Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 17:1 | And having passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: |
| 17:2 | And according to custom to Paul, he went in to them, and upon three sabbaths discussed with them from the writings, |
| 17:3 | Opening and setting before, that it was necessary for Christ to suffer, and rise from, the dead; and that this is Christ Jesus, whom I announce to you. |
| 17:4 | And certain of them were persuaded, and were assigned by lot to Paul and Silas; and of worshipping Greeks a great multitude, and not a few of the first women. |
| 17:5 | And the unbelieving Jews, having been jealous, and having taken certain evil men of the vulgar, and excited to tumult, they disturbed the city by loud noise, and having stood against the house of Jason, they sought to bring them to the populace. |
| 17:6 | And not having found them, they drew Jason and certain brethren to the rulers of the city, crying, That those having subverted the habitable globe, these also are present here; |
| 17:7 | Which Jason has received: and these all do opposite to Caesar's enactments, saying, There is another king, Jesus. |
| 17:8 | And they troubled the crowd and rulers of the city, having heard these. |
| 17:9 | And having taken sufficient of Jason, and the rest, they loosed them. |
| 17:10 | And the brethren quickly sent out both Paul and Silas by night to Berea: who arriving went away to the synagogue of the Jews. |
| 17:11 | And they were of more noble birth than those in Thessalonica, who received the word with all willingness, and examined the writings daily, if these things might hold thus. |
| 17:12 | Therefore truly many of them believed; and of the distinguished Grecian women, and of men, not few. |
| 17:13 | And when the Jews from Thessalonica heard that also in Berea the word of God was announced by Paul, they came there also, agitating the crowd. |
| 17:14 | And quickly the brethren sent away Paul to go as by the sea: and both Silas and Timothy remained there. |
| 17:15 | And they conveying Paul brought him even to Athens: and having taken a command to Silas and Timothy that now they might come to him most speedily, they departed. |
| 17:16 | And Paul waiting for them among the Athenians, his spirit was excited in him, seeing the city being addicted to idol worship. |
| 17:17 | Therefore truly he discussed in the synagogue with Jews, and those worshipping, and in the assembly in every day with those being present. |
| 17:18 | And certain of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers deliberated with him. And certain said, What may this idle, talkative man wish to say? and others, He seems to be a declarer of strange demons: because he announced to them good news, and the rising up. |
| 17:19 | And having taken him, they brought upon Mars' hill, saying, Can we know what this new teaching is, spoken by thee? |
| 17:20 | For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we wish therefore to know what these things may be. |
| 17:21 | (And all the Athenians and strangers being present, passed time in nothing else but to say or hear some thing new.) |
| 17:22 | And Paul having stood in the midst of Mars' hill, said, Men, Athenians, I see that in all things ye have a superstitious fear of divinity. |
| 17:23 | For having passed by, and beholding your venerations, I found also an altar upon which was inscribed, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom not knowing therefore ye reverence, him I announce to you. |
| 17:24 | God having made the world and all things in it, he being Lord of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made by hands; |
| 17:25 | Nor is served by men's hands, standing in need of anything, he giving to all life, and breath, and all things. |
| 17:26 | And he made of one blood every nation of men to dwell upon all the face of the earth, having limited the times before arranged, and the bounds of their habitation; |
| 17:27 | To seek the Lord, if perchance indeed they have felt for him, and found, although not being far from each one of us: |
| 17:28 | For in him we live, and move, and are; as certain of the composers among you have said, For we also are his race. |
| 17:29 | Being therefore the posterity of God, we ought not to think gold, or silver, or stone, an engraving of art, or meditation of man, the divinity to be like. |
| 17:30 | Therefore truly, God having overlooked the times of ignorance, now announces to all men everywhere to repent: |
| 17:31 | Wherefore he set a day, in which he is about to judge the habitable globe in justice by the man whom he appointed; having offered faith to all, having raised him from the dead. |
| 17:32 | And having heard of the rising up of the dead, they treated with mockery; and said, We will hear thee again concerning this. |
| 17:33 | And so Paul went forth from the midst of them. |
| 17:34 | And certain men having joined him, believed: among whom also Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman by name Damaris, and others with them. |
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.