Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 26:1 | TO David. Judge me, O Jehovah, for I went in mine integrity, and in Jehovah I trusted: I shall not waver. |
| 26:2 | Prove me, O Jehovah, and try me; refine my reins and my heart |
| 26:3 | For thy mercy is before mine eyes, and I walked about in thy truth. |
| 26:4 | I sat not with men of vanity, and I will not go in with those lying hid. |
| 26:5 | I hated the convocation of those being evil, and with the unjust I will not sit |
| 26:6 | I will wash my hands in cleanness, and I will surround thine altar, O Jehovah: |
| 26:7 | To hear with the voice of praise, and to recount all thy wonders. |
| 26:8 | O Jehovah, I loved the habitation of thy house, and the place of the dwelling of thine honor. |
| 26:9 | Thou wilt not gather my soul with the sinning, and my life with men of bloods: |
| 26:10 | Which in their hands mischief, and their right hand filled with sifts. |
| 26:11 | And I, I will go in mine integrity: redeem me and pity me. |
| 26:12 | My foot stood in straightness: in the convocations will I praise Jehovah. |
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.