Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 2:1 | The hammer came up upon thy face: press upon the fortress, look about the way, strengthen the loins, make the power strong greatly. |
| 2:2 | For Jehovah turned back the pride of Jacob as the pride of Israel: for they emptying emptied them out, they corrupted their vineshoots |
| 2:3 | The shield of the strong ones being red, the men of strength being clothed in scarlet: with fire of irons the chariots in the day of his preparing, and the cypresses were made to tremble. |
| 2:4 | The chariots shall be mad in the streets, they shall run up and down in the broad places: their appearance as flames; as lightnings shall they run. |
| 2:5 | He shall make mention of his chiefs: they shall be weak in their goings; they shall hasten to her wall, and the covering was prepared. |
| 2:6 | The gates of the rivers were opened, and the temple melted away. |
| 2:7 | It was fixed, she was led away captive, she went up and her maids being led as the voice of doves smiting upon their heart |
| 2:8 | And Nineveh it is as a pool of water from the days, and they fleeing, stood: they stood, and none looking back. |
| 2:9 | They plundered silver, they plundered gold: and no end to her splendid equipage; glory from all the vessels of desire. |
| 2:10 | She was emptied, and being emptied, and being made empty: and the heart melted, and a wavering of the knees, and trembling in all loins, and the face of them all gathered a glow. |
| 2:11 | Where is the dwelling of the lions and that pasture for the young lions where the lion went, the lioness there, the lion's whelp, and none terrifying? |
| 2:12 | The lion tore in pieces the sufficiency of his whelps, and strangling for his lionesses; and his holes shall be filled with the prey, and his dens with that torn in pieces. |
| 2:13 | Behold me against thee, says Jehovah of armies; and I burnt her chariot in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions, and I cut of thy prey from the land, and the voice of her messengers shall no more be heard. |
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.