Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible

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Number eight of the Church's Articles of Faith states that "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly."

In June 1830, Joseph Smith began translating the King James Version of the Bible. However, this translation was not a literal translation from one language to another. It was actually revelation that Joseph Smith received concerning truths that had been lost or changed in the Bible. Joseph Smith had learned from 1 Nephi 13:20-39 and Moses 1:40-41 that important pieces of the Bible manuscript had been removed long before it was available to anyone to translate. Moses 1:40-41 states,

And now, Moses, my son, I will speak unto thee concerning this earth upon which thou standest; and thou shalt write the things which I shall speak. And in a day when the children of men shall esteem my words as naught and take many of them from the book which thou shalt write, behold, I will raise up another like unto thee; and they shall be had again among the children of men—among as many as shall believe.

The Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible (or JST) restores many truths about the Creation, the Fall of Adam, Cain and many other truths. Significant additions that the JST makes to the Bible is the age of accountability being eight years old, an extensive history of the prophet Melchizedek and the Melchizedek Priesthood, and information about the prophet Enoch.

The translation took Joseph Smith three years to complete and he continued preparing it for printing until his death in 1844. His translation included 477 pages of manuscript and a King James Bible with notations in it. The manuscript was mostly written by scribes including Oliver Cowdery, John Whitmer, and Sidney Rigdon. Sidney Rigdon appears to have been the principal scribe.

The Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible is not the official Bible of the Church, but insights that it adds to the Bible are included in the footnotes of the King James Version of the Bible that the LDS people use.

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