Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 8:1 | And the men of Ephraim will say to him, Why didst thou this word to us, that thou calledst not to us when thou wentest to war against Midian? and they will contend with him with strength. |
| 8:2 | And he will say to them, What now did I according to you? are not the gleanings of Ephraim good above the vintage of Abi-Ezer? |
| 8:3 | Into your hand God gave the chiefs of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do according to you? Then was their spirit relaxed from over him in his speaking this word. |
| 8:4 | And Gideon will come to Jordan to pass through, he and the three hundred men that are with him, faint and pursuing. |
| 8:5 | And he will say to the men of Succoth, Ye shall give now rounds of bread to the people who are at my feet: for they are faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian. |
| 8:6 | And the chiefs of Succoth will say, Is the hand of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thy hand that bread was given to thine army? |
| 8:7 | And Gideon will say, For this in Jehovah's giving Zebah and Zalmunna into my band, and I threshed your flesh with thorns of the desert and threshing-sledges. |
| 8:8 | And he will go up from thence to Penuel, and he will say to them like this: and the men of Penuel will answer him as the men of Succoth answered. |
| 8:9 | And he will say also to the men of Penuel, saying, In my turning back in peace I will break down this tower. |
| 8:10 | And Zebah and Zalmunna are in Karkor, and their camps with them, about fifteen thousand, all those remaining from all the camp of the sons of the east: and there fell a hundred and twenty thousand men drawing the sword. |
| 8:11 | And Gideon will go up the way of those dwelling in tents from the east to Nobah and Jogbehah, and he will smite the camp; and the camp was secure. |
| 8:12 | And Zebah and Zalmunna will flee, and he will pursue after them and he will take the two kings of Midian Zebah and Zalmunna, and he terrified all the camp. |
| 8:13 | And Gideon son of Joash, will turn back from the war from the cliff of the sun. |
| 8:14 | And he will take a youth from the men of Succoth, and he will ask him: and he will write for him the chiefs of Succoth and its old men, seventy and seven men. |
| 8:15 | And he will come to the men of Succoth, and he will say, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna with whom ye reproached me, saying, Is the hand of Zebah and. Zalmunna now in thine hand to give bread to thy men being weary? |
| 8:16 | And he will take the old men of the city, and thorns of the desert, and threshing sledges, and with them he caused the men of Succoth to know. |
| 8:17 | And he brake down the tower of Penuel, and he will kill the men of the city. |
| 8:18 | And he will say to Zebah and Zalmunna, Whose the men which ye killed in Tabor? and they will say, As thou, so they; one according to the form of the sons of the king. |
| 8:19 | And he will say, My brethren, the sons of my mother: Jehovah lives, would that ye preserved them alive, and I had not slain you. |
| 8:20 | And he will say to Jether his first-born, Arise, kill them. But the youth drew not his sword, for he was afraid, because he was yet a youth. |
| 8:21 | And Zebah will say, and Zalmunna, Arise, and fall upon us: for as a man, his strength. And Gideon will rise and kill Zebah and Zalmunna, and he will take the little moons upon their camels' necks. |
| 8:22 | And the men of Israel will say to Gideon, Rule over us, also thou, also thy son, also thy son's son: for thou savedst us from the hand of Midian. |
| 8:23 | And Gideon will say to them, I will not rule over you, and my son shall not rule over you: Jehovah shall rule over you. |
| 8:24 | And Gideon will say to them, I will ask of you an asking, and ye shall give to me a man the rings of his spoil: for gold rings to them, because they were Ishmaelites. |
| 8:25 | And they will say, Giving, we will give. And they will spread a garment, and they will cast there each the rings of his spoil. |
| 8:26 | And the weight of the gold rings which he asked will be a thousand and seven hundred of gold; besides of little moons and earrings and purple robes which were upon the kings of Midian, and besides from the collars which upon their camels' necks. |
| 8:27 | And Gideon will make it into an ephod, and he will put in his city, Ophrah: and all Israel will commit fornication after it there: and it will be to Gideon and to his house for a snare. |
| 8:28 | And Midian will be subdued before the sons of Israel, and they will not add to lift up their head: and the land will rest forty years in the days of Gideon. |
| 8:29 | And Jerubbaal, son of Joash, will go and dwell in his house. |
| 8:30 | And to Gideon were seventy sons going out of his thigh: for many women were to him. |
| 8:31 | And his concubine which is in Shechem, she will bear to him a son, and she will set his name Abimelech. |
| 8:32 | And Gideon will die in a good old age, and he will be buried in the grave of Joash his father, in Ophrah, of the father of Ezri. |
| 8:33 | And it will be when Gideon died the sons of Israel will turn back, and will commit fornication after the Baalims, and they will set to them Baal of the covenant for their god. |
| 8:34 | And the sons of Israel did not remember Jehovah their God, delivering them out of the hand of all their enemies from round about. |
| 8:35 | And they did not kindness with the house of Jerubbaal, Gideon, according to all the good which he did with Israel. |
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.