Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 8:1 | And the word of Jehovah of armies will be, saying, |
| 8:2 | Thus said Jehovah of armies: I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy and with great wrath was I jealous for her. |
| 8:3 | Thus said Jehovah: I turned back to Zion, and I dwelt in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem was called, The city of truth; and the mountain of Jehovah of armies, The holy mountain. |
| 8:4 | Thus said Jehovah of armies: Yet shall old men and old women sit in the broad places of Jerusalem, and a man his support in his hand from the multitude of days. |
| 8:5 | And the broad places of the city shall be filled with boys and girls playing in her broad places. |
| 8:6 | Thus said Jehovah of armies: If it shall be wonderful in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, also shall it be wonderful in mine eyes, says Jehovah of armies: |
| 8:7 | Thus said Jehovah of armies: Behold me saving my people from the land of the sun rising, and from the land of the going down of the sun. |
| 8:8 | And I brought them, and they dwelt in the midst of Jerusalem: and they were to me for a people, and I will be to them for God, in truth and in justice. |
| 8:9 | Thus said Jehovah of armies: Your hands shall be strong, ye bearing in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day the house of Jehovah of armies was founded for the temple to be built |
| 8:10 | For before these days there was no hire of man, and not any hire of cattle; and to him going out, and to him coming in, no peace from the straits: and I will send all the men each against his neighbor. |
| 8:11 | And now not as the former days am I to the remnant of this people, says Jehovah of armies. |
| 8:12 | For the seed of peace; the vine shall give her fruit and the earth shall give her produce, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I caused the remnant of this people to inherit all these. |
| 8:13 | And it was as ye were a curse in the nations, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so I will save you, and ye were a praise: ye shall not fear; your hands shall be strengthened. |
| 8:14 | For thus said Jehovah of armies; As I had in mind to do evil to you in your fathers' provoking me to anger, said Jehovah of armies, and, I lamented not |
| 8:15 | So I turned back.; I had in mind in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: ye shall not fear. |
| 8:16 | These the words which ye shall do: speak the truth each with his neighbor; truth and the judgment of peace judge ye in your gates. |
| 8:17 | And ye shall not purpose evil, a man to his neighbor, in your heart; and ye shall not love the oath of falsehood: for all these which I hated, says Jehovah. |
| 8:18 | And the word of Jehovah of armies will be to me, saying, |
| 8:19 | Thus said Jehovah of armies: The fast of the fourth, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah for joy and for gladness, and for good appointments; and love ye truth and peace. |
| 8:20 | Thus said Jehovah of armies: Yet that peoples shall come, and the inhabitants of many cities: |
| 8:21 | And the inhabitants of one went to one, saying, We will go, going to beseech the face of Jehovah, and to seek Jehovah of armies: I will go also. |
| 8:22 | And many peoples and strong nations came to seek Jehovah of armies in Jerusalem, and to beseech the face of Jehovah. |
| 8:23 | Thus said Jehovah of armies: In those days, that ten men shall take hold from all tongues of the nations, and they took hold of the wing of a man a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we heard God is with you. |
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.