Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 6:1 | And I shall turn back and lift up mine eyes and see, and behold, four chariots going forth from between two mountains; and the mountains, mountains of brass. |
| 6:2 | In the first chariot, red horses; and in the second chariot, black horses; |
| 6:3 | And in the third chariot, white horses and in the fourth chariot, horses sprinkled with spots, and fleet |
| 6:4 | And I shall answer and say to the messenger speaking with me, What are these, my lord? |
| 6:5 | And the messenger will answer and say to me, These the four spirits of the heavens going forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. |
| 6:6 | The black horses which are in it, going forth into the land of the north; and the white went forth after them; and the sprinkled with spots went forth to the land of the south. |
| 6:7 | And the fleet went forth and they will seek to go in order to go to and fro in the earth: and he will say, Go; go to and fro in the earth. And they will go to and fro in the earth. |
| 6:8 | And he will cry out with me, and speak to me, saying, See them going forth to the land of the north; they caused my spirit to rest in the land of the north. |
| 6:9 | And the word of Jehovah will be to me, saying, |
| 6:10 | Take from the captivity, from Heldai, from Tobijah, and from Jedaiah, which came from Babel, and come thou in that day and go into the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah; |
| 6:11 | And take silver and gold and make crowns, and set upon the head of Joshua, son of Josedeck the great priest; |
| 6:12 | And say to him, saying, Thus said Jehovah of armies, saying, Behold the man, The Sprout his name; and he shall spring forth from his place and build the temple of Jehovah. |
| 6:13 | And he shall build the temple of Jehovah; and he shall lift up the majesty, and he sat and ruled upon his throne: and he was priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them two. |
| 6:14 | And the crown shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen, son of Zephaniah, for a remembrance in the temple of Jehovah. |
| 6:15 | And they being far off shall come and build in the temple of Jehovah; and ye knew that Jehovah of armies sent me to you. And it was if hearing, ye shall hear to the voice of Jehovah your God. |
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.