Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 103:1 | To David. Praise Jehovah, O my soul, and all within me, his holy name. |
| 103:2 | Praise Jehovah, O my soul, and thou wilt not forget all his acts. |
| 103:3 | Forgiving to all thine iniquity, healing to all thy diseases. |
| 103:4 | Redeeming thy life from corruption, crowning thee with mercy and compassions. |
| 103:5 | Satisfying even to thee with good; thy youth shall be renewed as the eagle. |
| 103:6 | Jehovah did justices and judgments to all being oppressed. |
| 103:7 | He will make known his ways to Moses, his doings to the sons of Israel. |
| 103:8 | Jehovah being compassionate and merciful, slow to anger and great of mercy. |
| 103:9 | He will not contend forever; he will not keep forever. |
| 103:10 | He did not to us according to our sins, and he did not recompense upon us according to our iniquities. |
| 103:11 | For as the height of the heavens above the earth, his mercy prevailed upon those fearing him. |
| 103:12 | As far off as the sunrisings from the west, he removed far from us our transgressions. |
| 103:13 | As a father compassionating over his sons, Jehovah compassionated those fearing him. |
| 103:14 | For he knew our formation; he remembered that we are dust. |
| 103:15 | Man, his days as grass: as the blossom of the field, thus he will flourish. |
| 103:16 | For the wind passed over upon it and it is not; and its place shall know it no more. |
| 103:17 | And the mercy of Jehovah is from forever even to forever upon those fearing him, and his justice to sons' sons. |
| 103:18 | To those watching his covenant, and to those remembering his charges to do them. |
| 103:19 | Jehovah prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruled over all. |
| 103:20 | Praise Jehovah, ye his messengers mighty of strength, doing his word, to hear the voice of his word. |
| 103:21 | Praise Jehovah, all ye his armies; his servants doing his will. |
| 103:22 | Praise Jehovah all ye his works in all places of his dominions: praise Jehovah, O my soul. |
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.