Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
27:1 | And Moses and the old men of Israel will command the people, saying, Watch every command which I command you this day. |
27:2 | And it was in the day which ye shall pass over Jordan to the land that Jehovah thy God gave to thee, and set up to thee great stones, and plaster them with lime. |
27:3 | And write upon them all the words of this law in thy passing over, so that thou shalt go in to the land that Jehovah thy God gave to thee; a land flowing milk and honey, as Jehovah the God of thy fathers spake to thee. |
27:4 | And being in your passing over Jordan ye shall set up these stones which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and plaster them with lime. |
27:5 | And build there an altar to Jehovah thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up iron upon them. |
27:6 | Whole stones thou shalt build the altar of Jehovah thy God: and bring up upon it burnt-offerings to Jehovah thy God: |
27:7 | And sacrifice peace, and eat there and rejoice before Jehovah thy God. |
27:8 | And write upon the stones all the words of this law very diligently. |
27:9 | And Moses will speak, and the priests, the Levites, to all Israel, saying, Be silent and hear, Israel; this day thou wert for a people to Jehovah thy God. |
27:10 | And hear to the voice of Jehovah thy God and do his commands and his laws which I command thee this day. |
27:11 | And Moses will command the people in that day, saying, |
27:12 | These shall stand to bless the people upon mount Gerizim, in your passing over Jordan; Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar, and Joseph and Benjamin: |
27:13 | And these shall stand for a cursing upon Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad and Asher and Zebulon, Dan and Naphtali. |
27:14 | And the Levites answered and said to every man of Israel in a high voice, |
27:15 | Cursed the man, who shall make a graven and molten thing, an abomination of Jehovah, the work of the hand of the artificer, and put it in hiding: and all the people answered and said, Amen. |
27:16 | Cursed he making light of his father and his mother: and all the people said, Amen. |
27:17 | Cursed he removing the boundary of his neighbor: and all the people said, Amen. |
27:18 | Cursed he causing the blind to wander in the way: and all the people said, Amen. |
27:19 | Cursing he turning away the judgment of the stranger, the orphan and the widow: and all the people said, Amen. |
27:20 | Cursed he lying with his father's wife, for he uncovered his father's wing: and all the people said, Amen. |
27:21 | Cursed he lying with any cattle: and all the people said, Amen. |
27:22 | Cursed he lying with his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter: and all the people said, Amen. |
27:23 | Cursed he lying with his daughter-in-law: and all the people said Amen. |
27:24 | Cursed he striking his neighbor in hiding: and all the people said, Amen. |
27:25 | Cursed he taking a gift to strike the soul of innocent blood: and all the people said, Amen. |
27:26 | Cursed he who shall not raise up the words of this law to do them: and all the people said, Amen. |
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.