Old Testament Revision 2
Old Testament Revision 2
Source Note
Source Note
Old Testament Revision 2, ca. 8 Mar. 1831–5 Apr. 1831 and late July 1832–July 1833; handwriting of , , and ; 119 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 Old 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), 583–851.
Footnotes
- [1]
Call, “Copied from the Journal of Anson Call”; Cooper, “Spiritual Reminiscences, No. 2,” Autumn Leaves (January 1891): 9, 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
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].) Over the next three years, this work expanded into what is now designated the Book of Moses and a complete revelatory re-reading of the Bible, an endeavor that came to be known as JS’s “New Translation,” or Bible revision. Initially, JS and his scribes, including Cowdery, , , and , 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. This manuscript is currently designated Old Testament Revision 1.
JS set aside work on the new translation of the Old Testament when instructed in a March 1831 revelation to instead begin work on New Testament texts. (Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:60–61].) Shortly thereafter, was 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].) Among other undertakings, he proceeded to create a duplicate copy of the existing sixty-one-page Old Testament manuscript. This second manuscript, featured here, is now designated Old Testament Revision 2. At the same time, JS commenced work on the New Testament and continued until July 1832 (Letter to William W. Phelps, 31 July 1832), resulting in two manuscripts, currently designated as New Testament Revision 1 and New Testament Revision 2.
After the completion of his new translation of the New Testament in late July 1832, JS resumed his revision of the Old Testament, now assisted by as scribe. When this work resumed, it was ’s copy, Old Testament Revision 2, that became the working manuscript for the rest of the Old Testament. A year later, Frederick G. Williams noted the completion of work on the text, writing at the end of Malachi, “Finished on the 2d of July 1833.”
Old Testament Revision 2 contains 119 pages. The first fifty-nine pages contain ’s copy of Old Testament Revision 1. At first, JS continued his earlier practice of having entire verses written out in the manuscript to record a change. After several pages, however, he switched to a procedure that he had adopted during his translation work on the New Testament. Rather than record an entire verse, JS marked his copy of the Bible as he read in it, indicating where a change should be made. In the manuscript, wrote the scripture reference and the specifics of the revisions, thus saving time and space. In effect, the notations made in JS’s Bible, coupled with his scribes’ inscriptions in Old Testament Revision 2, now constituted the revision project.
In total, JS made changes to about 1,300 Old Testament verses (Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 5). The introduction to Old Testament Revision 1 on the Joseph Smith Papers website notes some of the significant passages in the Book of Moses and JS’s revision of Genesis chapters 1–24. Some of the more prominent revisions, clarifications, and corrections JS incorporated into Old Testament Revision 2 included important material related to Joseph of Egypt added to the latter chapters in Genesis; a clarification in Exodus regarding the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart; and additions to Isaiah 29 foretelling the coming forth of the Book of Mormon (Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 589).
Note: The transcript of Old 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), 583–851.
Belly shalt thou go, & dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life; & I will put enmighty enmity between thee, & the woman; between thy seed & her seed, & <he> shall bruise thy head, & thou shalt bruise his heel. </> unto the woman I <the Lord God> said I will greatly multiply thy <10/> sorrow, & thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt rule bring forth children, & thy desire shall be to thy husband, & he shall rule over thee. </> & unto Adam, I, the Lord God, said; because thou <11/> hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, & hast eaten of the tree 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 herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, untill thou shalt return unto the ground, for thou shalt shurely die for out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou wast, & unto dust shalt thou return. </> & Adam called his wifes name Eve, because <12/> she was the mother of all living; for thus have I the Lord God called the first of all women, which are many. <*/> and <And> I, the <13/> 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 <will send> him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from wence he was taken; for, as I, the Lord God, liveth, even so my word<s> 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 evry way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (& these are the words which I spake unto my servent Moses & they are true even as I will & I have spoken them unto you see thou shew them unto no man untill I command you except they that believe amen)
Chapt. 2nd <4th>
A Revelation concerning Adam after he had been driven out of the garden of Eden
<1/> For <And it came to pass that> after that <I, the Lord God,> he was <had been> driven <them> out he <that> <Adam> began to till the Earth; & to have dominion over all the beasts of the field, & to eat his bread, by the sweat of the brow as <I> the lord had commanded him; & Eve also, his wife [p. 9]
Source Note
Source Note
Document Transcript
Document Information
Document Information
Footnotes
Footnotes
- [11]
TEXT: Line numbers written down left margin in graphite: 3, 4, 8, 9, 12, 13, 18, 22, 24, 27, 28, 31, 34, 36, 37.
- [12]
TEXT: Asterisk keyed to corresponding asterisk on a slip of paper pinned to this page.
- [13]
TEXT: Insertion in graphite.
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