Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 12:1 | And Job will answer and say, |
| 12:2 | Verily that ye are the people, and shall wisdom die with you? |
| 12:3 | Also to me a heart like you; I fall not more than you: and with whom not like these? |
| 12:4 | I shall be he laughing at his neighbor, calling to God, and he will answer him: the just blameless one being laughed at |
| 12:5 | To misfortune is contempt to the thoughts of him at ease, being prepared for the waverings of the foot |
| 12:6 | The tents to those oppressing will be secure, and confidence to those provoking God to anger: whom God will bring into his hand |
| 12:7 | But ask now the beasts and they shall teach thee; and the birds of the heavens, and they shall announce to thee: |
| 12:8 | Or speak to the earth and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall recount to thee. |
| 12:9 | Who knew not in all these that the hand of God did this? |
| 12:10 | Which in his hand the soul of all living, and the spirit of all the flesh of man. |
| 12:11 | Shall not the ear try words? and the palate shall taste food to it? |
| 12:12 | With old men is wisdom, and length of days, understanding |
| 12:13 | With him wisdom and strength, to him counsel and understanding. |
| 12:14 | Behold, he will pull down and it shall not be built up: he will shut up against man and it shall not be opened. |
| 12:15 | Behold, he will hold back upon the waters, and they will dry up: and he will send them forth and they will overturn the earth. |
| 12:16 | With him strength and purpose:to him the one led astray and him leading astray. |
| 12:17 | Leading away counselors stripped off and he will make foolish the judges |
| 12:18 | He loosed the bonds of kings, and he will gird upon their loins a girdle. |
| 12:19 | Leading away priests stripped off, and he will overthrow the mighty. |
| 12:20 | Removing the lip to the faithful, and he will take discernment of old men. |
| 12:21 | Proving contempt upon nobles, and he slackened the girdle of the strong. |
| 12:22 | Revealing deep things from darkness, and he will bring to light the shadow of death. |
| 12:23 | Making great to the nations, and he will destroy them: he spread out to the nations, and he will guide them. |
| 12:24 | Taking away the heart of the heads of the people of the earth, and he will cause them to wander in a waste, not a way. |
| 12:25 | They will feel darkness and not light, and he will cause them to wander as one intoxicated. |
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.