Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 73:1 | Chanting to Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to the clean of heart |
| 73:2 | And I, my feet nearly turned aside; my going was almost poured out |
| 73:3 | For I was envious at the foolish; I shall see the peace of the unjust |
| 73:4 | For not the pains to their death, and their body fat |
| 73:5 | They are not in the trouble of men, and with man they shall not be struck. |
| 73:6 | For this, pride surrounded them as a neck-chain; the dress of violence will cover to them. |
| 73:7 | Their eye will come forth from fat: they passed over the imaginations of the heart |
| 73:8 | They will mock and speak in evil of oppression: they will speak from elevation. |
| 73:9 | They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue will go in the earth. |
| 73:10 | For this, his people will turn back here: and full water shall be sucked out to them. |
| 73:11 | And they said, How did God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High? |
| 73:12 | Behold, these the unjust, and they being secure of the world increased riches. |
| 73:13 | Surely in vain I cleansed my heart, and I will wash my hands in cleanness. |
| 73:14 | And I am struck all the day, and my reproofs for the mornings. |
| 73:15 | If I said, I will recount thus; behold, I transgressed against the generation of thy sons. |
| 73:16 | And I shall think to know this, it is labor in mine eyes. |
| 73:17 | Till I shall come to the holy place of God I shall not understand for their latter state. |
| 73:18 | Surely in slippery places thou wilt set them, to cast them down into ruins. |
| 73:19 | How they were for desolation as in a moment they perished; they were finished from sudden destruction. |
| 73:20 | As a dream of him awaking, O Jehovah, in awaking thou wilt despise their image. |
| 73:21 | For my heart will be embittered, and my loins were hard. |
| 73:22 | And I stupid, and I shall not know, and I was a beast with thee. |
| 73:23 | And I always with thee: thou didst hold by my right hand. |
| 73:24 | In thy counsel thou wilt guide me, and after, thou wilt receive me with glory. |
| 73:25 | Who to me in the heavens? and from thee I desired nothing in the earth. |
| 73:26 | My flesh failed and my heart: the rock of my heart and my portion is God forever. |
| 73:27 | For behold, they being far off from thee shall perish: thou didst lay waste all committing fornication from thee. |
| 73:28 | And I drawing near to God, it is good for me: I put in the Lord Jehovah my refuge, to recount all thy works. |
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.