Old Testament Revision 1
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Source Note
Old Testament Revision 1, June 1830–ca. 7 Mar. 1831; handwriting of , , , and ; 60 pages; CCLA. Includes redactions, wrapper, and archival markings.The possibility that the first pages inscribed by , especially the first two-and-a-half pages following the original heading, were copied from an earlier dictation text cannot be ruled out. At least by October 1830, when replaced Cowdery as scribe, this manuscript is the dictation copy.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 Old 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), 75–152.
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Historical Introduction
In June 1830, only weeks after the Book of Mormon was published (in March) and the Church of Christ organized (in April), JS began dictating to a revelation dealing with several key Old Testament figures. The revelation opens with “the words of God which he spake unto Moses,” a visionary experience in which Moses receives a knowledge of God and his Only Begotten and learns the purpose of creation. He sees the spirit creation of all things, the appointment of Christ during a premortal council, the effects of the Fall, and the introduction of the gospel to fallen mankind. Moses understands the place of man in the divine plan and foresees his own future role. The manuscript continues with the story of Adam and Eve and several generations of their descendants. A detailed exposition of the experiences of Enoch is included, even though the biblical account contains only a brief mention of that ancient prophet. The manuscript records Enoch’s prophecies of the coming of the Son of Man and recounts the ministry of Noah and the life of Abraham.Like many other revelations, this manuscript bears a simple heading. Written in the hand of scribe , the heading reads, “A Revelation given to Joseph the Revelator June 1830.” What prompted this revelation when JS first began dictating in June 1830 is unknown, but the resulting lengthy manuscript opened an ambitious project of biblical expansion and revision. After the vision of Moses, which recounts a conversation with Deity unrelated to known biblical texts, on the third page and under a new heading (“A Revelation given to the Elders of the Church of Christ On the First Book of Moses”) the manuscript begins an account of the Creation that resembles Genesis 1. The lengthy opening vision and some portions later in the manuscript record prophetic experience at best hinted at in biblical texts, but as the transcript unfolded over the next several months, it became a commentary on and often an expansion of the King James Version of Genesis.At some point during the creation of this manuscript, JS came to see such “restoration” of lost biblical texts as part of his prophetic mission. Book of Mormon passages he dictated to in 1829 spoke of “plain and precious things” missing from “the Book, which is the Book of the Lamb of God” and promised that these “plain and most precious parts of the Gospel of the Lamb” would be restored. (Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 30–31 [1 Nephi 13:28, 32].) On the third page of this manuscript, just before the beginning of the creation account, this revelation similarly declares that lost scriptural passages “shall be had again among the Children of men.” An early December 1830 revelation was explicit. After affirming that JS had been given keys to unlock ancient knowledge, the revelation addressed , commanding “that thou shalt write for [JS] and the scriptures shall be given even as they are in mine own bosom.” (Revelation, 7 Dec. 1830, in Doctrine and Covenants 11:5, 1835 ed. [D&C 35:20].)This manuscript was begun at a time when JS and his religious associates in the Susquehanna valley of northern (JS resided in ) and southern (a number of followers lived in nearby ) faced intense opposition from both neighbors and civil authorities. Despite such pressures, JS and may have begun this manuscript in Harmony, but in part to escape harassment later in June they moved north to , New York, a more hospitable environment. When Cowdery departed Fayette in early fall 1830 for a mission to the West, he had written nine manuscript pages from JS’s dictation. His replacement as scribe, , inscribed seventeen lines under the date of 21 October 1830, and then another page and a half under the date of 30 November 1830. The next day began writing and inscribed two pages under the date of 1 December 1830. After his early December arrival, , an educated new convert from , became the main scribe (as commanded in the revelation already noted). Most of the remainder of the sixty-page manuscript is in his hand.A January 1831 move to interrupted progress on what was now clearly a work of biblical revision, but JS and resumed work in February and finished this manuscript in March. Before his move to Ohio in early January 1831, made a copy of the first 19 pages and first five lines of page 20 of the manuscript, possibly indicating that JS and Rigdon had finished through Genesis chapter 5 when they moved to Ohio. It is unknown why Whitmer made this copy. When both the Old Testament Revision manuscript and Whitmer were in Ohio, Whitmer made a second copy of the completed manuscript (known as Old Testament Revision 2). He documented his work by inserting a final date at the end of this copy: “April 5th 1831 transcribed thus far.” This original manuscript (Old Testament Revision 1) was then retired and JS and Rigdon continued the ambitious Bible revision using Whitmer’s second copy. The project remained an important concern of JS into 1833.Note: The transcript of Old 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), 75–152.
curse and they die and he gave unto me a commandment that I should baptise in the name of the father and of the Son which is full of grace and truth and the Holy Gohst which beareth record of the father and the Son and it came to pass that Enoch continued to call upon all the people save it were the people of Canaan to repent and so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God and their enemies came to battle against them and he spake the word of the Lord and the earth trembled and the Mountains fled even according to his command and the rivers of watter were turned out of their course and the roar of the Lions was heard out of the willderness and all nations feared greatly so powerfull was the word of Enoch and so great was the power of the language which God had given him. there also came up a land out of the dephts of the sea and so great was the fear of the enemies of the people of God that they fled and stood afar off and went upon the land which came up out of the dephts of the sea and the Jiants of the land also stood afar off and there went forth a curse upon all the people which fought against God and from that time forth there was wars and bloodsheds among them but the Lord came and dwelt with his people and they dwelt in righteousness the fear of the Lord was upon all nations so great was the glory of the Lord which was upon his people and the Lord blessed the land and they were blessd upon the Mountaines and upon the high places and did flourish and the Lord called his people Zion because they were of one heart and of one mind and dwelt in righteousness and there was no poor among them and Enoch continued his preaching in righteousness unto the people of God and it came to pass in his days that he built a City that was called the City of holyness even Zion and it came to pass that Enoch talked with the Lord and he said unto the Lord surely Zion shall dwell in safety forever but the Lord said unto Enoch Zion hath I bless’d but the residue of the people have I cursed and it came to pass that the Lord shewed unto Enoch all the inhabitants of the earth and he beheld and lo! Zion in process of time was taken up into heaven and the Lord said unto Enoch behold mine abode forever and Enoch also beheld the residue of the people which were the sons of Adam and they were a mixture of all the seed of Adam save it were the seed of Cain for the seed of Cain were black and had not place among them and after that Zion was taken up into heaven Enoch beheld and lo all the nations of the earth were before him and there came generation upon generation and Enoch was high and lifted up even in the bosom of the father and the Son of man and behold the powers of Satan was upon all the face of the earth and he saw Angles decending out of heaven and he heard a loud voice saying wo wo be unto the inhabtants of the earth and he beheld Satan and he had a great chain in his hand and it vail’d the whole face of the earth with darkness and he looked up and laughed and his Angles rejoced and Enoch beheld Angles decending out of heaven bearing testimony of the father and Son and the Holy Ghost fell on many and they were caught up by the powers of heaven into Zion and it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people and he wept and Enoch bore record of it [p. 16]
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