New Testament Revision 2 (second numbering)
New Testament Revision 2
Source Note
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; 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 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.
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. , 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.
Vinyard, and killed him. What, therefore, shall the Lord of the Vinyard do unto them? he <He> shall come and distroy these husbandmen, and come and <shall> give the vinyard to others. And when they heard this, they <3> said, God forbid! <3> And he beheld them, and said, What is this then which is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? Whosoever shall fall upon that stone, shall be broken! but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind <4> him to powder. <4> And the cheif Priests, and the Scribes, the <same> hour, sought to lay hands on him; but they feared the people; for they perceived that they had spoken this parable against <5> them. <5> And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which <who> should fain themslves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so doing, they might deliver him <un>to the power and authority of the Governer. And they asked him, saying, Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly; neither regardest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truely. Is it lawfull for us to give tribute unto Ceaser, or no? But he perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, Why tempt ye me? Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered, and said, Cesars. And <he> said unto them; therefore Render <therefore> unto Cesar; the things which be Cesars; and unto God, the things which be God’s. And they could not take hold of his words before the people. And they marveled at his answer, <6> and held their peace. <6> Then came <un>to him certain of the Saducees, who deny that there is any resurection; and they asked him, saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, saying, If any mans brother die, and leave a wife having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. There were therefore seven breatheren. The first took a wife, and died without children. And the second took her to wife, and he died childless. And the third took her in like manner; and the seven also; and they left no children, and died. And last of all, the womand died also. Therefore, in the resurection, whose wife <of them> is she; for the seven had her to wife And Jesus answering, said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage; but they who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the <through> resurection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; neither can they [di]e any more; for they are equal unto the angels; and are the chil[dren] of God, being the children of the resurection. and now that <now that> [p. 94 (second numbering)]
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