Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 4:1 | Dearly beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they are of God: for many false prophets have come out into the world. |
| 4:2 | In this ye know the spirit of God: Every spirit which acknowledges Jesus Christ having come in the flesh is of God: |
| 4:3 | And every spirit which acknowledges not Jesus Christ having come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that of antichrist which ye have heard comes; and now is already in the world. |
| 4:4 | Ye are of God, little children, and have conquered them: for greater is he in you, than he in the world. |
| 4:5 | They are of the world: for this they speak of the world, and the world hears them. |
| 4:6 | We are of God: he knowing God hears us; he is not of God who hears us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. |
| 4:7 | Dearly beloved, we should love one another: for love is of God; and every one loving has been born of God, and knows God. |
| 4:8 | He not loving knows not God; for God is love. |
| 4:9 | In this was the love of God manifested in us, that God has sent his only born Son into the world, that we might live by him. |
| 4:10 | In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son a propitiation for our sins. |
| 4:11 | Dearly beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. |
| 4:12 | None has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is completed in us. |
| 4:13 | In this we know that we remain in him, and he in us, for he has given us of his Spirit. |
| 4:14 | And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his. Son a Saviour of the world. |
| 4:15 | Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. |
| 4:16 | And we have known and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love; and he remaining in love remains in God, and God in him. |
| 4:17 | In this has love been completed with us, that we might have freedom of speech in the day of judgment: for as he is, so are we in this world. |
| 4:18 | Fear is not in love; but perfected love casts out fear: for fear has restraint. And he fearing has not been perfected in love. |
| 4:19 | We should love him, for he first loved us. |
| 4:20 | If any say, I love God, and hate his brother, he is a liar: for he not loving his brother whom he has seen, God whom he has not seen, how can he love? |
| 4:21 | And this command have we from him, That he loving God love his brother also. |
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.