Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 22:1 | Men, brethren, and fathers, hear my defence to you. |
| 22:2 | (And having heard that he spake to them in Hebrew dialect, they held more silence: and he says,) |
| 22:3 | I am truly a Jew, a man born in Tarsus, of Cilicia, and brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the exactness of the fathers' law, being zealous of God, as all ye are this day. |
| 22:4 | Who drove out this way even to death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women. |
| 22:5 | As also the chief priest testifies of me, and all the council of elders: and whose letters to the brethren having received, I went to Damascus, going to bring there the bound to Jerusalem, that they might be punished. |
| 22:6 | And it was to me going, and drawing near to Damascus about noon, suddenly much light from heaven flashed around me, |
| 22:7 | And I fell to the ground, and heard a voice, Saul, Saul, why drivest thou me out? |
| 22:8 | And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus the Nazarite, whom thou drivest out. |
| 22:9 | And they being with me truly saw the light, and were terrified; but they heard not the voice of him speaking to me. |
| 22:10 | And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Having risen, go to Damascus; and there shall be told thee of all which has been arranged for thee to do. |
| 22:11 | And when I saw not from the glory of that light, led by the hand of them being with me I came to Damascus. |
| 22:12 | And a certain Ananias, a religious man according to the law, testified of by all the Jews dwelling, |
| 22:13 | Having come to me, and stood, said to me, Brother Saul, look up. And the same hour I looked up to him. |
| 22:14 | And he said, The God of our fathers took thee in hand, to know his will, and to see the Just, and hear the voice from his mouth. |
| 22:15 | For thou shalt be a witness for him to all men of what thou hast seen and hast heard. |
| 22:16 | And now what art thou about to do having risen, be immersed and wash away thy sins, having called upon the name of the Lord. |
| 22:17 | And it was to me returning to Jerusalem, and praying in the temple, I was in a deep trance: |
| 22:18 | And saw him saying to me, Hasten, and come quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony of me. |
| 22:19 | And I said, Lord, these know that I was imprisoning and skinning in the synagogues them believing on thee: |
| 22:20 | And when the blood of Stephen thy witness was shed, I myself was standing by, and assenting to his murder, and watching the garments of them murdering him. |
| 22:21 | And he said to me, Go: for I will send thee far off to the nations. |
| 22:22 | And they heard him to this word, and lifted up their voices, saying, Take away such a one from the earth: for it is not suitable for him to live. |
| 22:23 | And they vociferating, and casting garments away, and throwing a cloud of dust into the air, |
| 22:24 | The captain of a thousand commanded him to be brought to the camp, having spoken to examine him by scourges; that he might know for what cause they exclaimed so against him. |
| 22:25 | And as he held him before with thongs, Paul said to the centurion standing by, Is it lawful to scourge a man a Roman, and uncondemned? |
| 22:26 | And the centurion having heard, having come near announced to the captain of a thousand, See what thou art about to do: for this man is a Roman. |
| 22:27 | And the captain of a thousand having come near, said to him, Tell me if thou art a Roman. And he said, Yes. |
| 22:28 | And the captain of a thousand answered, I obtained this citizenship for much capital. And Paul said, And I have been born. |
| 22:29 | Then quickly they about to examine him withdrew from him: and the captain of a thousand was afraid, knowing that he is a Roman, and because he had bound him. |
| 22:30 | And on the morrow, wishing to know the certainty that why he was accused by the Jews, he loosed him from bonds, and commanded the chief priests and the whole of their council to come, and having brought down Paul, he set him among 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.