Textus Receptus Bibles
Julia E. Smith Translation 1876
| 27:1 | And David will say in his heart, Now shall I be added one day into the hand of Saul: nothing good to me but escaping, I will escape into the land of the rovers; and Saul despairing to seek me farther in all the bound of Israel: and I was saved out of his hand. |
| 27:2 | And David will rise and pass over, he and six hundred men that are with him, to Achish, son of Maoch, king of Gath. |
| 27:3 | And David dwelt with Achish in Gath, he and his men, each in his house, David and his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal, the Carmelitess. |
| 27:4 | And it was announced to Saul that David fled to Gath; and he will no more add to seek him. |
| 27:5 | And David will say to Achish, If now I found grace in thine eyes, will they give me a place in one city of the field, and I will dwell there: and why shall thy servant dwell in the city of the kingdom with thee? |
| 27:6 | And Achish will give to him in that day Ziklag; for this Ziklag was to the kings of Judah, even to this day. |
| 27:7 | And the number of days which David dwelt in the field of the rovers will be days and four months. |
| 27:8 | And David will go up, and his men, and will plunder against the Geshurites and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: and behold, the inhabitants of the land which were of old thy going to Shur, and even to the land of Egypt. |
| 27:9 | And David struck the land, and will not save alive a man and woman; and he took the sheep and oxen, and asses and camels, and garments, and he will turn back and come to Achish. |
| 27:10 | And Achish will say, Did ye not plunder this day? and David will say, Upon the south of Judah, and upon the south of the Jerahmeelite, and to the south of the Kenite. |
| 27:11 | And David will not preserve alive a man and woman to bring to Gath, saying, Lest they shall announce against us, saying, Thus did David, and thus his judgment all the days which he dwelt in the field of the rovers. |
| 27:12 | And Achish will believe in David, saying, Becoming loathsome, he became loathsome with his people, with Israel; and he shall be to me for servant forever. |
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.