of its roots in the earth, and with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the open field; and in the dew of the heavens it shall be wet, and its portion with the beasts in the green herb of the earth. |
| 4:16 | Its heart shall be changed from man, and the heart of a beast shall be given to it; and seven times shall pass over him. |
| 4:17 | The word by the decree of the watchers, and the saying of the holy ones is the question: for the reason that the living shall know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and to whom that he will, he will give it, and he will raise up over it the low of men. |
| 4:18 | This dream, I king Nebuchadnezzar saw. And thou Belteshazzar, tell the interpretation, because that all the wise of my kingdom not being able to make known to me the interpretation: and thou art able, for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee. |
| 4:19 | Then Daniel, his name Belteshazzar, was astonished for one moment, and his thoughts terrified him. The king answered and said, Belteshazzar, the dream and its interpretation shall not terrify thee. Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream to those hating thee, and its interpretation to thine enemies. |
| 4:20 | The tree that thou sawest that increased and was strong, and its height will reach to the heavens, and its sight to all the earth, |
| 4:21 | And its foliage beautiful, and its fruit great, and food for all in it; under it the beast of the open field will dwell, and in its branches the birds of the heavens will dwell: |
| 4:22 | It is thou, O king, who increased and wert strong: and thy greatness increased and reached to the heavens, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. |
| 4:23 | And that the king saw a watcher and a holy one came down from the heavens, and said, Hew down the tree and destroy it; but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, and with a band of iron and brass in the tender grass of the open field; and with the dew of the heavens it shall be wet, and with the beasts of the open field its portion, even till seven times shall pass over him; |
| 4:24 | This the interpretation, O king, and this the decree of the Most High, that came upon my lord the king: |
| 4:25 | And for thee driving from men, and with the beasts of the open field to be thy dwelling, and they shall feed to thee grass as oxen, and wetting to thee from the dew of the heavens, and seven times shall pass over thee till that thou shalt know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and to whom that he will, he will give it |
| 4:26 | And that they said to leave the stump of the roots of the tree; thy kingdom being sure to thee, from when thou shalt know that the heavens rule. |
| 4:27 | Wherefore, O king, my counsel shall be pleasant to thee, and break off thy sins by justice, and thine iniquities in compassionating the poor; if it shall be a lengthening to thy peace. |
| 4:28 | All came upon Nebuchadnezzar the king. |
| 4:29 | At the end of twelve months in the temple of the kingdom of Babel, he was going about |
| 4:30 | The king answered and said, Is not this great Babel, that I built it for the house of the kingdom by the strength of my power, and for the honor of my majesty? |
| 4:31 | Yet the word in the king's mouth, a voice from the heavens fell to thee, being said, O Nebuchadnezzar the king, the kingdom passed away from thee: |
| 4:32 | And from men driving thee out, and with beasts of the open field thy dwelling: and they shall feed to thee the grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee till that thou shalt know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and to whom he will, he will give it |
| 4:33 | In the same moment the word was added upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven out from men, and he shall eat the green herb as oxen, and from the dew of the heavens his body shall be wet till that his hair was increased as eagles, and his nails as birds'. |
| 4:34 | And at the end of the days, I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes to the heavens, and my knowledge will turn back to me, and I praised to the Most High, and to him living forever, I praised and honored, whose dominion an eternal dominion, and his kingdom with generation and generation. |
| 4:35 | And all the generations of the earth being reckoned as nothing: and doing according to his station in the army of the heavens, and the generations of the earth: and there is none that shall strike upon his hand, and say to him, What didst thou? |
| 4:36 | In that time my knowledge will turn back to me: and for the honor of my kingdom, my splendor and my brightness will return to me; and my counselors and my nobles will seek to me: and I was established over my kingdom, and excellent greatness was added to me. |
| 4:37 | Now I Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and honor to the king of the heavens, that all his works are truth, and his paths judgment: and that they going about in pride, he being able to bring low. |
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.