Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 15:1 | From the end of seven years thou shalt make a remission: |
| 15:2 | And this the word of the remission: Every lord to release the lending of his hand which he shall put upon his friend; he shall not exact his friend and his brother, for a remission was called to Jehovah. |
| 15:3 | Foreigners thou shalt exact of, and what shall be to thee with thy brother thine hand shall remit: |
| 15:4 | Only when no needy shall be with thee; for Jehovah blessing will bless thee in the land which Jehovah thy God gave to thee an inheritance to possess it: |
| 15:5 | Only if hearing, thou shalt hear to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to watch to do all these commands which I command thee this day. |
| 15:6 | For Jehovah thy God blessed thee as he spake to thee: and thou didst lend to many nations, and thou shalt not borrow; and thou didst rule over many nations, and they shall not rule over thee. |
| 15:7 | When the needy shall be among thee, from one of thy brethren, in one of thy gates in thy land which Jehovah thy God gave to thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, and thou shalt not shut thy hand from thy needy brother. |
| 15:8 | For opening, thou shalt open thy hand to him, and lending, thou shalt lend him a sufficiency for his want which he shall want |
| 15:9 | Watch to thyself lest a word shall be with thy heart, of Belial, saying. The seventh year, the year of remission is drawing near; and thine eye be evil against thy needy brother and thou wilt not give to him; and he call against thee to Jehovah, and it was sin in thee. |
| 15:10 | Giving, thou shalt give to him, and thy heart shall not be evil in thy giving to him; for because of this word Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all thy works, and in all the sending forth of thy hand. |
| 15:11 | For the needy shall not cease from the midst of thy land: for this I command thee, saying, Opening, thou shalt open thy hand to thy brother, to thy afflicted and to thy needy in thy land. |
| 15:12 | When thy brother a Hebrew, or Hebrewess, shall be sold to thee, and serving thee six years; in the seventh year thou shalt send him away free from thee. |
| 15:13 | And when thou shalt send him away free from thee, thou shalt not send him away empty. |
| 15:14 | Furnishing, thou shalt furnish to him from thy sheep and from thy threshing floor, and from thy wine vat: with which Jehovah thy God blessed thee thou shalt give to him. |
| 15:15 | And remember that thou wert a servant in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God will redeem thee: for I command thee this word this day. |
| 15:16 | And it was when he shall say to thee, I will not go forth from thee; for he loved thee and thy house, for it was well to him with thee; |
| 15:17 | And take an awl and give it upon his ear, and against the door, and he was to thee for a servant forever. And also to thy maid shalt thou do thus. |
| 15:18 | It shall not be hard in thine eye in thy sending him away free from thee, because for the year of the wages of the hireling he served thee six years: and Jehovah thy God blessed thee in all which thou shalt do. |
| 15:19 | All the first-born that shall be brought forth among thy cattle and among thy sheep, the male thou shalt consecrate to Jehovah thy God: thou shalt not work with the first-born of thy bullock, and thou shalt not shear first-born of thy sheep. |
| 15:20 | Before Jehovah thy God thou shalt eat it year by year, in the place which Jehovah shall choose, thou, and thy house. |
| 15:21 | And when a blemish shall be in it, lame or blind, any evil blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it to Jehovah thy God. |
| 15:22 | In thy gates thou shalt eat it: the unclean and the clean together, as the roe and the stag. |
| 15:23 | Only its blood thou shalt not eat: upon the earth shalt thou pour it as water. |
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.