Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 11:1 | And Zophar the Naamathite will answer and say, |
| 11:2 | Shall not the multitude of words be answered? and shall a man of lips be justified? |
| 11:3 | Shall thy empty talks cause men to be silent? and wilt thou deride and none making ashamed? |
| 11:4 | And thou wilt say, My instruction is pure, and I was clean in thine eyes. |
| 11:5 | And who Will give God speaking, and he will open his lips with thee? |
| 11:6 | And he shall announce to thee hidden things of wisdom, for they are the double for understanding. And know thou that God will set to thee from thine iniquity. |
| 11:7 | Searching shalt thou and God? Shalt thou find the Almighty even to completeness? |
| 11:8 | The heavens being high, what wilt thou do? Hades being deep, what wilt thou know? |
| 11:9 | Its measure long above the earth, and broad above the sea. |
| 11:10 | If he shall pass on, and shut up, and gather together, who shall turn him back. |
| 11:11 | For he knew men of vanity, and he will see iniquity; and will he not understand? |
| 11:12 | And man being empty will be without heart: and man will be born a wild ass's colt |
| 11:13 | If thou preparedst thy heart, and didst spread thy hands towards him; |
| 11:14 | If iniquity in thy hand, remove it far off, and wickedness shall not dwell in thy tents. |
| 11:15 | For then thou shalt lift up thy face from spot; and thou wert firm, and thou shalt not fear: |
| 11:16 | For thou shalt forget toil, then shalt remember as waters they passed away. |
| 11:17 | And life shall rise above the noonday: thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning |
| 11:18 | And thou didst trust, for there is hope; and thou didst search out; thou shalt lie down confidently. |
| 11:19 | And thou shalt lie down and none terrifying; and many waited for thy face. |
| 11:20 | And the eyes of the unjust shall be consumed, and flight shall perish from them, and their hope a breathing out of the soul. |
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.