Sunday, August 27, 2023

Some Notes from Reed C. Durham, “A History of Joseph Smith’s Revision of the Bible” (PhD Thesis; BYU, August 1965)

  

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)