Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 16:1 | And Job will answer and say, |
| 16:2 | I heard many like there: comforters of vexation ye all. |
| 16:3 | Was there an end to words of wind? or what will provoke thee that thou wilt answer? |
| 16:4 | Also I will speak as you: if it is your soul instead of my soul, I will join together with words against you, and shake my head against you upon it |
| 16:5 | I will strengthen you with my month, the moving of my lips shall hold back |
| 16:6 | If I shall speak, my pain will not be held back, and shall I cease, what will go from me? |
| 16:7 | But now he made me weary: thou hast made desolate all mine assembly. |
| 16:8 | Thou wilt lay fast hold on me to be for a testimony, and my leanness will rise up in me; it will answer against my face. |
| 16:9 | He rent in his anger, and he will lie in wait for me, gnashing upon me with his teeth; mine enemy will sharpen his eyes against me. |
| 16:10 | They gaped upon me with their mouth; with reproach they struck upon my cheek; they will fill out together against me. |
| 16:11 | God will shut me up to the evil one, and he will cast me into the hands of the unjust |
| 16:12 | I was secure, and he will break me in pieces: and he seized upon my neck and he will disperse me, and he will set me up to him for a mark: |
| 16:13 | His multitudes will surround upon me, he will cleave my reins asunder, and not spare; he will pour my gall upon the earth. |
| 16:14 | He will break me, breaking upon the face of breaking; he will run upon me as the strong one. |
| 16:15 | I sewed together sackcloth upon my skin, and I thrust my horn into the dust. |
| 16:16 | My face became red from weeping, and upon my eye-lashes the shadow of death |
| 16:17 | Not for violence in my hands: and my prayer is clean. |
| 16:18 | O earth, thou wilt not cover my blood; and shall there not be place for my cry? |
| 16:19 | Also now, behold, my witness in the heavens, and my testimony in the heights. |
| 16:20 | My friends mocking me: to God mine eye wept. |
| 16:21 | Shall he judge for a man with God? and the son of man for his neighbor? |
| 16:22 | When years of number shall come, and the way I shall go I shall not turn back |
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.