Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 12:1 | And Samuel will say to all Israel, Behold, I heard to your voice, to all that ye said to me, and I will make a king over you. |
| 12:2 | And now, behold, the king going before you: and I grew old and I was gray-headed; and my sons, behold them with you: and I went before you from my youth even to this day. |
| 12:3 | Behold me: answer against me before Jehovah and before his Messiah, whose ox did I take? or whose ass did I take? and whom did I oppress? whom did I vex? and from whose hand did I take a ransom and hidden mine eyes with it? and I will turn back to you. |
| 12:4 | And they will say, Thou didst not oppress us, and thou didst not vex us, and thou didst not take any thing from man's hand. |
| 12:5 | And he will say to them, Jehovah the witness against you, and his Messiah the witness this day that ye found nothing in my hand. And he will say, A witness. |
| 12:6 | And Samuel will say to the people, Jehovah who made Moses and Aaron, and who brought up your fathers from the land of Egypt |
| 12:7 | And now, stand ye, and I will judge you before Jehovah, all the justices of Jehovah which he did with you and with your fathers. |
| 12:8 | When Jacob came into Egypt, and your fathers will cry to Jehovah, and Jehovah will send Moses and Aaron, and they will bring forth your fathers from Egypt, and they will turn them back into this place. |
| 12:9 | And they will forget Jehovah their God, and he will sell them into the hand of Sisera, chief of the army of Razor, and into the hand of Philisteim, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they will war against them. |
| 12:10 | And they will cry to Jehovah, and say, We sinned, for we forsook Jehovah, and we shall serve the Baalims and Ashtaroth: and now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies and we will serve thee. |
| 12:11 | And Jehovah will send Jerubbaal and Bedan and Jephthah and Samuel, and he will deliver you from the hand of your enemies from round about, and ye shall dwell confidently. |
| 12:12 | And ye will see that Nahash, king of the sons of Ammon, came against you, and ye will say to me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: and Jehovah your God your king. |
| 12:13 | And now, behold the king which ye chose, which ye asked! and behold, Jehovah gave a king over you. |
| 12:14 | If ye will fear Jehovah and serve him, and hear to his voice, and ye shall not rebel against the mouth of Jehovah, and ye shall be, also ye, and the king which reigned over you, after Jehovah your God. |
| 12:15 | And if ye will not hear to the voice of Jehovah, and rebel against the mouth of Jehovah, and the hand of the Lord was against you and your fathers. |
| 12:16 | Also now stand ye and see this great word which Jehovah does before your eyes. |
| 12:17 | Is it not the harvest of wheat this day? I will call to Jehovah and he will give voices and rain; and know ye and see that your wickedness is great which ye did in the eyes of Jehovah to ask for you a king. |
| 12:18 | And Samuel will call to Jehovah, and Jehovah will give voices and rain in that day: and all the people will be greatly afraid of Jehovah and Samuel. |
| 12:19 | And all the people will say to Samuel, Pray for thy servants to Jehovah thy God, and we shall not die; for we added upon all our sins the wickedness to ask for us a king. |
| 12:20 | And Samuel will say to the people, Ye shall not be afraid: ye did all this wickedness: but ye shall not turn aside from after Jehovah, and serve ye Jehovah with all your heart. |
| 12:21 | And ye shall not turn aside: for after vanities which will not profit, and they will not deliver, for they are vanities. |
| 12:22 | For Jehovah will not cast off his people on account of his great name, for Jehovah willed to make you to him for a people. |
| 12:23 | Also I, far be it to me sinning against Jehovah ceasing to pray for you: and I taught you in the good and straight way. |
| 12:24 | But fear ye Jehovah, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for see what he magnified with you. |
| 12:25 | And if doing evil, ye shall do evil, also ye, also your king; ye shall perish. |
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.