Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 4:1 | Let us therefore fear, lest a solemn promise being left to come into his rest, any of you should seem to have failed. |
| 4:2 | For we also were announced of the good news, as well as they: but the word of the report profited them not, not being mixed with faith to them having heard. |
| 4:3 | For we having believed come into the rest, as he said, As I sware in my wrath, if they shall come into my rest: although the works having been from the foundation of the world. |
| 4:4 | For he said somewhere of the seventh thus, And God ceased in the seventh day from all his works. |
| 4:5 | And in this again, If they shall enter into my rest. |
| 4:6 | Since therefore it remains for some to come into it, and they before announced of the good news came not in through unbelief: |
| 4:7 | Again he limits a certain day, saying in David, To day, after such time; as it is said, To day if ye would hear his voice, harden not your hearts. |
| 4:8 | For if Jesus had caused them to rest, he would not have spoken of another day after these things. |
| 4:9 | Therefore a celebration of a sabbath remains to the people of God. |
| 4:10 | For he having come into his rest, he also has ceased from his works, as God from his own. |
| 4:11 | Therefore we should be earnest to come into that rest, lest any should fall in the same pattern of unbelief. |
| 4:12 | For the word of God living, and effective, and more piercing than any two-mouthed sword, and penetrating even to the division both of soul and spirit, both the joints and marrows, and a critic of the reflections and thoughts of the heart. |
| 4:13 | And there is no creation invisible before him: and all things naked and exposed, neck and face to view, to the eyes of him with whom to us is the word. |
| 4:14 | Having therefore a great chief priest, passed to the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, we should hold firmly the assent. |
| 4:15 | For we have not a chief priest unable to suffer with our weaknesses; but tried in all things as a resemblance, without sin. |
| 4:16 | We should therefore go with freedom of speech to the throne of grace, that we receive mercy, and find grace for timely assistance. |
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.