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. After made a second copy of the completed manuscript, he documented his work by inserting a final date at the end of this copy: “April 5th 1831 transcribed thus far.” This original manuscript was then retired and JS and Rigdon continued the ambitious Bible revision using Whitmer’s copy. Bible revision 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.
& did eat & gave also unto her husband with her & he did eat & the eyes of them both were opened & they knew that they had been naked & they sewed fig leaves together & made themselves aprons & they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of of the day & Adam & his wife hid themselves from the presence of I the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden & I the Lord God called unto Adam & said unto him Where goest thou & he said I heard thy voice in the garden & I was afraid because I beheld that I was naked & I hid myself & I the Lord God said unto Adam Who told thee that thou wast naked hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat if so thou shouldst surely die & the man said the woman whom thou gavest me & saidest remain with thee she gave me of the tree & I did eat & I the Lord God said unto the woman What is this thing which thou hast done the woman said the serpant beguiled me & I did eat & the I the Lord God said unto the serpant Because thou hast done this thou shalt be cursed above all cattle & above every beast of the field upon thy belly shalt thou go & dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life & I will put enmity between thee & the woman between thy seed & her seed it shall bruise thy head & thou shalt bruise his heel unto the woman I said I will greatly multiply thy sorrow & thy consception in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children & thy desire shall be to thy husband & he shall rule over thee & unto Adam I the Lord God said because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife & hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee saying thou shalt not eat of it cursed shall be the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life thorns also & thistles shall it bring forth to thee & thou shalt eat the hearb of the field in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread until thou shalt return unto the ground for thou shalt surely die for out of it wast thou taken for dust thou wast & unto dust shalt thou return And Adam called his wifes name Eve because she was the mother of all living for thus have I the Lord God called the first of all women which are many And I the Lord God said unto mine only begotten Behold the man is become as one of us to know good & evil & now lest he put forth his hand & partake also of the tree of life & eat & live forever therefore I the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken for as I the Lord God liveth even so my word cannot return void for as they go forth out of my mouth they must be fulfilled so I drove out the man & I placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims & a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life & those are the words which I spake unto my servant Moses & they are true even as I will & I have spoken them unto you see thou show them unto no man until I command you except they that believe Amen [p. 7]
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