Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 23:1 | Then spake Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples, |
| 23:2 | Saying, Upon Moses' seat sat the scribes and Pharisees. |
| 23:3 | Therefore all whatever they say to you to keep, keep and do; and according to their works do not, for they say and do not. |
| 23:4 | For they bind loads heavy and difficult to carry, and put upon men's shoulders; and with their fingers will they not move them. |
| 23:5 | And all their works do they, to be seen by men: and make broad their preservatives, and enlarge the border of their garments |
| 23:6 | And love the first place at suppers, and the first seat in the assemblies, |
| 23:7 | And greetings in the markets, and to be called by men, Rabbi, Rabbi. |
| 23:8 | And be ye not called Rabbi: for one is your guide, Christ; and all ye are brethren. |
| 23:9 | And call not your father upon earth: for one is your Father, which in the heavens. |
| 23:10 | Nor be ye called leaders, for one is your Leader, Christ. |
| 23:11 | And the greater of you shall be your servant. |
| 23:12 | And whoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and whoever shall humble himself, shall be exalted. |
| 23:13 | Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye lock up the kingdom of the heavens before men: for ye come not in yourselves, neither those coming in, permit ye to come in. |
| 23:14 | Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for pretence, praying at great lengths; for this shall ye receive more distingnished judgment. |
| 23:15 | Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees hypocrites! for ye go about sea and dry land to make one proselyte, and when he should become, ye make him the son of hell, twofold more than you. |
| 23:16 | Woe to you blind guides, saying, Whoever should swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever should swear by the gold of the temple, he is indebted! |
| 23:17 | Foolish and blind; for which is the greater, the gold, or the temple consecrating the gold? |
| 23:18 | And, Whoever should swear by the altar, it is nothing; and whoever should swear by the gift above it, he is indebted. |
| 23:19 | Foolish and blind: for which is the greater, the gift, or the altar, consecrating the gifts? |
| 23:20 | Therefore, he having sworn by the altar, swears by it, and by all above it. |
| 23:21 | And he having sworn by the temple, swears by it, and by him dwelling in it. |
| 23:22 | And he having sworn by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him sitting above it. |
| 23:23 | Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye exact tenths and dill and cummin, and ye have left the weightier things of the law, judgment, and mercy, and faith: these it was necessary to do, and not to let go those. |
| 23:24 | Blind guides, straining a gnat, and swallowing down a camel. |
| 23:25 | Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye cleanse the outside of the cup, and the side dish of sweet-meats, and within they are full of pillage and bad mixture. |
| 23:26 | O blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, and side dish of sweetmeats, that also their outside might be clean. |
| 23:27 | Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like whitewashed tombs, which without indeed appear beautiful, but within are full of the bones of the dead, and of all uncleanness. |
| 23:28 | So also ye without truly appear just to men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. |
| 23:29 | Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the tombs of the prophets, and deck the monuments of the just, |
| 23:30 | And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we had not been their partakers in the blood of the prophets, |
| 23:31 | Wherefore ye bear testimony to yourselves, that ye are the sons of those having slain the prophets. |
| 23:32 | And fill ye up yourselves the measure of your fathers. |
| 23:33 | Serpents, generations of vipers, how would ye flee from the judgment of hell? |
| 23:34 | Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets, and the wise, and scribes: and of them shall ye kill and crucify; and of them shall ye chastise in your assemblies, and drive out from city to city, |
| 23:35 | So that all the just blood shed upon the earth might come upon you, from the blood of just Abel to the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye killed between the temple and altar. |
| 23:36 | Truly I say to you, All these shall come upon this generation. |
| 23:37 | Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets, and stoning those sent to her; how often did I wish to gather thy children together, which manner a bird gathers together her young broods under the wings, and ye would not! |
| 23:38 | Behold, your house is left to you desolate. |
| 23:39 | For I say to you, Ye should not see me from henceforth, till ye should say, Praised be he coming in the name of the Lord. |
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.