Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 4:1 | And I say, for as long time as the heir is a child, he differs nothing from a servant, being lord of all; |
| 4:2 | But is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. |
| 4:3 | So also we, when we were children, were subjugated under the world's elements: |
| 4:4 | And when the completion of the time was come, God sent his Son, born of woman, born under the law, |
| 4:5 | That he might redeem them under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. |
| 4:6 | And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. |
| 4:7 | So that thou art no more a servant, but a son: and if a son, also an heir of God through Christ. |
| 4:8 | But then truly, not having known God, ye were in a servile condition to them not being gods by nature. |
| 4:9 | And now, having known God, and rather known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and poor elements, to which again ye wish anew to be in a servile condition |
| 4:10 | Ye observe narrowly days, and months, and times, and years. |
| 4:11 | I am afraid of you, lest I have been wearied for you in vain. |
| 4:12 | Be ye as I, for I also as you, brethren, I pray you: ye injured me nothing. |
| 4:13 | And ye know that through weakness of the flesh I announced the good news to you before. |
| 4:14 | And my temptation in my flesh, ye counted not as nothing, nor spurned; but as an angel of God ye received me, as Christ Jesus. |
| 4:15 | What then was your happiness? for I testify to you, that, if possible, having plucked out your eyes, ye would have given to me. |
| 4:16 | Have I then been your enemy, speaking truth to you |
| 4:17 | They are zealous for you, not well; but they wish to exclude you, that ye might be zealous for them. |
| 4:18 | And good to be zealous always in good, and not only in my being present with you. |
| 4:19 | My children, for whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you, |
| 4:20 | And I would be present with you now, and change my voice; for I am perplexed about you. |
| 4:21 | Tell me, those wishing to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? |
| 4:22 | For it has been written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondmaid, and one by the free. |
| 4:23 | But he truly of the bondmaid was born according to the flesh; and he of the free through the promise. |
| 4:24 | Which things are spoken figuratively: for these are the two covenants; one truly from mount Sinai, begetting to bondage, which is Agar. |
| 4:25 | For Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and now stands in the same rank With Jerusalem, and is in a servile condition with her children. |
| 4:26 | But Jerusalem above is free, which is mother of us all. |
| 4:27 | For it has been written, Be cheered, O barren, bearing not; break out and cry, she travailing not: for many more the children of the desolate than she having a husband. |
| 4:28 | And we, brethren, as Isaac, are children of promise. |
| 4:29 | But as then he born according to the flesh drove out him according to the Spirit, so also now. |
| 4:30 | But what says the writing? Cast out the bondmaid and her son; for the son of the bondmaid shall not inherit with the son of the free. |
| 4:31 | Therefore, brethren, we are not children of the bondmaid, but of the free. |
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.