Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 1:1 | God, formerly multifariously and abundantly having spoken to the fathers in the prophets, |
| 1:2 | At these last days spake to us in the Son, whom he set heir of all things, by whom also he made the times; |
| 1:3 | Who being the brightness of glory, and the figure of his foundation, and bearing all things by the word of his power, having made by himself the purification of our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty among the highest ones; |
| 1:4 | Being so much better than the angels, inasmuch as he has inherited a more distinguished name than they. |
| 1:5 | For to which of the angels once said he, Thou art my Son, I have this day begotten thee? And again, I will be to him for Father, and he shall be to me for Son? |
| 1:6 | And when again he should bring in the firstborn to the habitable globe, he says, And let all the angels of God worship him. |
| 1:7 | And truly to the angels of God he says, Who making his angels spirits, and his workmen flames of fire. |
| 1:8 | And to the Son, Thy throne, O God, for the time of time: a rod of uprightness the rod of thy kingdom. |
| 1:9 | Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity; for this God anointed thee, thy God, with the oil of lively joy above thy partakers. |
| 1:10 | And, Thou, at the beginning, Lord, didst lay the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thy hands: |
| 1:11 | These shall be destroyed; but thou remainest; and they all as a garment shall grow old; |
| 1:12 | And as a cloak shalt thou turn them round, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. |
| 1:13 | And to which of the angels has he once said, Sit on my right hand, till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet? |
| 1:14 | Are they not all spirits qualified for service, sent forth for service for them about to inherit salvation? |
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.