Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 40:1 | And Jehovah will answer Job, and he will say, |
| 40:2 | Shall he contending with the Almighty, instruct? he reproving God shall answer it |
| 40:3 | And Job will answer Jehovah, and say, |
| 40:4 | Behold, I was vile; what shall I turn back to thee? I put my hand to my mouth. |
| 40:5 | Once I sake, and I will not answer: and twice, and I will not add. |
| 40:6 | And Jehovah will answer Job from the whirlwind, and he will say, |
| 40:7 | Gird up now thy loins as a man; I will ask thee, and do thou make known to me. |
| 40:8 | Wilt thou also annul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me so that thou shalt be just? |
| 40:9 | And if an arm to thee as God? and with thy voice wilt thou thunder as he? |
| 40:10 | Deck thyself now with majesty and grandeur, and thou shalt put on ornament and splendor. |
| 40:11 | Scatter the overflowings of thine anger, and see every proud one and bring him low. |
| 40:12 | See every proud one, and humble him; and crush the unjust in their place. |
| 40:13 | Hide them in the dust together, and bind their faces in hiding. |
| 40:14 | And also I will confess to thee that thy right hand shall save for thee. |
| 40:15 | Behold now, the great beast which I made with thee; he will eat grass as an ox. |
| 40:16 | Behold now, his strength in his loins, and his power in the sinews of his belly. |
| 40:17 | He will bend his tail as a cedar; the sinews of his thighs will be woven together. |
| 40:18 | His bones tubes of brass; his bones as a hammered bar of iron. |
| 40:19 | He the chief of the ways of God: he making him, his sword will reach. |
| 40:20 | For the mountains shall lift up produce for him, and all the beasts of the field shall play there. |
| 40:21 | He will lie down under the shades, in the covering of the reed and marsh. |
| 40:22 | The shades shall cover him with their shadow; the willows of the torrent shall surround him. |
| 40:23 | Behold, he will oppress a river, and he will not spring up: he will trust that Jordan burst forth into his mouth. |
| 40:24 | He will take it with his eyes: his nose will pierce through snares. |
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.