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.
upon him for to touch him. As many as had plagues & unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, & cried, saying, <4/> Thou art the Son of God. & <And> he strictly charged them that they should <4/> not make him known. <4/> & <And> he goeth up into a Mountain, & calleth whom he would; & they came unto him. & <And> he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, & that he might send them forth to preach, & to have power to heal Sicknesses, & to cast out Devils. & <And> Simon he sirneamed Peter; & James the Son of Zebedee, & John the Brother of James; & he Sirnamed them Boanerges, which is the Sons of thunder; & Andrew, & Philip, & Bartholomew, & Mathew, & Thomas, & James the Son of Alpheus, & Thadius, & Simon the Canaanite, & Judas <5/> Iscariot, which also betrayed him; & they went into a house. <5/> & <And> the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. & <And> when his friends heard him <speak,> they went out to lay hold on <6/> him; for they said, He is beside himself. <6/> & <And> the Scribes which came down from Jerusalem, said, He hath Beelzebub, & by the Prince of the Devils he casteth out Devils. Now Jesus knew this, & he called them, & he said unto them in Parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? & <And> if a Kingdom be divided against itself, how can that Kingdom stand? & <And> if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand? & <And> if Satan rise up against himself, & be divided, he cannot stand; but Spe[e]dily hath an end. No man can enter [i]nto a strong mans house, & spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; & then he will spoil his <7/> house. <7/> & <And> then came certain men unto him, accusing him, saying, Why do ye receive sinners, seeing thou makest thysslf the Son of God? But he answered them, & saith <said>, Verily I say unto you, All sins which men have committed, when they repent, shall be forgiven them; for I came to preach repentance unto the sons of men. & <And> blasphemies wherewithsoever they shall blaspheme, shall be for given them that come unto me & do the works which they see me do. But there is a sin which shall not be forgiven, He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, hath never forgivness; but is in danger of being cut down out of the World. & <And> they shall inherit eternal damnation. & <And> this he said because <unto> them because <8/> they said, He hath an unclean spirit. <8> While he was yet with them, & while he was yet speaking, there came then some of his brethren; & his mother; <&>, standing without, said <sent> unto him, calling unto him. & <And> the multitude sthat sat about him, <& th[e]y> said unto him, [p. 13 (second numbering)]
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