Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 3:1 | Now this, dearly beloved, the second epistle I write to you; in which I awaken your pure mind by putting in remembrance: |
| 3:2 | To remember the words spoken before by the holy prophets, and the command of us the sent of the Lord and Saviour: |
| 3:3 | Knowing this first, that in the last of the days shall mockers come for deceiving, going according to their own eager desires, |
| 3:4 | And saying, Where is the solemn promise of his presence? for from the time the fathers were set to sleep, so continue all things from the beginning of creation. |
| 3:5 | For being willing this is unknown to them, that the heavens were a long while ago, and the earth having stood out of water and by water, by the word of God: |
| 3:6 | By which then the world, overflowed with water, perished: |
| 3:7 | And now the heavens and the earth, by the same word are stored up, being kept for fire to the day of judgment and of the perdition of irreligious men. |
| 3:8 | And let not this one thing be unknown to you, dearly beloved, that one day with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. |
| 3:9 | The Lord puts not off the solemn promise, as some deem slowness; but is lonsuffering to us, not willing any to perish, but all should have room for repentance. |
| 3:10 | And the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a loud noise, and the elements, suffering from excessive heat, shall be dissolved, and the earth and the works in it shall be burned down. |
| 3:11 | Therefore all these being dissolved, of what race ought ye to be in holy turning round and devotion, |
| 3:12 | Expecting and seeking earnestly the presence of the day of God, during which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements going to be burned are melted away? |
| 3:13 | But we expect new heavens and a new earth, according to promise, in which dwells justice. |
| 3:14 | Wherefore, dearly beloved, expecting these, be earnest, spotless and blameless, to be found by him in peace. |
| 3:15 | And the longsuffering of our Lord deem ye salvation; as also our dearly beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you; |
| 3:16 | As also in all the epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things difficult to understand, which the unlearned and unstable pervert, as also the rest of the writings, to their own perdition. |
| 3:17 | You therefore, dearly beloved, knowing beforehand, watch, lest, led away by the error of the lawless, ye fall from your own stability. |
| 3:18 | And grow ye in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him the glory now and to the day of eternity. Amen. |
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.