Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 1:1 | The word of Jehovah which was to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah. |
| 1:2 | Taking away, I will take away all from off the face of the earth, says Jehovah |
| 1:3 | I will take away man and cattle; I will take away the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, and the stumbling blocks with. the unjust; and I cut off man from the face of the earth, says Jehovah. |
| 1:4 | And I stretched out my hand upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I cut off from this place the remnant of Baal, with the name of the obscurations with the priests |
| 1:5 | And those worshiping upon the roofs to the army of the heavens, and worshiping, swearing to Jehovah, and swearing to Malcham; |
| 1:6 | And those departing from after Jehovah, and who sought not Jehovah, and asked not for him. |
| 1:7 | Be silent from the face of the Lord Jehovah: for the day of Jehovah is near, for Jehovah prepared a swam he consecrated his called ones. |
| 1:8 | And it was in the day of the sacrifice of Jehovah, and I reviewed upon the chiefs and upon the sons of the king, and upon all having put on strange clothing. |
| 1:9 | And I reviewed upon every one leaping upon the threshold in that day, filling their lords' houses with violence and deceit |
| 1:10 | And it was in that day, says Jehovah, a voice of a cry from the gate of fishes, and a wailing from the second, and a great breaking from the hills. |
| 1:11 | Wail, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the people of Canaan were destroyed; all lifting up silver were cut off. |
| 1:12 | And it was in that time, I will search out Jerusalem with lights, and I reviewed upon the men curdled upon their lees, saying in their heart, Jehovah will do good and not evil. |
| 1:13 | And their wealth was for plunder, and their houses for desolation: and they built houses, and they inhabited not; and they planted vineyards, and they shall not drink their wine. |
| 1:14 | The great day of Jehovah is near, it is near and hastening greatly, the voice of the day of Jehovah: the strong one cried there bitterly. |
| 1:15 | A day of wrath, that day a day of straits and distress, a day of storm and desolation, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of cloud and gloom, |
| 1:16 | A day of the trumpet and loud noise against the fortified cities, and against the high pinnacles. |
| 1:17 | And I pressed upon man, and they went as the blind, because they sinned against Jehovah: and their blood was poured out as dust and their bread as dung. |
| 1:18 | Also their silver also their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Jehovah; and all the land shall be consumed by the fire of his jealousy: for he will make a completion even sudden of all dwelling in the land. |
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.