Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 3:1 | Faithful the word, If any strive for superintendence, he eagerly desires a good work. |
| 3:2 | Therefore an overseer must be irreprehensible, husband of one wife, sober, of sound mind, well arranged, hospitable, giving instruction; |
| 3:3 | Not intoxicated, not a quarrelsome person, not occupied in sordid gain; but equitable, without fighting, exempt from avarice; |
| 3:4 | Presiding well over his own house, having the children in subjection with all gravity; |
| 3:5 | (And if any know not to preside over his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) |
| 3:6 | Not newly planted, lest rendered proud he fall into condemnation of the accuser. |
| 3:7 | And he must also have good testimony from them without;lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the accuser. |
| 3:8 | Deacons likewise grave, not speaking equivocally, not holding to much wine, not occupied in sordid gain; |
| 3:9 | Having the mystery of faith in pure consciousness. |
| 3:10 | And let these also first be tried; then let them perform the office of footman, being blameless. |
| 3:11 | Wives also grave, not accusers, sober, faithful in all things. |
| 3:12 | Let the deacons be husbands of one wife, presiding well over the children and their own houses. |
| 3:13 | For they having served well, acquire to themselves a good step, and much freedom of speech in the faith which in Christ Jesus. |
| 3:14 | These I write to thee, hoping to come to thee quickly: |
| 3:15 | And if I delay, that thou shouldest know how thou must be occupied in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth. |
| 3:16 | And manifestly great is the mystery of devotion: God was manifested in the flesh, was justified in the Spirit, was seen by angels, was proclaimed in the nations, was believed on in the world, was received up in glory. |
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.