Old Testament Revision 2
Old Testament Revision 2
Source Note
Source Note
Old Testament Revision 2, ca. 8 Mar. 1831–5 Apr. 1831 and late July 1832–July 1833; handwriting of , , and ; 119 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 Old 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), 583–851.
Footnotes
- [1]
Call, “Copied from the Journal of Anson Call”; Cooper, “Spiritual Reminiscences, No. 2,” Autumn Leaves (January 1891): 9, 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
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].) Over the next three years, this work expanded into what is now designated the Book of Moses and a complete revelatory re-reading of the Bible, an endeavor that came to be known as JS’s “New Translation,” or Bible revision. Initially, JS and his scribes, including Cowdery, , , and , 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. This manuscript is currently designated Old Testament Revision 1.
JS set aside work on the new translation of the Old Testament when instructed in a March 1831 revelation to instead begin work on New Testament texts. (Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:60–61].) Shortly thereafter, was 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].) Among other undertakings, he proceeded to create a duplicate copy of the existing sixty-one-page Old Testament manuscript. This second manuscript, featured here, is now designated Old Testament Revision 2. At the same time, JS commenced work on the New Testament and continued until July 1832 (Letter to William W. Phelps, 31 July 1832), resulting in two manuscripts, currently designated as New Testament Revision 1 and New Testament Revision 2.
After the completion of his new translation of the New Testament in late July 1832, JS resumed his revision of the Old Testament, now assisted by as scribe. When this work resumed, it was ’s copy, Old Testament Revision 2, that became the working manuscript for the rest of the Old Testament. A year later, Frederick G. Williams noted the completion of work on the text, writing at the end of Malachi, “Finished on the 2d of July 1833.”
Old Testament Revision 2 contains 119 pages. The first fifty-nine pages contain ’s copy of Old Testament Revision 1. At first, JS continued his earlier practice of having entire verses written out in the manuscript to record a change. After several pages, however, he switched to a procedure that he had adopted during his translation work on the New Testament. Rather than record an entire verse, JS marked his copy of the Bible as he read in it, indicating where a change should be made. In the manuscript, wrote the scripture reference and the specifics of the revisions, thus saving time and space. In effect, the notations made in JS’s Bible, coupled with his scribes’ inscriptions in Old Testament Revision 2, now constituted the revision project.
In total, JS made changes to about 1,300 Old Testament verses (Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 5). The introduction to Old Testament Revision 1 on the Joseph Smith Papers website notes some of the significant passages in the Book of Moses and JS’s revision of Genesis chapters 1–24. Some of the more prominent revisions, clarifications, and corrections JS incorporated into Old Testament Revision 2 included important material related to Joseph of Egypt added to the latter chapters in Genesis; a clarification in Exodus regarding the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart; and additions to Isaiah 29 foretelling the coming forth of the Book of Mormon (Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 589).
Note: The transcript of Old 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), 583–851.
have I given you for meat all things. </> but the blood of all <6/> which I have I given you for meat shall be shed upon the ground which taketh life thereof & the blood ye shall not eat. And shurely blood shall not be shed only for meat to Save <your> life <lives> & the blood of evry beast will I require at your hands & whoso shedeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed, for man Shall not shed the blood of man. </> For a commandment I give that every mans <7/> brother shall preserve the life of man, for in mine own image have I made man And a commandment I give unto you be ye fruitful & multiply; bring forth abundantly, on the Earth & multiply therein. </> And God spake unto Noah, & to his Sons with <8/> him Saying, & I, behold, I, will establish my covenant with you which I made unto your Father Enoch concerning your seed after you. And it shall come to pass, that evry living creature that is with you of the fowl, & of the cattle, & of the beast of the Earth that is with you, which shall go out of the Ark Shall not altogether perish; Neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; Neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the Earth; And I will establish my covenant with you, which I made unto Enoch Concerning the remnants of your posterity. </> And God made a covenant with Noah And said this <9/> shall be the token of the covenant I make between me & you. And for every living creature with you for perpetual generation & I will set my bow in the cloud. And it shall be for a token of a covenant between me & the Earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the Earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud; And I will remember my covenant which I have made between me & you for every living creature <of all flesh>. And the waters Shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh, & the bow shall be in the cloud; & I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant which I have made unto thy father Enoch; that, when men should keep all my commandments; Zion should again come on the Earth, the City of Enoch which I have caught up unto myself. </> And this is mine <10/> everlasting covenant <that I establish with you> that when thy posterity shall embrace the thruth And look upward; then Shall Zion look downward. And all the Heavens shall shake with gladness. And the Earth shall tremble with Joy; & the general assembly of the Church of the first born, shall come down out of Heaven. And possess the Earth [p. 31]
Source Note
Source Note
Document Transcript
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
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TEXT: Line number 35 in margin in graphite.
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