Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 66:1 | To the overseer; a song of chanting. Shout ye for joy to God, all the earth: |
| 66:2 | Play ye on the harp, the glory of his name: set the glory of his praise. |
| 66:3 | Say to God, How terrible thy works! in the multitude of thy strength thine enemies shall lie to thee. |
| 66:4 | All the earth shall worship to thee, and they shall play on the harp to thee; they shall play on the harp to thy name. Silence. |
| 66:5 | Come and see ye the works of God: terrible the doing upon the sons of man. |
| 66:6 | He turned the sea into dry land: they will pass through the river on foot: there we shall rejoice in him. |
| 66:7 | Ruling by his strength forever; his eyes will look about upon the nations: they turning away shall not lift up for themselves. Silence. |
| 66:8 | Ye peoples bless our God, and cause the voice of his praise to be heard. |
| 66:9 | He set our soul in life, and he gave not our feet to waver. |
| 66:10 | For thou didst try us, O God, thou didst prove us as purifying of silver. |
| 66:11 | Thou broughtest us into the net; thou didst set a heavy burden upon our loins. |
| 66:12 | Thou didst cause men to ride upon our head; we went through fire and through water: and thou wilt bring us forth to abundance. |
| 66:13 | I will go into thine house with 'burnt-offerings: I will repay to thee my vows, |
| 66:14 | Which my lips opened and my month spake in straits to me. |
| 66:15 | I will bring up to thee burnt-offerings of marrows with incense of rams; I will do oxen with he goats. Silence. |
| 66:16 | Come, hear, and I will recount, all ye fearing God, what he did for my soul |
| 66:17 | I called to him with my mouth, and he was lifted up under my tongue. |
| 66:18 | If I saw vanity in my heart, Jehovah will not hear. |
| 66:19 | Surely God heard; he attended upon the voice of my prayer. |
| 66:20 | Praised be God who turned not away my prayer, and his mercy from me. |
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.