Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 2:1 | Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn it back, for they burnt the bones of the king of Edom into lime: |
| 2:2 | And I will send a fire upon Moab and it devoured the palaces of the cities, and Moab died with tumult, with a loud noise and with the voice of the trumpet: |
| 2:3 | And I cut off the judge from the midst of her, and I will slay all her chiefs with him, said Jehovah. |
| 2:4 | Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn it back from him, for their rejecting the instructions of Jehovah, and they watched not his laws, and their lies caused them to err which their fathers went after them. |
| 2:5 | And I sent a fire upon Judah, and it devoured the palaces of Jerusalem. |
| 2:6 | Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn it back, for their selling the just one for silver and the needy for shoes; |
| 2:7 | Panting for the dust of the earth upon the head of the poor, and they will turn away the way of the humble: and a man and his father will go to the same young girl to profane my holy name: |
| 2:8 | And upon garments taken in pledge they will turn by every altar, and they will drink the wine of the amerced in the house of their God. |
| 2:9 | And I destroyed the Amorite from their face, whom his height as the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; and I will destroy his fruit from above and his roots from beneath. |
| 2:10 | And I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and I will cause you to come into the desert forty years to possess the land of the Amorite. |
| 2:11 | And I will raise up from your sons for prophets, and from your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even this, ye sons of Israel? says Jehovah. |
| 2:12 | And ye will give the Nazarites wine to drink; and ye commanded to the prophets, saying, Ye shall not prophesy. |
| 2:13 | Behold, I am pressed under you as a wagon will be pressed being filled with the sheaf to it |
| 2:14 | And flight perished from the swift; and the strong shall not strengthen his power, and the mighty shall not save his soul. |
| 2:15 | And he holding the bow shall not stand; and the swift with his feet shall not escape: and he riding the horse shall not save his soul. |
| 2:16 | And he strong of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, says 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.