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.
the Lord hath curs’d and Lamach lived after he begat Noah five Hundred ninety and five years and begat sons and daughters and all the days of Lamach were seven Hundred seventy and seven years and he died. And Noah was five Hundred years old and Noah begat shem Ham and Japheth
Chapter 6th
And it came to pass that Noah and his sons hearkened unto the Lord and gave heed and they were called the sons of God and when these men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born unto them that the sons of men saw that their daughters were fair they took them wives even as they chose and the Lord said unto Noah the daughters of thy sons have sold themselves for behold mine anger is kindled against the sons of men for they will not hearken to my voice and it it came to pass that Noah prophecied and taught the things of God even as it was in the begining and the Lord said unto Noah my spirit shall not always strive with man for he shall know that all flesh shall die yet his days shall be an Hundred and Twenty years and if men do not repent I will send in the floods upon them and in those days there were giants on the earth and they sought Noah to take away his life but the Lord was with Noah and the power of the Lord was upon him and the Lord ordained Noah after his own order and commanded him that he should go fourth and declare his Gospel unto the children of men even as it was given unto Enoch and it came to pass that Noah calld upon men that they should repent but they hearkened not unto his words and also after that they had heard him they came up before him saying behold we are the sons of God have we not taken unto ourselves the daughters of men and are we not eating and drinking and marriing and given in marriage and our wives bear unto us children and the same are mighty men which are like unto them of old men of great renown and they hearken’d not unto the words of Noah and God saw that the wickedness of man had become great in the earth and every man was lifted up in the immagination of the thoughts of his heart being only evil continually And it came to pass that Noah continued his preaching unto the people saying hearken and give heed unto my words beleive and repent of your sins and be Baptised in the name of Jesus christ the Son of God even as our fathers did and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost that ye may have all things made manifest and if you do not do this the floods will come in upon you nevertheless they harkened not and it repented Noah and his heart was pained that the Lord had made man on the earth and it greived him at his heart and the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man, and beast, and the creeping things, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth Noah that I have created them and that I have made them and he hath called upon me and they have sought his life but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and Noah was a just man and perfect in his genarations and Noah walked with God and also his three sons Shem Ham and Japheth. the earth was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence and God looked upon the earth and behold it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth and God said unto Noah the end of all flesh is come before me for the earth is filled with violence through them and behold I will [p. 20]
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