A famously rigid word-for-word English Bible — preserves Hebrew and Greek verb tenses so closely it reads more like an interlinear gloss than a literary text.
Robert Young, a self-taught Scottish biblical scholar best known for his exhaustive concordance of the King James Version, completed his Literal Translation of the Holy Bible in 1862, with a revised edition in 1898. Young was uncompromising about reflecting the grammar of the original languages — even when it produced English that sounded strange to ordinary readers.
The translation is best known for preserving the Hebrew "imperfect" and "perfect" verbal aspects (often rendering them as present tenses where most translations use past), and for using the present continuous in narrative passages to mirror the Greek imperfect tense. The result is a text that feels jagged but is uniquely useful for word studies.
Young's introduction lays out his reasoning in detail — a passionate argument that the King James and other contemporary translations had drifted too far from the literal sense of the originals. The YLT has remained in print ever since, mostly as a study aid alongside more readable Bibles.
Word-for-word in the strictest sense, prioritising grammatical correspondence over English idiom. A reader unfamiliar with biblical Hebrew/Greek will find the syntax challenging.
Verb tenses follow the source-language aspect rather than English conventions — narrative passages often appear in the present tense (Hebrew imperfect) where most translations use past.
The divine name is consistently rendered "Jehovah," following the same convention as the ASV (which came later).
Best used as a study companion alongside a more idiomatic translation, not as a primary reading Bible.
Hand-picked verses that demonstrate how the YLT renders well-known passages.
Bibles that share lineage, philosophy, or canonical structure with the YLT — open any to read its history.
A meticulous Victorian-era translation produced by a leading dispensationalist scholar — formal, precise, and footnote-rich.
The most influential English Bible in history — formal, rhythmic, public-domain prose used by Christians for over four hundred years.
The most literal mainstream English Bible of its era — a scholarly revision of the KJV that informed nearly every modern formal-equivalence translation.
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