Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 51:1 | To the overseer: chanting to David; In the coming to him of Nathan the prophet, when he went in to Bathsheba. Compassionate me, O God, according to thy mercy: according to the Multitude of thy compassions wipe away my transgressions. |
| 51:2 | Multiply to wash me from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. |
| 51:3 | For I shall know my transgression, and my sin is always before me. |
| 51:4 | Against thee, thee alone, did I sin, and I did evil in thine eyes: so that thou wilt be justified in thy speaking, and thou wilt be pure in thy judging. |
| 51:5 | Behold, I was born in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. |
| 51:6 | Behold, thou didst delight in truth in the reins, and in bidden things thou wilt cause me to know wisdom. |
| 51:7 | Thou wilt purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: thou wilt wash me and I shall be white above snow. |
| 51:8 | Thou wilt cause me to hear joy and gladness; the bones thou didst break shall rejoice. |
| 51:9 | Hide thy face from my sin, and wipe away all mine iniquities. |
| 51:10 | Create for me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit in my midst, |
| 51:11 | Thou wilt not cast me away from thy face, and thou wilt not take thy holy spirit from me. |
| 51:12 | Turn back to me the joy of thy salvation, and thy willing spirit shall uphold me. |
| 51:13 | I will teach those transgressing, thy ways, and those sinning shall turn back to thee. |
| 51:14 | Deliver me from bloods, O God the God of my salvation; my tongue shall rejoice in thy justice. |
| 51:15 | O Jehovah, thou wilt open my lips, and my mouth shall announce thy praise. |
| 51:16 | For thou wilt not delight in sacrifice, and thou wilt not take pleasure in burnt-offering. |
| 51:17 | The sacrifices of God a spirit being broken: a heart being broken and crushed, O God, thou wilt not despise. |
| 51:18 | Do Zion good in thy good will: thou wilt build the walls of Jerusalem. |
| 51:19 | Then wilt thou delight in sacrifices of justice, in burnt-offering and whole burnt-offering: then they will bring up bullocks upon thine altar. |
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.