New Testament Revision 2 (second numbering)
New Testament Revision 2
Source Note
Source Note
New Testament Revision 2, ca. 4 Apr. 1831–24 Mar. 1832 and 20–31 July 1832; handwriting of , , , and an unidentified scribe; 206 pages; CHL.
The Bible revision manuscripts remained in JS’s possession throughout his life—except during a brief period in 1838 and another in 1839. Upon the death of JS, the manuscript was in possession of his wife for over twenty years, until 1867 when she gave it to her son so that the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS church) could publish it. It was in the possession of the RLDS church (now Community of Christ) until 2024, when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints acquired it. The manuscript is now held at the Church History Library in Salt Lake City.
Note: The transcript of New Testament Revision 2 presented here is used with generous permission of the Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center. It was published earlier, with some differences in style, in Scott H. Faulring, Kent P. Jackson, and Robert J. Matthews, eds., Joseph Smith's New Translation of the Bible: Original Manuscripts (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2004), 229–581.
Footnotes
- [1]
Call, “Copied from the Journal of Anson Call,” 9 and Cooper, “Spiritual Reminiscences, No. 2,” Autumn Leaves (January 1891): 18.
Call, Anson. “Copied from the Journal of Anson Call,” 1879. CHL. MS 4783.
Cooper, F. M. “Spiritual Reminiscences.—No. 2,” Autumn Leaves 4, no. 1 (Jan. 1891): 17–20.
- [2]
Emma Smith Bidamon, Nauvoo, IL, to Joseph Smith III, Plano, IL, 10 Feb. 1867, CCLA.
Bidamon, Emma Smith. Materials, 1842–1871. CCLA.
- [3]
The Holy Scriptures: Translated and Corrected by the Spirit of Revelation ([Plano, IL]: [Reorganized] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 1867).
Historical Introduction
Historical Introduction
As noted in the introduction to Old Testament Revision 1, in June 1830, JS and began recording a revelation related to Moses and other prominent Old Testament figures. (See Visions of Moses, June 1830 [Moses 1].) Eventually this work expanded into what is now designated as the Book of Moses and a complete revelatory re-reading, reviewing, and revising of the Bible, an endeavor that came to be known as JS’s “New Translation,” or Bible revision. By March 1831, JS and his scribes created a sixty-one-page manuscript containing a narrative account of the visions of Moses and a revised version of the Old Testament book of Genesis, from the beginning to chapter 24, verse 41. (See Old Testament Revision 1.)
JS set that work aside when instructed in a March 1831 revelation to instead begin work on the New Testament. (Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:60–61].) He and began the new document on 8 March 1831, titling it “A Translation of the New Testament translated by the power of God.” It is currently designated as New Testament Revision 1. , who had been directed by revelation to “write & keep a regulal [regular] history & assist my servant Joseph in Transcribing all things which shall be given him,” (Revelation, ca. 8 Mar. 1831–B [D&C 47:1]) began in early April 1831 to copy New Testament Revision 1 through Matthew 26:1, stopping a little short of where JS and Sidney Rigdon left off before they traveled to in June 1831. (JS History, vol. A-1, 126.)
When JS resumed the revision of the New Testament, he did so using ’s copy, currently designated New Testament Revision 2. He began with Matthew 26:1, though he had previously translated through Matthew 26:71 in New Testament Revision 1. Work continued on the rest of the New Testament through late July 1832. In addition to , JS was assisted by John Whitmer, , and .
New Testament Revision 2, presented here, consists of 203 pages. Work on this manuscript was completed in and , Ohio. During the revision project, JS adopted an abbreviated format for annotating the changes to be made to the New Testament. Previously, JS dictated the entire Bible text to his scribe, revising verses as he read from the Bible. But beginning after John 5, JS marked his copy of the Bible as he read in it, indicating where a change should be made. In the manuscript, the scribes wrote the scripture reference and the specifics of the revisions. Thus, the Bible and manuscript together now constituted the text of the revision project.
In total, JS made changes to about 2,100 New Testament verses (Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 5). He introduced a number of significant changes to the King James New Testament text in New Testament Revision 2. Among the more prominent clarifications and corrections were those in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 related to Jesus’s discourse on the Mount of Olives, as well as those in the beginning verses of the Gospel of John. (See, Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 234, 303, and 424–425.)
Note: The transcript of New Testament Revision 2 presented here is used with generous permission of the Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center. It was published earlier, with some differences in style, in Scott H. Faulring, Kent P. Jackson, and Robert J. Matthews, eds., Joseph Smith's New Translation of the Bible: Original Manuscripts (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2004), 229–581.
and put him to death. But they said among themselves, Let us not take <2/> him on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people. <2> And Jesus being in Bethany, in the house of Simon the lepper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alibaster box of <ointment of> spiknard, very precious; and she brake the box, <3/> and poured it <the ointment> on his head. <3/> There were some among the disciples who had indignation among <within> themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than threehundred pence, and <have been> given to <4/> the poor. And they murmered against her. <4/> And Jesus said unto them, Let her alone; Why trouble ye her? For she hath wrought a good work on me. Ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever you will, you may do them good; but me ye have not always, She has done what she could, and this which she has done unto me, shall be had in rememberence in generations to come, wheresoever my gospel is <shall be> preached; for verily, the she has come affore <before> hand to anoit my body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached through out the whole world, what she hath done shall be spoken of <5/> also for a memmorial of her. </5> And <now> the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare, that thou mayest eat the passover? And he sendeth forth two of his disciples and saith unto them, Go ye into the City, and there shall <meet you> a man meet you bearing a pitcher of watter; follow him; and wheresoever he shall go in, say <ye> to the good man of the house, The master saith, Where is the guest chamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he will shew <you> a large upper room furnished and prepared; <6/> there make ready for us. <6/> And his disciples went forth, and came into the City and found and as he had said unto them; and they made ready the passo<7/>ver. <7/> And in the evening he cometh withe the twelve. And as they sat <and did eat,> Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you who eatheth with me shall betray me. And they all began to be very sorrowfull, and began to say unto him one by one, Is it I? And another said, Is it I? and he answered and said <unto them,> It <it> is one of the twelve who dippeth with me in the dish. The son of man indeed goeth as it is written of him; but wo to that man by whom the Son of man <8/> is betrayed! Good were it for that man if he had never been born. <8> And as they did eat, Jesus took bread and blessed it, and break, and gave to them, and said, Take it, and eat; Behold, this is for you to do in rememberence of my body; for as oft as ye do this you will remember this hour <9/> that I was with you. <9/> And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave <it to> them; to drink and they all drank of it. And he said [p. 39 (second numbering)]
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