Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 28:1 | For there is a going forth for silver, and a place for gold they will purify it |
| 28:2 | Iron shall be taken from the dust, and stone will pour out brass. |
| 28:3 | He set an end to darkness, and he searched out for all completeness: the stone of darkness and the shadow of death. |
| 28:4 | The torrent broke out from the sojourner; being forgotten of the foot, they were weak, they wandered from men. |
| 28:5 | The earth, from it will come forth bread, and under it was turned as fire. |
| 28:6 | Its stones the place of the sapphire, and dust gold to it |
| 28:7 | A beaten path the birds knew not, and the vulture's eye scanned it not: |
| 28:8 | The sons of pride trod it not, and the lion passed not by upon it. |
| 28:9 | He stretched forth his hand upon the flint; he overturned the mountains from the roots. |
| 28:10 | He cut rivers in the rocks, and his eye saw every precious thing. |
| 28:11 | He bound the rivers from weeping, and he will bring forth the hidden thing to light |
| 28:12 | And from whence shall wisdom be found? and where this place of understanding? |
| 28:13 | And man knew not its estimation, and it shall not be found in the land of the living. |
| 28:14 | The depth said, It is not in me: and the sea said, Not with me. |
| 28:15 | Shut up gold shall not be given for it, and silver shall not be weighed its price |
| 28:16 | It shall not be weighed with gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, and the sapphire. |
| 28:17 | Gold and crystal shall not compare with it, and its exchange, vessels of pure gold. |
| 28:18 | High things, and crystal, shall not be remembered: and the drawing out of wisdom above pearls. |
| 28:19 | The topaz of Cush shall not compare with it; with pure gold it shall not be weighed. |
| 28:20 | And from whence shall wisdom come? and where this place of understanding? |
| 28:21 | And being hid from the eyes of all living, and covered from the birds of the heavens. |
| 28:22 | Destruction and death said, We heard its report with our ears: |
| 28:23 | God understood its way, and he knew its place. |
| 28:24 | For he will look to the ends of the earth, he will see under all the heavens; |
| 28:25 | To make the weight for the wind; and he weighed the waters by measure. |
| 28:26 | In his making a law for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the voices. |
| 28:27 | Then he saw, and he will recount it; he prepared it, and also he searched it out |
| 28:28 | And he will say to man, Behold, the fear of Jehovah, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding. |
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.