Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 38:1 | Chanting of David to bring to remembrance. |
| 38:2 | O Jehovah, thou wilt not reprove me in thy wrath, and thou wilt not correct me in thine anger. |
| 38:3 | For thine arrows came down upon me, and thy hand will press down upon me. |
| 38:4 | No soundness in my flesh from thy wrath; no peace in my bones from the face of my sins. |
| 38:5 | For mine iniquities passed over my head: as a heavy lifting up they will be loaded above me. |
| 38:6 | My stripes became loathsome: they flowed from the face of my folly. |
| 38:7 | I was moved, I was even greatly bowed down: all the day I went darkened. |
| 38:8 | For my loins were filled with inflammation, and no soundness in my flesh. |
| 38:9 | I was languid and crushed even greatly: I roared from the groaning of my heart |
| 38:10 | O Jehovah, before thee all my desire, and my sighing was not hid from thee. |
| 38:11 | My heart moved about rapidly, my strength forsook me, and the light of mine eyes also they not with me. |
| 38:12 | My friends and my neighbors will stand from before my stroke, and my kindred stood from far off. |
| 38:13 | And they seeking my soul will lay snares: and they seeking my evil spake mischief, and they will meditate deceits all the day, |
| 38:14 | And I, as deaf, shall not hear; and as dumb, he will not open his mouth. |
| 38:15 | And I as a man that heard not, and not in his mouth confutations |
| 38:16 | For, for thee, O Jehovah, I waited: thou wilt answer, O Jehovah my God. |
| 38:17 | For I said, Lest they shall rejoice over me: in the wavering of my foot they magnified against me. |
| 38:18 | For I being prepared for halting, and my pain always before me. |
| 38:19 | For I will announce mine iniquity: I shall be afraid for my sin. |
| 38:20 | And mine enemies living, they were strong: and they hating me with falsehood were multiplied. |
| 38:21 | And they requiting evil for good will be mine adversaries, for my pursuing Thou Thou wilt not forsake me, O Jehovah: my God, thou wilt not remove far off from me. |
| 38:22 | Hasten for my help, O Jehovah, my salvation. |
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.