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.
<11/> begat Sons and daughters. </> And Terah lived seventy years & begat <12/> Abram, Nahor, & Haran. </> Now these were the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, & Haran: & Haran begat Lot. & Haran died before his fathers Terah, in the Land of his <13/> nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. </> And Abram, & Nahor, took them wives: & the name of Abrams wife <was> Sarai & the name of Nahors wife, Acibcha <Milcha>, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcha, & the fathers Iscah; </> but Sarai was baren, & And she <14/> bare no Child. </> & Terah took Abram his Son, And Lot the Son of Haran his Son’s Son, And Sarai his daughterinlaw, his son Abrams wife; And they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; & they came unto Haran, & dwelt there. </> & the days of Terah were two hun<1>dred & five years; & Terah died in Haran. </>
<Ch 12th> Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, & from thy kindred, And from thy fathers house, unto a land that I will shew thee; And I will make of thee a great Nation, And I will bless thee, & make thy name great; & thou shalt be a blessing; And I will bless them that bless thee, And curse them that curse thee <2/> And in thee shall the families of the Earth be blessed. </> So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and lot went with him. And Abram was seventy & five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, & Lot his brothers Son, & all their Substance that they had gethered, And the Souls that they had gotten in Haran; And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; And into the land <3/> of Canaan they came. </> & Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram, & said Unto thy seed will I give this land: And there builded he an Altar unto the Lord who appeared <4/> unto him. </> And he removed from thence unto a Mountain on the East of Bethel, And pitched his tent, leaving Bethel on the East <west>, & Hai was on the east, & there he builded an altar unto the Lord, And called upon the name of the Lord. <5/> And Abram Journeyed, going on still toward the south. </> And there was a famine in the land; And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine became grieve ous in the land. And it came to pass. When he was [p. 35]
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