Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 3:1 | In these days John the Baptist is present, proclaiming in the desert of Judea; |
| 3:2 | And saying, Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near. |
| 3:3 | For this is he spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, A voice of him crying in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight. |
| 3:4 | And this John had his garment from camel's hair, and a leather girdle about his loins, and his food was locusts and wild honey. |
| 3:5 | Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all round about Jordan; |
| 3:6 | And they were immersed in Jordan by him, acknowledging their sins. |
| 3:7 | And seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his immersion, he said to them, O generation of vipers, who has indicated to you to flee from the wrath about to come? |
| 3:8 | Do ye therefore fruit worthy of repentance. |
| 3:9 | And think not to say in yourselves we have Abraham a father; for I say to you that God can of these stones raise up children to Abraham. |
| 3:10 | And now also the axe lies at the root of the trees; therefore every one not making good fruit is cut off and cast into fire. |
| 3:11 | I truly immerse you in water to repentance; but he coming after me is stronger than I, whose shoes I am not fit to lift up; he shall immerse in the Holy Spirit, and fire |
| 3:12 | Whose winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor, and gather his wheat into the store; but he will burn down the chaff in inextinguishable fire. |
| 3:13 | Then Jesus approaches from Galilee to Jordan, to John, to be immersed by him. |
| 3:14 | And John hindered him, saying, I have need to be immersed by thee, and dost thou come to me? |
| 3:15 | And Jesus having answered said to him, Permit now; for so it is suitable for us to complete all justice: then he permitted him. |
| 3:16 | And Jesus, having been immersed, went up straight from the water, and, behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him. |
| 3:17 | And behold a voice from the heavens, saying, This is my dearly beloved Son, in whom I was contented. |
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.