Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
2:1 | And to Naomi an acquaintance to her husband, a strong man of wealth, from the family of Elimelech; and his name Boaz. |
2:2 | And Ruth the Moabitess will say to Naomi, I will now go to the field and I will gather among the ears after; whom I shall find favor in his eyes. And she will say to her, Go, my daughter. |
2:3 | And she will go, and come and gather in the field after the reapers; and she will happen from chance upon a part of the field to Boaz, who was from the family of Elimelech. |
2:4 | And behold, Boaz came from the house of bread, and he will say to the reapers, Jehovah be with you. And they will say to him, Jehovah will bless thee. |
2:5 | And Boaz will say to his young man set over the reapers, To whom this maiden? |
2:6 | And the young man set over the reapers will answer and say, The Moabitess maiden; she turned back with Naomi from the field of Moab. |
2:7 | And she will say, I will gather now; and I collected among the sheaves after the reapers: and she will stand from that time of the morning, and even to this time of her sitting in the house a little |
2:8 | And Boaz will say to Ruth, Heardest thou not, my daughter? Thou shalt not go to gather in another field, and also thou shalt not pass away from this; and here thou. shalt adhere with my maidens: |
2:9 | Thine eyes upon the field which they shall reap, and thou wentest after them: did I not command the young men not to touch thee? And being thirsty and go thou to the vessels and drink from what the young men shall draw. |
2:10 | And she will fall upon her face and worship to the earth, and she will say to him, Wherefore did I find favor in thine eyes, and thou didst recognize me, and I a stranger? |
2:11 | And Boaz will answer and say to her, Announcing, it was announced to me all that thou didst with thy mother-in-law after the death of thy husband: and thou wilt leave thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy birth, and thou wilt come to a people thou knewest not yesterday the third day. |
2:12 | Jehovah will recompense thy work, and thy reward shall be complete from Jehovah God of Israel, because thou camest to trust under his wings. |
2:13 | And she will say, Shall I find favor in thine eyes, my lord? For thou didst comfort me, and that thou spakest to the heart of thy servant, and shall I not be as one of thy servants? |
2:14 | And Boaz will say to her, At the time of eating draw near hither and eat from the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she will sit by side of the reapers: and he will lay hold of the parched grain for her, and she will eat and be satisfied, and will leave. |
2:15 | And she will rise up to gather, and Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Also she shall gather between the sheaves, and ye shall not shame her: |
2:16 | And also draw ye out for her from the sheaves and leave, and she gathering; and ye shall not rebuke her. |
2:17 | And she will gather in the field till the evening, and she will beat out what she gathered, and it will be about an ephah of barley. |
2:18 | And she will lift up and come to the city: and her mother-in-law will see what she gathered: and she will bring forth and give to her what she left from her being filled. |
2:19 | And her mother-in-law will say to her, Where didst thou gather this day? and where didst thou work? he recognizing thee shall be blessed. And she will announce to her mother-in-law whom she worked with him, and she will say, The name of the man whom I worked with him this day, is Boaz. |
2:20 | And Naomi will say to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he to Jehovah, who let not go his mercy with the living and with the dead. Naomi said to her, The man is near to us, he is blood relative. |
2:21 | And Ruth the Moabitess will say, Also that he said to me, With the young men which are to me thou shalt adhere till they finished all the harvest which is to me. |
2:22 | And Naomi will say to Ruth her daughter-in-law, Good, my daughter, that thou shalt go with his maidens, and they shall not light upon thee in another field. |
2:23 | And she will adhere to the maidens of Boaz, to gather even to the end of the harvest of barley and the harvest of wheat; and she will dwell with her mother-in-law. |
![Julia Smith and her sister](/Content/images/JuliaSmith.png)
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.