Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
4:1 | And Boaz went up to the gate and sat there: and behold, the blood relation whom Boaz spake of, passing by; and he will say, Turn aside, sit down here; thou such a one. And he will turn aside, and sit down. |
4:2 | And he will take ten men from the old men of the citv, and he will say, Sit ye down here. And they will sit down. |
4:3 | And he will say to the blood relative, The portion of the field which was to our brother Elimelech, Naomi turning back from the field of Moab, sells: |
4:4 | And I said, I will reveal to thine ear, saying, Buy before the inhabitants, and before the old men of my people. If thou wilt redeem, redeem: and if thou wilt not redeem, announce to me, and I shall know: for none besides thee to redeem; and I after thee; and he will say, I will redeem. |
4:5 | And Boaz will say, In the day of thy buying the field from the hand of Naomi, and from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, thou boughtest it to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. |
4:6 | And the near relative will say, I shall not be able to redeem for me, lest I shall destroy my inheritance: redeem to thyself; thou the near relative: for I shall not be able to redeem. |
4:7 | And this before in Israel upon redemption and upon exchange, to set up all the word; a man drew off his shoe and gave to his neighbor: and this the precept in Israel. |
4:8 | And the blood relative will say to Boaz, Buy for thee. And he will draw off his shoe. |
4:9 | And Boaz will say to the old men and all the people, Ye are witnesses this day that I bought all which was to Elimelech, and all which was to Chilion and Mahlon, from the hand of Naomi. |
4:10 | And also Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I bought to me for a wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance; and the name of the dead shall not be cut off from his brethren and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day. |
4:11 | And all the people which are in the gate will say, and the old men, Witnesses. Jehovah will give the woman coming into thy house as Rachel and as Leah, which they two built up the house of Israel: and make thou power in Ephratah, and call a name in the house of bread. |
4:12 | And thy house shall be as the house of Pharez which Tamar bare to Judah, from the seed which Jehovah shall give to thee from this maiden. |
4:13 | And Boaz will take Ruth, and she will be to him for a wife: and he will come in to her, and Jehovah will give to her conception, and she will bring forth a son. |
4:14 | And the women will say to Naomi, Blessed be Jehovah who caused not to cease to thee a blood relation this day; and his name shall be called in Israel. |
4:15 | And being to thee for the turning back the soul, and to nourish thy gray hairs: for thy daughter-in-law who loved thee brought him forth; for she is good to thee above seven sons. |
4:16 | And Naomi will take the child and put him in her bosom, and she will be to him for nurse. |
4:17 | And the neighbors will call to him a name, saying, A son was born to Naomi; and they will call his name Obed: he the father of Jesse, the father of David. |
4:18 | And these the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron, |
4:19 | And Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Aminadab, |
4:20 | And Aminadab begat Nashon, and Nashon begat Salmon |
4:21 | And Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed, |
4:22 | And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David. |
![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.