Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 2:1 | For this ought we to hold above measure to the things heard, lest we slip away. |
| 2:2 | For if the word spoken by angels was firm, and every transgression and bad instruction received the just payment of reward; |
| 2:3 | How shall we escape, having neglected such great salvation; which at the beginning taken to be spoken by the Lord, by them having heard was made firm to us; |
| 2:4 | God confirming the testimony, together with signs and wonders, and various powers, and partitions of the Holy Spirit, according to his will |
| 2:5 | For not to the angels has he subjected the habitable globe about to be, of which we speak. |
| 2:6 | And somewhere a certain one testified, saying, What is man, that thou rememberest him? or the son of man, that thou reviewest him? |
| 2:7 | Thou didst render him some little while less than angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst place him over the work of thine hands: |
| 2:8 | All things didst thou place under his feet. For in placing all things under him, thou didst leave nothing not subjected to him. And now we see not yet all things placed under him. |
| 2:9 | But we see Jesus, made some little while less than angels by the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; so that by the grace of God he should taste of death for all. |
| 2:10 | For it became him, for whom all things, and by whom all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the chief of their salvation by sufferings. |
| 2:11 | For be consecrating and they being consecrated all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, |
| 2:12 | Saying, I will announce thy name to my brethren, in the midst of the church will I praise thee. |
| 2:13 | And again, I will be confident in him. And again, Behold I and the young children which God gave me. |
| 2:14 | Since therefore the young children participated in flesh and blood, he also likewise participated with them; that by death he might leave unemployed him having the strength of death, that is, the devil; |
| 2:15 | And deliver them, as many as by fear of death were always to live bound by slavery. |
| 2:16 | For certainly he lays not hold of angels; but of the seed of Abraham he lays hold. |
| 2:17 | Wherefore in all things it was necessary to be made like to the brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful chief priest in things towards God, in order to propitiate for the sin of the people. |
| 2:18 | For in that he himself has suffered, having been tempted, he is able to help the tempted. |
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.