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.
said unto Abram, give me the persons, & take the goods to thyself And Abram said to the King of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the Possessor of Heaven & Earth, & have sworn that I will not <take> of thee from from a thread even to a shoe-latchet, & that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shoudest say, I have made Abram rich; save only that which the young men have eaten, & the portion of the men which went with me, Emes <Emer>, Eshcol, & Mamre; let <10/> them take their portion. </> <Ch 15th> And Melchizedeck lifted up his voice, & blessed Abram. Now Melchizedeck was a man of faith, who wrought righteousness; & when a child he feared God, And stop[p]ed the Mouths of lyons, & quenched the violence of fire. And thus, having been approved of God, he was ordained a high Priest, after the order of the covenant which God made with Enoch; it being after the order of the son of God; which order came, not by man, nor the will of man, Neither by Father nor mother; Neither by begining of days, or <nor> end of years; but of <11/> God. </> And it was delivered unto men by the calling of his own voice, according to his own will; unto as many as believed on his name; for God having sworn unto Enoch, And unto his seed, with an oath, by himself; that every one being ordained after <this> order & calling, should have power, by faith, to break Mountains, to divide the Seas, to dry up waters, to turn them out of their course, to put at defiance the armies of Nations, to divide the Earth, to break evry band, to stand in the presence of God; to do all things according to his will, according to his command; subdue principalities & powers, & this by the will of the Son of God, which <12/> was from before the foundation of the world. </> And men having this faith, coming up unto this order of God, were translated; And taken up into Heaven. And Now Merchizedeck was a priest of this order; Therefore he obtained peace in Salem, & was called the prince of peace; And his People wrought righteousness, & obtaind obtained Heaven, & sought for the City of Enoch which God had before taken, seperating it from the Earth, having resereved it unto the latter days, and <or> the end of the world; & hath & said, & sworn with an oath, that the Heavens, & the Earth, should come together; <13/> And the Sons of God should be tried so as by fire. </> And this Melchizedeck havring having thus established righteousness, was called the King of Heaven, by his people, or, in other words, the [p. 39]
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- [73]
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