Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 74:1 | Understanding to Asaph. Wherefore, O God, didst thou reject forever? will thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy feeding? |
| 74:2 | Remember thine assembly thou didst purchase of old; thou didst redeem the rod of thine inheritance; this mount Zion thou didst dwell in it |
| 74:3 | Lift up thy steps to desolations forever; all the evil of the enemy in the holy place. |
| 74:4 | Thine enemies roared in the midst of thine appointment; they set their signs, signs. |
| 74:5 | It will be known according to bringing the axes upwards upon the thicket of wood. |
| 74:6 | And now with axes and hammers they will beat her engravings. |
| 74:7 | They cast thy holy place into fire, to the earth they defiled the tent of thy name. |
| 74:8 | They said in their heart, We will rage against them together: they burnt up all the appointments of God in the earth. |
| 74:9 | We saw not our signs, no more a prophet: and not with us will it be known how long. |
| 74:10 | How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach? Shall the enemy despise thy name forever? |
| 74:11 | Wherefore wilt thou turn back thy hand, and thy right hand? from the midst of thy bosom completely. |
| 74:12 | And God my king of old working salvations in the midst of the earth. |
| 74:13 | Thou didst cleave the sea in thy strength: thou didst break the heads of the dragons upon the waters. |
| 74:14 | Thou didst break the heads of the sea monster, thou wilt give him for food to the people, to the inhabitants of the desert |
| 74:15 | Thou didst cleave asunder the fountain and the torrent: thou driedst up the rivers of strength. |
| 74:16 | To thee the day, also to thee the night: thou didst prepare the light and the sun. |
| 74:17 | Thou didst set all the bounds of the earth: summer and autumn thou didst form them. |
| 74:18 | Remember this, the enemy reproached Jehovah, and the foolish people despised thy name. |
| 74:19 | Thou wilt not give the soul of thy turtle-dove to the beast: the life of thy poor thou wilt not forget forever. |
| 74:20 | Look to thy covenant: for the dark places of the earth were filled with habitations of violence. |
| 74:21 | The poor one shall not turn back ashamed: the humble and the needy shall praise thy name. |
| 74:22 | Arise, O God, contend thy contention: remember thy reproach from the foolish all the day. |
| 74:23 | Thou wilt not forget the voice of thine adversaries: the pride of them rising up against thee going up always |
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.