Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 3:1 | For behold, in those days and in that time when I shall turn hack the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, |
| 3:2 | And I gathered all nations, and I brought them down to the valley of Jehoshophat, and I contended with them there for my people and mine inheritance Israel whom they scattered among the nations, and they divided the land. |
| 3:3 | And for my people they cast the lot: and they will give the boy for a harlot, and they sold the girl for wine; and they will drink |
| 3:4 | And also what are ye to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the circuits of Philistia? do ye requite to me a recompense? and if ye recompense to me, swiftly and speedily I will turn back your recompense upon your head; |
| 3:5 | For ye took my silver and my gold, and my delights of good things ye brought to your temples. |
| 3:6 | And the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem ye sold to the sons of the Grecians, in order to remove them far off from their border. |
| 3:7 | Behold me raising them up from the place where ye sold them there, and I turned back your recompense upon your head: |
| 3:8 | And I sold your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they sold them to the Sabeans to a nation far off: for Jehovah spake. |
| 3:9 | Call ye this among the nations: Consecrate war; rouse up the strong ones, they shall draw near, all the men of war shall come up. |
| 3:10 | Beat your plough-shares into swords, and your pruning-knives into spears: the weak shall say, I am strong. |
| 3:11 | Hasten and come all ye nations from round about, and be ye gathered together: there lead down, O Jehovah, thy strong ones. |
| 3:12 | The nations shall be roused and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there I will sit to judge all the nations from round about |
| 3:13 | Send ye forth the sickle, for the harvest was ripened: come ye, go down, for the wine press was filled, the vats, overflowed; for their evil is great |
| 3:14 | Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of judgment: for the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of judgment |
| 3:15 | The sun and the moon were darkened, and the stars took away their shining. |
| 3:16 | And Jehovah shall cry out from Zion, and from Jerusalem he shall give his voice; and the heavens and the earth trembled: and Jehovah the refuge to his people, and the fortress to the sons of Israel. |
| 3:17 | And ye knew that I am Jehovah your God dwelling in Zion my holy mountain: and Jerusalem was holy, and strangers shall no more pass through her. |
| 3:18 | And it was in that day the mountains shall drop new wine, and the hills shall flow milk, and all the channels of Judah shall flow waters, and a fountain shall come forth from the house of Jehovah, and it watered the valley of acacias. |
| 3:19 | Egypt shall be for a desolation, and Edom shall be for a desert of desolation from violence to the sons of Judah, because they poured out innocent blood in their land. |
| 3:20 | And Judah shall dwell forever, and Jerusalem to generation and generation. |
| 3:21 | And I cleansed their blood I cleansed not: and Jehovah dwelt in Zion. |
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.