New Testament Revision 1[b]
New Testament Revision 1
Source Note
Source Note
New Testament Revision 1, 8 Mar.–ca. June 1831; handwriting of ; 65 pages; CHL. Includes redactions.
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 New Testament Revision 1 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), 153–228.
Footnotes
- [1]
Call, “Copied from the Journal of Anson Call,” 9 and Cooper, “Spiritual Reminiscences, No. 2,” Autumn Leaves (January 1891): 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
As noted in the introduction to Old Testament Revision 1, 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].) Eventually this work expanded into what is now designated as the Book of Moses and a complete revelatory re-reading, reviewing, and revising of the Bible, an endeavor that came to be known as JS’s “New Translation,” or Bible revision. By March 1831, JS and his scribes 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. (See Old Testament Revision 1.)
JS set that work aside when instructed in a March 1831 revelation to instead begin work on the New Testament. (Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:60–61].) He and began the new document on 8 March 1831, titling it “A Translation of the New Testament translated by the power of God.” It is currently designated as New Testament Revision 1 and consists of sixty-five pages, all of it in Rigdon’s hand.
New Testament Revision 1, presented here, begins with Matthew 1:1 and continues through part of Matthew 26:71. It was copied almost immediately by , who had been 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].) Whitmer’s copy (New Testament Revision 2) became the working copy of the New Testament for the revision project, and JS’s subsequent corrections to the text were inscribed on it. Consequently, New Testament Revision 1 is largely free from later revisions and emendations. Although the exact date JS stopped work on New Testament Revision 1 is unknown, it was apparently prior to his and ’s journey to in June 1831. (JS History, vol. A-1, 126.) John Whitmer’s copying of the manuscript began in early April 1831 and continued until shortly after JS and Sidney Rigdon stopped working on New Testament Revision 1.
An analysis of both New Testament manuscripts indicates that JS made changes to about 2,100 New Testament verses (Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 5). He introduced several significant changes to the King James New Testament text in New Testament Revision 1. Among other revisions, he revised and clarified material related to Matthew 24, John the Baptist’s role, and some aspects of the Sermon on the Mount and the Beautitudes. (See, Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 157.)
Note: The transcript of New Testament Revision 1 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), 153–228.
shall mine elect be gathered from the four quarters of the earth and they shall hear of wars and rumours of wars b[e]hold I speak unto you for mine elects sake for nation shall rise against nation and Kingdom against Kingdom there shall be famines and pestilences and earth quakes in dvers divers places places and again because iniquity shall abound the love of men shall wax cold but he that <shall> endure unto the end the same shall be saved and again this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a wittness unto all nations and then shall the end come <or the distruction of the wicked> and <a>gain shall the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet be fulfilled and immedeately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of heaven shall be shaken verily I say unto you this generation in the which these things shall be shewn forth shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled altho <although> the days will come that heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away but all shall be fulfilled and as I said before after the tribulation of those days and the powers <of the heavens> shall be shaken then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall <see> the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and whoso treasureth up my words shall not be deceived for the son of man shall come <with the> and he shall send his Angles before him <with the great sound of a trumpet> and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other now learn a parable of the fig tree when his branch is yet tender and puteth forth leaves you no [know] that summer is nigh at hand so likewise mine elect when they shall see all these things shall know that he is near even at the doors but of that day and hour no one knoweth no not the Angels of heaven but my father only but as it was in the days of Noah so <it> shall <be> also <at> the coming of the son of man be for <it shall be with them> as it was in the days that were before the flood untill the day that Noah entered into the ark they were eating and drinking marrying [p. 56[b]]
Source Note
Source Note
Document Transcript
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
- [31]
TEXT: Second of two pages numbered “56”.
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