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Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible

Latter-day Saints believe that after Joseph Smith, Jr finished translating the Book of Mormon, he was commanded to make an inspired "translation" of the Bible which is known as the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible or JST. The "translation" was not a translation from ancient documents per se, but rather believed to be an inspired “rendering” or “restoration” of available documents to their original meanings. There is little evidence to suggest that Smith used any ancient documents, and his process sheds some light on his "translating" process used both during the translation of the Book of Mormon and the Bible. The translation took place from about 1830 until Smith's death in 1844 when he was preparing the manuscript for publication. The bulk of the work took place from 1830-1833, and 3410 Bible verses were in some way altered.

Process

At times Smith used the Urim and Thummim (although this was not the norm) to make what Mormons believe are inspired corrections to the bible, and at other times, he said he received the information directly by the Spirit of God. Most of the corrections are minor clarifying statements and in many cases surprisingly coincide with the Septuagint, recent discoveries in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Nag Hamadi texts and other translations of the Bible and other ancient documents not available to Smith. Some lengthy changes, such as prophecies of Moses, Enoch and Joseph (one of the twelve sons of Jacob or Israel), are not included anywhere in any known documents, traditions or other accounts. In some cases, Mormon apologists have shown strong correlation to newly found ancient texts, however, many if not most of the changes are found nowhere in any documents, and are unexplainable by both critics and Mormon apologists.

Critical Response

Critics state that Smith may have had access to traditions that would have led to some of his "correct guesswork," and point to the significant unexplained changes as evidence that he was not a true prophet. These critics often state that the translation was made to make changes to the Bible that support Mormon doctrines. Critics also point to passages that were added that refer to the future coming of various prophets, including a prophesy about Joseph Smith himself, as evidence that Smith tried to alter Biblical history. They also question why Smith would make multiple changes to a single passage (he would often make a change, and then go back and make a different change to the same portion of text, either clarifying statements, adding details or making other changes), which were sometimes pinned or tacked on his original translations.

Perceived Benefit by Latter-day Saints

Mormon scholars say that the biggest benefit of Smith translating the bible is the alleged revelations he received while translating them. About half of the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants are in some way connected to this translation process. Supposedly, as Smith questioned some of the changes, clarifications and translations that came to as he translated, he would ask the Lord to answer those questions. “Revelations,” included background on the Apocrypha (D&C Section 91), the Three Degrees of Heaven (Section 76), the Eternal nature of marriage and plurality of wives (Section 132), teachings on baptism for the dead (section 124), various revelations on priesthood (sections 84, 88, 107) and others. A good deal of the Church canon, Pearl of Great Price, is also a result of the translation. The Articles of Faith explicitly question the validity of the King James translation.

Publication and Use

Smith was killed prior to the publication of the translation, and he led some early LDS church leaders to believe that he was not finished with his inspired translation. In addition, there is some evidence the Smith's wife and others may have changed some of the texts to remove references to polygamy to protect his character. This may have done by RLDS leaders in the 1860s, prior to their first publication of the work in 1867, however, most scholars believe the bulk of the translation is as Smith intended. However, because of these uncertainties, the LDS church does not accept his translation of the bible as part of their canon, but do accept many of the changes as doctrinally significant. Many of the more doctrinally significant passages are included as footnotes in the current LDS edition of the King James Version of the Bible.

The Community of Christ Church, formerly the RLDS church, has published the results of Smith's translation, called the 'Inspired Version' of the bible. As stated previously, around 1000 excerpts from the translation is included in footnotes in the current LDS edition of the King James Version of the Bible. Most scholars believe that the Inspired Version as published by the Community of Christ Church is accurate in its publication of the manuscripts, although in some cases it does not include Smith’s later changes.

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