Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 24:1 | And it will be when Saul turned back from after the rovers, and they will announce to him, saying, Behold, David in the desert of Engedi. |
| 24:2 | And Saul will take three thousand men chosen from all Israel, and he will go to seek David and his men upon the face of the rocks of the wild goats. |
| 24:3 | And he will come to the sheepfolds upon the way, and there a cave; and Saul will come in to cover his feet: and David and his men dwelling in the sides of the cave. |
| 24:4 | And David's men will say to him, Behold the day of which Jehovah spake to thee, Behold, I give thine enemy into thy hand, and do to him as it will be good in thine eyes. And David will rise and cut off the wing of the upper garment which is to Saul, secretly. |
| 24:5 | And it will be after this, the heart of David will strike him because that he cut off the wing which is to Saul. |
| 24:6 | And he will say to his men, Far be it to me from Jehovah if I shall do this word to my lord, to the Messiah of Jehovah, to stretch forth my hand against him, for he is the Messiah of Jehovah. |
| 24:7 | And David will divide his men with words, and he gave them not to rise against Saul, and Saul rose up from the cave and went in the way. |
| 24:8 | And David will rise up after him and will come forth from the cave, and he will call after Saul, saying, My lord the king. And Saul will look behind him, and David will bow down his face to the earth, and worship him. |
| 24:9 | And David will say to Saul, Why wilt thou hear the words of man, saying, Behold, David is seeking thy hurt? |
| 24:10 | Behold, this day thine eyes saw that Jehovah gave thee this day into my hand in the cave: and it was said to kill thee; and it had pity upon thee, and saying, I will not stretch forth my hand against my lord, for he is Jehovah's Messiah. |
| 24:11 | And my father, see, also see, the wing of thy upper garment in my hand: for in my cutting off the wing of thine upper garment and I killed thee not, know and see that there is not in my hand evil and rebellion: and I sinned not against thee; and thou didst hunt my soul to take it |
| 24:12 | And Jehovah will judge between me and between thee, and Jehovah avenge me of thee: and my hand shall not be upon thee. |
| 24:13 | As the ancient parable will say, Injustice will go forth from the unjust; and my hand shall not be upon thee. |
| 24:14 | After whom did the king of Israel come forth? after whom pursuest thou? after a dead dog? after one flea? |
| 24:15 | And Jehovah being for defender, and judge between me and between thee; and he will see and plead my cause, and he will judge me out of thine hand. |
| 24:16 | And it will be as David finished speaking these words to Saul, and Saul will say, Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul will lift up his voice and weep. |
| 24:17 | And he will say to David, Thou art just above me, for thou didst reward me good and I rewarded thee evil. |
| 24:18 | And thou didst announce to me this day that thou didst good with me; when Jehovah shut me up in thine hand and thou killedst me not |
| 24:19 | And if a man shall find his enemy and send him in the way well? and Jehovah will recompense thee well for this day what thou didst to me. |
| 24:20 | And now, behold, I knew that thou wilt reign king, and the kingdom of Israel being set up in thy hand. |
| 24:21 | And now swear to me by Jehovah if thou wilt cut off my seed after me, and if thou wilt destroy my name from my father's house. |
| 24:22 | And David will swear to Saul. And Saul will go to his house, and David and his men went up upon the fortress. |
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.