Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 1:1 | Truly the first word had I made of all things, O Theophilus, of which Jesus began to do and also to teach, |
| 1:2 | Till the day having commanded the sent whom he chose through the Holy Spirit, he was taken up: |
| 1:3 | To them also he presented himself living, after he suffered, by many infallible signs, through forty days seen to them, and speaking the things of the kingdom of God: |
| 1:4 | And, being collected together, he enjoined them not to be separated from Jerusalem, but to wait for the solemn promise of the Father, which ye heard of me. |
| 1:5 | For John truly immersed in water; and ye shall be immersed in the Holy Spirit not after these many days. |
| 1:6 | Truly they therefore having come together, asked him, saying, Lord, if in this time thou wilt restore the kingdom of Israel? |
| 1:7 | And he said to them, It is not yours to know the times and occasions, which the Father fixed in his own power. |
| 1:8 | But ye shall receive power, the Holy Spirit having come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses to me also in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the last of the earth. |
| 1:9 | And having said these, they beholding, he was lifted up; and a cloud received him from their eyes. |
| 1:10 | And as they were looking intently to heaven, he going, behold, two men were standing before them in white raiment; |
| 1:11 | And they said, Galilean men, why stand ye looking to heaven this Jesus, taken up from you to heaven, so shall he come which manner ye saw him going to heaven. |
| 1:12 | Then returned they to Jerusalem from the mount called Olive, which is near Jerusalem, having the way of a sabbath. |
| 1:13 | And when they came in, they went up into an upper room, where were remaining also Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James of Alpheus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas of James. |
| 1:14 | All these were persevering unanimously in prayer and supplication, with women, and Mary mother of Jesus, with his brethren. |
| 1:15 | And in these days Peter having risen in the midst of the disciples, said, (also the crowd of names together was about an hundred and twenty,) |
| 1:16 | Men, brethren, this writing must be filled up, which the Holy Spirit spake before by mouth of David concerning Judas, being guide to them having taken Jesus. |
| 1:17 | For he was numbered with us, and obtained the lot of this service. |
| 1:18 | Truly this therefore purchased a place from the wages of iniquity; and being bent forward, he brake in pieces in the midst, and all his entrails were poured out. |
| 1:19 | And it was known to all dwelling in Jerusalem; so that that place was called in their own dialect, Aceldama, that is, The place of blood. |
| 1:20 | For it has been written, in the book of Psalms, Let his country-house be a desert, and let none be dwelling in it: and his inspection may another take. |
| 1:21 | Therefore must there, of these men having come with us in all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and came out among us, |
| 1:22 | Having begun from the immersion of John, unto the day which he was taken up from us, be one of these a witness with you of his rising up. |
| 1:23 | And they set two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. |
| 1:24 | And having prayed, they said, Thou, O Lord, knowing hearts of all, spew forth one of two which thou hast chosen, |
| 1:25 | To take the lot of this service and sending forth, from which Judas passed by, to go to his own place. |
| 1:26 | And he gave their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was voted together with the eleven sent. |
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.