Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 135:1 | Praise ye Jah. Praise ye the name of Jehovah; praise, ye servants of Jehovah, |
| 135:2 | Standing in the house of Jehovah, in the enclosures of the house of our God. |
| 135:3 | Praise ye Jah; for Jehovah is good: play on the harp to his name, for it is pleasant |
| 135:4 | For Jah chose to himself Jacob; Israel for his property. |
| 135:5 | For I knew that great is Jehovah, and our Lord above all gods. |
| 135:6 | All which Jehovah delighted in he did, in the heavens and in the earth, in the seas and all the depths. |
| 135:7 | Causing the liftings up to ascend from the ends of the earth; he made lightnings for the rain; bringing forth the wind from his treasures. |
| 135:8 | He struck the first-born of Egypt., from man even to cattle. |
| 135:9 | He sent signs and wonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his servants. |
| 135:10 | He struck many nations, and slew strong kings; |
| 135:11 | To Sihon, king of the Amorites, and to Og, king of Bashan, and to all the kings of Canaan: |
| 135:12 | And he gave their land an inheritance, an inheritance to Israel his people. |
| 135:13 | O Jehovah, thy name is forever; O Jehovah, thy remembrance to generation and generation. |
| 135:14 | For Jehovah will judge his people, and he will compassion upon his servants. |
| 135:15 | The images of the nation are silver and gold, the work of man's hands. |
| 135:16 | A mouth to them, and they shall not speak; eyes to them, and they shall not see; |
| 135:17 | Ears to them, and they shall not hear; also there is no spirit in their mouth. |
| 135:18 | They making them shall be as they: every one who trusted in them. |
| 135:19 | O house of Israel, bless ye Jehovah: O house of Aaron, praise ye Jehovah: |
| 135:20 | O house of Levi, praise ye Jehovah: ye fearing Jehovah, praise Jehovah. |
| 135:21 | Blessed be Jehovah from Zion, dwelling in Jerusalem. Praise ye Jah. |
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.