Young's Literal Translation

Published in 1898, Young's Literal Translation of the Holy Bible (YLT) is not a modern English translation. I have included here because I don't see much about it anymore, yet have found it to be helpful to me.

Translated by Robert Young, the YLT is a strictly literal and idiomatic rendering of the original Greek texts. The Greek text used is commonly known as the Received Text, or the Textus Receptus, from which the King James was translated.

Young's Literal Translation was not intended to compete with the accepted text of the KJV, but as an aid for serious Bible study. In the translation, every effort was made to achieve a high degree of uniformity in rendering the original words and phrases. The Young’s Literal Translation can provide the Bible student with a reliable translation with which to compare the many modern paraphrases and translations that seek to express the Scripture in contemporary English.

The Elizabethian English used in Young's Literal Translation is not as easy for the reader of today to follow as when it was first published, but the reader who is comfortable with the KJV will be equally at ease with the Young’s Literal Translation.

There is an effort underway to produce a revised edition of the YLT, but I am unsure the progress of this effort, if any. Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain, and can be downloaded for free from several Internet sites.

In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth -- Genesis 1:1

the earth hath existed waste and void, and darkness [is] on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God fluttering on the face of the waters, -- Genesis 1:2

for God did so love the world, that His Son -- the only begotten -- He gave, that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during. -- John 3:16

• http://www.magister.msk.ru/library/bible/english/ylt.htm
• http://www.stg.brown.edu/webs/bible_browser/Versions/ylt.shtml
• http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~ab531/english.html