Brigham Young, President of the
Church, stated that Joseph Smith informed him that he wanted to revise the
Bible more perfectly “upon points of doctrine which the Lord has restrained him
from giving in plainness and fullness at the time.” (George Q. Cannon, Life
of Joseph Smith the Prophet [Salt Lake: Deseret Book Company, 1958], p. 142;
Manuscript History of Brigham Young [Church Historian’s Office], p. 693,
June 20, 1868) President Wilford Woodruff informed J. C. Hunt that the
Latter-day Saints do not use the Revision, “for the reason that he [Joseph Smith]
never completed the work.” He added that it was Joseph Smith’s intention to
revise “the Bible again and make further corrections, but he did not have the
opportunity of doing so.” President Woodruff also suggested that “to place this
unfinished work in the hands of the public” would be a great “injustice both to
the dead prophet and to the reader.” (Wilford Woodruff, Letter to C. J. Hunt,
June 28, 1898. As cited in A. H. Parsons, Parson’s Text Book [Lamoni,
Iowa: Herald Publishing House, 1902], p. 315) A third President of the Church,
Heber J. Grant, wrote in 1935, “that the translation was not completed as fully
as the Prophet Joseph intended it to be,” and that “the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints accepts the Prophet’s revision of the Bible as far as he
has revised it.” (J. W. A. Bailey, “The Inspired Version,” The Saint’s
Herald, 84:173, February 6, 1937. Letter to Wilford G. Winkholtz, October
7, 1935 And finally, Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr., the present Church Historian,
presented a Latter-day Saint’s interpretation of what Joseph Smith meant by his
statement that the Revision was “finished”
. . . we do not discredit it in the
least the work of restoration by Joseph Smith. He revised, as it is, a great deal
more than the world can, or will, receive. In the “translation” of the
scriptures, he gave to the world all that the Lord would permit him to give,
and as much as many of the Members of the Church were able to receive. He
therefore finished all that was required at his hands, or, that he was
permitted to revise up to July, 1833, when he discontinued his labors of
revision. (Joseph F. Smith, Jr., “Joseph Smith’s ‘Translation’ of the
Scriptures,” The Improvement Era, 17:595, April, 1914) [Italics not in
original] (Reed C. Durham, “A History of Joseph Smith’s Revision of the Bible”
[PhD Thesis; BYU, August 1965], 120-21)
June
18, 1840: he thinks and verily believes that the time has now come, when he
should devote himself exclusively to those things which relate to the
Spiritualities of the Church and commence the work of translating the
Egyptian Records— the Bible— and wait upon the Lord for such Revelations
as may be suited to the Condition and circumstances of the Church
August
16, 1841: President Joseph Smith now arriving, proceeded to state to the
Conference at considerable length, the object of their present meeting, and in
addition to what President Young had stated in the morning, said that the time
had come when the Twelve should be called upon to stand in their place next to
the first Presidency, and attend to the settling of emigrants and the business
of the Church at the stakes, and assist to bear off the kingdom victorious to
the nations; and as they had been faithful and had borne the burden in the heat
of the day, that it was right that they should have an opportunity of providing
something for themselves and families, and at the same time relieve him, so
that he might attend to the business of translating.
February
21, 1842: . . . let all the
different branches of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in all
the world, call meetings in their respective places and tithe themselves and
send up to this place to the Trustee in Trust, so that his hands may be loosed
and the temple go on, and other works be done, such as the new translation
of the bible, and the record of Father Abraham published to the world.
Commenting
on the above:
Joseph Smith would not “commence” his
work of revising the Bible between 1840 and 1842 if that work had already been
completed. Therefore, the Latter-day Saint position is that Joseph Smith
completed the revision in 1833 of that which the Lord permitted him to revise
up to that time. It was not complete in the sense that no further corrections or
additions could be made. The Saints also believe that Joseph Smith intended to continue
the work of revising between 1840 to 1842, but he was martyred before he was
able to resume working on the Revision, and it therefore, remained in the early
incomplete and imperfect form. (Reed C. Durham, “A History of Joseph Smith’s
Revision of the Bible” [PhD Thesis; BYU, August 1965], 122-23)
