Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 1:1 | And it will be in the days of the judging of the judges, and there will be a famine in the land. And a man from the house of bread of Judah will go to sojourn in the field of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. |
| 1:2 | And the name of the man Elimelech, and the name of his wife, Naomi, and the name of his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites from the house of bread of Judah. And they will come to the field of Moab and be there. |
| 1:3 | And Elimelech will die, the husband of Naomi; and she will be left, and her two sons. |
| 1:4 | And they will take to them wives from the Moabitesses; the name of the one, Orpah, and the name of the second, Ruth: and they will dwell there about ten years. |
| 1:5 | And Mahlon and Chilioh, also they two, will die; and the woman will be left of her two children and of her husband. |
| 1:6 | And she will arise and her daughters-in-law, and she will turn back from the field of Moab: for she heard in the field of Moab that Jehovah reviewed his people to give bread to them. |
| 1:7 | And she will go forth from the place where she was there, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they will go in the way to turn back to the land of Judah. |
| 1:8 | And Naomi will say to her two daughters-in-law, Go, turn back each to the house of her mother: Jehovah will do mercy with you according as ye did with the dead, and with me. |
| 1:9 | Jehovah will give to you, and find ye rest, each in the house of her husband And she will kiss to them, and they will lift up their voice and weep. |
| 1:10 | And they will say to her, But with thee we will turn back to thy people. |
| 1:11 | And Naomi will say, Turn back, my daughters: wherefore will ye go with me? are yet to me sons in my bowels, and they were to you for husbands? |
| 1:12 | Turn back, my daughters, therefore; for I grew old from being for a husband. If I said, There is hope to me, also I was this night to a husband, and also I bare sons; |
| 1:13 | Will ye wait for them till they shall grow? Will remain shut up for them not to be for a husband? Nay, my daughters, for it is bitter to me greatly for you, that the hand of Jehovah will go forth against me. |
| 1:14 | And they will lift up their voice and weep yet. And Orpah will kiss to her mother-in law; and Ruth adhered to her. |
| 1:15 | And she will say, Behold, thy sister-in-law turned back to her people, and to her gods: turn thou back after thy sister-in-law. |
| 1:16 | And Ruth will say, Thou shalt not urge upon me to forsake thee, to turn back from after thee: for where thou shalt go, I will go; and where thou shalt lodge, I will lodge: thy people my people, and thy God my God: |
| 1:17 | Where thou shalt die, I will die, and there will I be buried: thus will Jehovah do to me, and thus will he add, for death shall separate between me and between thee. |
| 1:18 | And she will see that she strengthening herself to go with her, and she will cease to speak to her. |
| 1:19 | And they two will go till they came to the house of bread. And it will be as they came to the house of bread, and all the city will be moved at them, and they will say, Is this Naomi? |
| 1:20 | And she will say to them, Ye shall not call to me Naomi; call to me, Mara: for the Almighty made bitter to me greatly. |
| 1:21 | I went away full, and Jehovah turned me back empty; wherefore will ye call to me Naomi, and Jehovah humbled me, and the Almighty did evil to me? |
| 1:22 | And Naomi will turn back, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law, with her, turned back from the field of Moab: and they came to the house of bread in the beginning of the harvest of barley. |
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.