Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 8:1 | And Saul was assenting to his murder. And in that day was a great expulsion upon the church in Jerusalem; and all were scattered up and down in the countries of Judea and Samaria, except the sent. |
| 8:2 | And circumspect men interred Stephen, and made great lamentation over him. |
| 8:3 | And Saul abused the church, going into houses, and drawing out men and women, delivered to prison. |
| 8:4 | Truly therefore the dispersed passed through announcing good news the word. |
| 8:5 | And Philip having come down to the city of Samaria, proclaimed Christ to them. |
| 8:6 | And the crowds unanimously attended to things spoken by Philip, in their hearing and seeing the signs which he did. |
| 8:7 | For of many having unclean spirits, crying with a great voice, they came out: and many affected with palsy, and the lame, were healed. |
| 8:8 | And great joy was in that city. |
| 8:9 | And a certain man, Simon by name, was before in the city using magic, and astonishing the nation of Samaria, saying himself to be somebody great: |
| 8:10 | To whom attended from little to great, saying, This is the great power of God. |
| 8:11 | And they attended to him, because for a sufficient time they were astonished by magics. |
| 8:12 | And when they believed Philip announcing the good news of the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were immersed, both men and women. |
| 8:13 | And Simon also himself believed: and having been immersed, he was persovering with Philip, beholding the signs and great powers having been, they were astonished. |
| 8:14 | And the sent in Jerusalem having heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John: |
| 8:15 | Who, having gone down, prayed for them, that they receive the Holy Spirit |
| 8:16 | (For not yet was it fallen upon any of them: only they were immersed into the name of the Lord Jesus.) |
| 8:17 | Then put they hands upon them, and they received the Holy Spirit. |
| 8:18 | And Simon having seen that by putting on of hands of the sent the Holy Spirit is given, he brought money to them, |
| 8:19 | Saying, Give me also this power, that upon whomsoever I put hands, he might receive the Holy Spirit. |
| 8:20 | And Peter said to him, May thy silver be for ruin with thee, for thou thoughtest the gift of God to be purchased for money. |
| 8:21 | No portion is to thee, nor lot, in this word: for thy heart is not upright before God. |
| 8:22 | Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray to God, if perhaps the thought of thy heart be remitted to thee. |
| 8:23 | For I see thee being in the bile of bitterness, and bond of iniquity. |
| 8:24 | And Simon having answered, said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that nothing which ye have spoken come upon me. |
| 8:25 | Truly therefore, they having testified and spoken the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and announced good news to many towns of the Samaritans. |
| 8:26 | And a messenger of the Lord spake to Philip, saying, Arise, and go at noon in the way going down from Jerusalem to Gaza, (this is desert.) |
| 8:27 | And having risen, he went: and, behold, an Ethiopian man, an eunuch of great power of Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come going to worship in Jerusalem, |
| 8:28 | And he was returning, and sitting in his chariot he read the prophet Esaias. |
| 8:29 | And the Spirit said to Philip, Come near, and be joined to this chariot. |
| 8:30 | And Philip running near, heard him reading the prophet Esaias, and he said, Truly knowest thou what thou readest? |
| 8:31 | And he said, How can I, except somebody guide me? And he called upon Philip coming up to sit with him. |
| 8:32 | And the passage of the writing which he read was this, As a sheep for slaughter was he brought; and as a lamb before him shearing it dumb, so he opened not his mouth: |
| 8:33 | In his humiliation was his judgment taken away: and his generation who shall recount? for his life is taken from the earth. |
| 8:34 | And the eunuch having answered Philip, said, I pray thee, of whom speaks the prophet this of himself or of some other? |
| 8:35 | And Philip having opened his mouth, and begun from this writing, announced to him the good news, Jesus. |
| 8:36 | And as they went in the way, they came to some water: and the eunuch said, Behold water; what hinders me to be immersed? |
| 8:37 | And Philip said, If thou believest from the whole heart, it is lawful. And having answered, he said, I believe the Son of God to be Jesus Christ. |
| 8:38 | And he ordered the chariot to stand: and both went down into the Water, both Philip and the eunuch: and he immersed him. |
| 8:39 | And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no more: for he went his way rejoicing. |
| 8:40 | And Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he announced the good news to all of the cities, even till he came to Cesarea. |
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.