Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 1:1 | The elder to the dearly beloved Gains, whom I love in truth. |
| 1:2 | Dearly beloved, I pray above all things that thou succeed and be in good health, as thy soul succeeds. |
| 1:3 | For I was greatly rejoiced, the brethren coming and testifying to thy truth, as thou walkest about in the truth. |
| 1:4 | I have no joy greater than these that I hear my children walking in truth. |
| 1:5 | Dearly beloved, thou doest faithfully whatever thou dost work for the brethren, and for strangers; |
| 1:6 | Who testified to thy love before the church: thou shalt do well, having sent them forward worthily of God. |
| 1:7 | For, for his name went they forth, receiving nothing from the nations. |
| 1:8 | Therefore ought we to receive such, that we might be workers together in the truth. |
| 1:9 | I wrote to the church: but Diotrephes, seeking the superiority over them, receives us not. |
| 1:10 | Therefore, if I should come, I will put him in mind of his works which he does, talking silly against us with evil words: and not being satisfied in these, neither does he himself receive the brethren, and hinders those being willing, and casts out of the church. |
| 1:11 | Dearly beloved, imitate not evil, but good. He doing good is of God: and he doing evil has not seen God. |
| 1:12 | It has been testified to Demetrius by all, and by the truth itself: and we also testify; and know that our testimony is true. |
| 1:13 | I have many things to write, but I will not by ink and pen write to thee: |
| 1:14 | { And I hope presently to see thee, and we will speak mouth to mouth. Peace to thee. The friends greet thee. Greet the friends by name.} |
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.