Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 3:1 | Be ye not many teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive the greater judgment. |
| 3:2 | For in many things we all stumble. If any stumble not in word, this a perfect man, able to govern by a bridle also the whole body. |
| 3:3 | Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they should yield to us; and we lead their whole body. |
| 3:4 | Behold also ships, being so great, and driven by hard winds, are led by the smallest rudder, wherever the desire of him steering should will. |
| 3:5 | So also the tongue is a small member, and vaunts itself. Behold, how great a wood a little fire inflames |
| 3:6 | (And the tongue a fire, a world of iniquity: so the tongue is placed in our members, defiling the whole body, and burning the wheel of creation; and burned by hell. |
| 3:7 | For every nature of beasts, and also of birds, of creeping things, and also of things in the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by the nature of man: |
| 3:8 | And the tongue none of men can tame; an ungovernable evil, full of deadly poison. |
| 3:9 | With it we praise the God and Father; and with it we curse men, those made according to the similitude of God. |
| 3:10 | Out of the same month comes forth blessing and cursing. There is no need, my brethren, for these things so to be. |
| 3:11 | Much less from the same aperture does a fountain bubble out sweet and bitter? |
| 3:12 | The fig tree, my brethren, cannot make olives, or the vine, figs: so no fountain can make salt and sweet water. |
| 3:13 | Who wise and knowing among you? let him show out of a good mode of life his works in meekness of wisdom. |
| 3:14 | And if ye have bitter envy and intrigue in your heart, boast not, and lie not against the truth. |
| 3:15 | This is wisdom coming not down from above, but earthly, natural, resembling an evil spirit. |
| 3:16 | For where envy and intrigue, there confusion and every bad deed. |
| 3:17 | And the wisdom from above is truly first pure, then peaceful, decorous, docile, full of mercy and good fruits, not separated, and unfeigned. |
| 3:18 | And the fruit of justice is sown in peace by those making peace. |
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.