Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 84:1 | To the overseer upon the stringed instrument: to the sons of Korah, a chanting. How beloved are thy tents, O Jehovah of armies! |
| 84:2 | My soul longed after, and also failed for the enclosures of Jehovah: my heart and my flesh will rejoice for the living God. |
| 84:3 | Also the sparrow found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself where she put her young brood, thine altars, O Jehovah of armies, my King and my God. |
| 84:4 | Happy they dwelling in thy house; they shall yet praise thee. Silence. |
| 84:5 | Happy the man strength to him in thee; the raised ways in their heart; |
| 84:6 | Passing through in the valley of Baca they will set it a fountain; also the early rain will cover the ponds. |
| 84:7 | They will go from strength to strength, being seen in Zion to God. |
| 84:8 | O Jehovah God of armies, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Silence. |
| 84:9 | See, O God our shield, and behold the face of thy Messiah. |
| 84:10 | For good a day in thine enclosures above a thousand. I chose to wait on the threshold in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tents of injustice. |
| 84:11 | For Jehovah God a sun and shield: Jehovah will give grace and glory; he will not withhold good to those going uprightly. |
| 84:12 | O Jehovah of armies, happy the man trusting in thee. |
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.