New Testament Revision 2
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Source Note
New Testament Revision 2, ca. 4 Apr. 1831–24 Mar. 1832 and 20–31 July 1832; handwriting of , , , and an unidentified scribe; 206 pages; CCLA.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 in order for the RLDS Church to publish The Holy Scriptures.Note: The transcript of New 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), 229–581.
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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. , 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]) began in early April 1831 to copy New Testament Revision 1 through Matthew 26:1, stopping a little short of where JS and Sidney Rigdon left off before they traveled to in June 1831. (JS History, vol. A-1, 126.)When JS resumed the revision of the New Testament, he did so using ’s copy, currently designated New Testament Revision 2. He began with Matthew 26:1, though he had previously translated through Matthew 26:71 in New Testament Revision 1. Work continued on the rest of the New Testament through late July 1832. In addition to , JS was assisted by John Whitmer, , and .New Testament Revision 2, presented here, consists of 203 pages. Work on this manuscript was completed in and , Ohio. During the revision project, JS adopted an abbreviated format for annotating the changes to be made to the New Testament. Previously, JS dictated the entire Bible text to his scribe, revising verses as he read from the Bible. But beginning after John 5, JS marked his copy of the Bible as he read in it, indicating where a change should be made. In the manuscript, the scribes wrote the scripture reference and the specifics of the revisions. Thus, the Bible and manuscript together now constituted the text of the revision project.In total, JS made changes to about 2,100 New Testament verses (Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 5). He introduced a number of significant changes to the King James New Testament text in New Testament Revision 2. Among the more prominent clarifications and corrections were those in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 related to Jesus’s discourse on the Mount of Olives, as well as those in the beginning verses of the Gospel of John. (See, Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 234, 303, and 424–425.)Note: The transcript of New 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), 229–581.
between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they who would pass from hence to you, cannot; neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house; for I have five breatheren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham sat saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham; but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one should rise from the dead.
Chapter (17th)
1/ Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossable but that offences will come; but wo to him through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that 2/ he should offend one of these little ones. 2/ Take heed to yourselves If your brother tresspass against you, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him, And if he tresspass against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a 3/ day turn to you again, saying, I repent; you shall forgive him. 3/ And the apostles said unto him, Lord, increase our faith. And the Lord said, If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say unto this sycamore tree, Be thou plucked up by the roots, and be thou planted in the 4/ sea; and it should obay you. 4/ But who of you, having a servent plowing, or feeding cattle, will say unto him when he is come from the feild, Go and set down to meat? Will he not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird yourself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward, by and by, you shall eat and drink? doth he thank that servent because he doeth the things which were commanded him? I say unto you, Nay. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servents. We have done that which was no more than our duty to 5 do. 5/ It came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Gallilee and Samaria. And as he entered into a certain Village, there met him ten men who were lepers, who stood affar off; and they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And he said unto them, Go, shew yourselves unto the priests. [p. 87 (second numbering)]
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