Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 23:1 | And they will announce to David, saying, Behold, the rovers fighting against Keilah, and they are plundering the threshing-floors. |
| 23:2 | And David will ask in Jehovah, saying, Shall I go and strike against these rovers? And Jehovah will say to David, Go and strike against the rovers, and save Keilah. |
| 23:3 | And David's men will say to him, Behold us here in Judah being afraid, and even more if we shall go to Keilah against the ranks of the rovers. |
| 23:4 | And David will add yet to ask in Jehovah, and Jehovah will answer him and say, Arise, go down to Keilah; for I gave the rovers into thy hand. |
| 23:5 | And David will go, and his men, to Keilah, and he will war against the rovers, and drive away their cattle, and strike against them a great blow. And David will save the inhabitants of Keilah. |
| 23:6 | And it will be in the fleeing of Abiathar son of Ahimelech, to David to Keilah, he brought down an ephod in his hand. |
| 23:7 | And it will be announced to Saul that David came to Keilah. And Saul will say, God sold him into my hand; for he was shut up, to come to a city of doors and bars. |
| 23:8 | And Saul will summon all the people to war to go down to Keilah to press against David and against his men. |
| 23:9 | And David knew that Saul was working evil against him; and he will say to Abiathar the priest, Bring near the ephod. |
| 23:10 | And David will say, Jehovah God of Israel, hearing, thy servant heard that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city on account of me. |
| 23:11 | Will the lords of Keilah shut me up in his hand? will Saul come down as thy servant heard? Jehovah God of Israel, announce now to thy servant Jehovah will say, He will come down. |
| 23:12 | And David will say, Will the lords of Keilah shut me up and my men into the hand of Saul? And Jehovah will say, They will shut up. |
| 23:13 | And David will rise, and his men, about six hundred men, and they will go forth from Keilah, and they will go wherever they will go. And it was announced to Saul that David escaped from Keilah; and he will cease to go forth. |
| 23:14 | And David will dwell in the desert in fastnesses, and he will dwell in the mountain in the desert of Ziph. And Saul will seek him all the days, and God save him not into his hand. |
| 23:15 | And David will see that Saul went forth to seek his soul: and David in the desert of Ziph in a thicket |
| 23:16 | And Jonathan, son of Saul, will rise and go to David to the thicket, and he will strengthen his hand in God. |
| 23:17 | And he will say to him, Thou shalt not fear, for Saul's, my father's hand, shall not find thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be to thee for the second; and also Saul my father knew this |
| 23:18 | And they two will cut out a covenant before Jehovah: and David dwelt in the thicket, and Jonathan went to his house. |
| 23:19 | And the Ziphites will go up to Saul to the hill, saying, Is not David hiding with us in the fastnesses in the thicket, in the hill of Hachilah, which is from the right of the desert? |
| 23:20 | And now, according to all the desire of thy soul, O king, to come down, come down; and for us to shut him up into the hand of the king. |
| 23:21 | And Saul will say, Blessed ye, by Jehovah; for ye had pity upon me. |
| 23:22 | Go now, prepare yet, and know, and see his place where his foot shall be, who saw him there: for it was said to me being crafty, he will be crafty. |
| 23:23 | And see ye, and know of all the hiding places where he will hide there, and turn back to me prepared, and I went with you: and it being if he is on earth, and I sought him in all the thousands of Judah. |
| 23:24 | And they will rise and go to Ziph before Saul: and David and his men in the desert of Maon, in the sterile region to the right of Jeshimon. |
| 23:25 | And Saul will go, and his men, to seek: and they will announce to David, and he will go down to the rock and dwell in the desert of the refuge. And Saul will hear and he will pursue after David in the desert of Maon. |
| 23:26 | And Saul will go from the side of the mountain from hence, and David from the side of the mountain from thence: and David will be taking flight to go from the face of Saul; and Saul and his men surrounding upon David and upon his men to seize them. |
| 23:27 | And a messenger came to Saul, saying, Hasten and come, for the rovers plundered upon the land. |
| 23:28 | And Saul will turn back from pursuing after David, and he will go to meet the rovers: for this they called that place the Rock of Escapes. |
| 23:29 | And David will go up from thence and dwell in the fastnesses of the Fountain of Goats. |
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.