Smith, Eli (1801–1857)

US missionary and translator. He was ordained as a Congregational minister in 1826 and went to Malta to work for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He travelled extensively in the Middle East 1829–31, and published his Missionary Sermons and Addresses (1833). During the last decade of his life he translated much of the Bible into Arabic.

He was born in Northford, Connecticut. He died of cancer in Beirut and his biblical translation was finally completed by Cornelius Van Dyck.