Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 9:1 | To the overseer upon the death of Laban, chanting of David. I will praise, O Jehovah, with all my heart; I will recount all thy wonderful works. |
| 9:2 | I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will play on the harp to thy name, O Most High. |
| 9:3 | In the turning away of mine enemies backward, they shall be weak and perish from thy face. |
| 9:4 | For thou didst my judgment and my cause; thou satest upon the throne judging justice. |
| 9:5 | Thou didst rebuke the nations, thou didst destroy the unjust one, wiping off their name forever and ever. |
| 9:6 | O enemy! desolations were wholly finished, and thou didst tear down cities; their remembrance perished with them. |
| 9:7 | And Jehovah shall dwell forever: he prepared his throne for judgment |
| 9:8 | And he will judge the habitable globe in justice, he will judge peoples in uprightness. |
| 9:9 | And Jehovah will be a height for the oppressed one, a height for times in straits. |
| 9:10 | And they knowing thy name will trust in thee, for thou didst not forsake those seeking thee, O Jehovah. |
| 9:11 | Play on the harp to Jehovah dwelling in Zion: announce among the peoples his doings. |
| 9:12 | For he sought out bloods, be remembered them: he forget not the cry of the humble. |
| 9:13 | Compassionate me, O Jehovah: see my affliction from those hating me, thou lifting me up from the gates of death: |
| 9:14 | So that I shall recount all thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation. |
| 9:15 | The nations sank into the pit they made: in the net they hid, their foot was taken by it |
| 9:16 | And Jehovah was known by the judgment he did: by the work of his hands the unjust was snared. Meditation. Silence. |
| 9:17 | The unjust shall be turned away into hades, all the nations forgetting God. |
| 9:18 | For the needy shall not be forgotten forever: the hope of the poor shall not perish forever. |
| 9:19 | Arise, O Jehovah; man shall not be strengthened: the nations shall be judged before thee. |
| 9:20 | Put fear to them, O Jehovah: the nations shall know they are man. Silence. |
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.