Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 35:1 | To David. Contend, O Jehovah, with them contending with me: fight with those fighting with me. |
| 35:2 | Take hold of the shield and the buckler, and stand up for my help. |
| 35:3 | Draw out the spear, and shut up to the meeting of them pursuing me: say to my soul, I am thy salvation. |
| 35:4 | They seeking my soul shall be ashamed and disgraced: they shall be drawn back and be ashamed purposing my evil |
| 35:5 | They shall be as chaff before the wind: and the messenger of Jehovah overthrowing. |
| 35:6 | Their way shall be darkness and slippery places, and the messenger of Jehovah pursuing them. |
| 35:7 | For gratuitously they hid for me the destruction of their net: gratuitously they dug for my soul. |
| 35:8 | Desolation shall come to him not knowing, and his net which he hid shall take him: in destruction he shall fall in it |
| 35:9 | And my soul shall rejoice in Jehovah: it shall be glad in his salvation. |
| 35:10 | All my bones shall say, O Jehovah, who as thee, delivering the poor from him strong above him, and the poor and the needy from him stripping him? |
| 35:11 | Witnesses of wrong will rise up; they will ask me what I knew not. |
| 35:12 | They will requite me evil instead of good, bereaving to my soul |
| 35:13 | And I, in their being sick, my clothing sackcloth: I humbled my soul in fasting, and my prayer shall be turned back upon my bosom. |
| 35:14 | As a friend, as a brother to me: I went about as mourning a mother: being darkened, I bowed down. |
| 35:15 | And in my halting they rejoiced, and they were gathered together: they smiting were gathered together against me, and I knew not; they rent asunder and ceased not: |
| 35:16 | With profane mocking parasites, gnashing their teeth against me. |
| 35:17 | O Jehovah, how long wilt thou see? Turn back my soul from their destruction, my only one from the lions. |
| 35:18 | I will praise thee in the great convocation: I will celebrate thee among a strong people. |
| 35:19 | Mine enemies shall not rejoice over me for falsehood: they hating me gratuitously shall pinch the eye. |
| 35:20 | For they will not speak peace: and against the quiet of the land they will purpose words of deceits. |
| 35:21 | They will widen their mouth upon me: they said, Aha! aha our eye saw it. |
| 35:22 | Thou sawest, O Jehovah: thou wilt not be silent: O Jehovah, thou wilt not remove far off from me. |
| 35:23 | Rouse up and awake to judgment, my God and my Lord, for my contention. |
| 35:24 | Judge me according to thy justice, O Jehovah my God, and they shall not rejoice over me. |
| 35:25 | They shall not say in their heart, Aha! our soul. They shall not say, We swallowed him down. |
| 35:26 | They shall be ashamed and they shall blush together, rejoicing for my evil: they shall be clothed with shame and reproach, magnifying against me. |
| 35:27 | Those delighting in my justice shall rejoice and be glad: they shall say always, Jehovah shall be magnified: he delighted in the peace of his servant |
| 35:28 | My tongue shall speak of thy justice, thy praise all the day. |
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.