Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 21:1 | And David will come to Nob to Abimelech the priest: and Abimelech will tremble to meet David, and he will say to him, Wherefore thou thyself alone and no man with thee? |
| 21:2 | And David will say to Abimelech the priest, The king commanded me a word, and he will say to me, A man shall not know any thing of the word for which I sent thee, and what I commanded thee: and the boys I showed to such a place a certain one. |
| 21:3 | And now what is under thy hand? five of bread thou shalt give into my hand, or that being found. |
| 21:4 | And the priest will answer David and say, No common bread under my hand, but there is consecrated bread; if the boys watched themselves only from women. |
| 21:5 | And David will answer the priest and say to him, That truly woman was withheld to us for yesterday the third day, in my coming forth, and the vessels of the boys holy, and this way common, and truly if this day it shall be consecrated in the vessel |
| 21:6 | And the priest will give to him the holy, for there was not there bread except the bread of the face, being taken away from before Jehovah to put hot bread in the day of taking it |
| 21:7 | And a man there from the servants of Saul in that day, withheld before Jehovah; and his name Doeg, the Edomite, a powerful one of the shepherds which were to Saul. |
| 21:8 | And David will say to Ahimelech, And is there not here under thy hand, spear or sword? for also sword and also utensil I took not into my hand, for the king's word was pressing. |
| 21:9 | And the priest will say, The sword of Goliah the rover, whom thou didst strike in the valley of the oak, behold, it wrapped up in a garment behind the ephod: if thou wilt take it to thee, take, for no other beside it here. And David will say, None like it; thou shalt give it to me. |
| 21:10 | And David will rise and flee in that day from the face of Saul, and he will come to Achish, king of Gath. |
| 21:11 | And the servants of Achish will say to him, Is not this David king of the land? will they not answer to this in dances, saying, Saul struck against his thousands and David against his ten thousands? |
| 21:12 | And David will set these words in his heart, and he will be afraid greatly of the face of Achish, king of Gath. |
| 21:13 | And he will change his understanding in their eyes, and he will be foolish in their hand, and he will mark upon the doors of the gate, and his spittle will come down upon his beard. |
| 21:14 | And Achish will say to his servants, Behold, ye will see the man raving: wherefore will ye bring him to me? |
| 21:15 | Do I want mad men that ye brought this to rave to me? shall this come into my house? |
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.