This article discusses why Joseph Smith's version of the Bible can't in all honesty be termed a translation; the changes he made, the publication of the JST, and the reliability of modern translations.



INTRODUCTION

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (known as the LDS) was founded on their prophet Joseph Smith's claim that the early Christian church had gone into total apostasy and that the Bible was unreliable due to incorrect translation. He also maintained that corrupt priests had removed covenants and important sections on salvation. This gave him the freedom to introduce a unique, unbiblical religion that fitted in with his own agenda. (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Volume 1, page 245, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, page 327, c/f Book of Mormon 1 Nephi 13:21-28, 32; Pearl of Great Price, Moses 1:40-41.)

But Smith's claim has no substance. The Bible has been subjected to more thorough, ongoing investigation than any other book in the entire history of the world. Archeology, religious and secular ancient literature, as well as historical records, have all provided overwhelming proof of both its accuracy and its reliability. Archeologists are still finding more and more proof in this regard, on a regular basis. Nothing has ever been discovered that disproves anything in the Bible or indicates that it is inaccurate in any way. Over and over again proof has surfaced regarding the existence of individuals, nations, cities and battles mentioned in the Bible, and so on. (There is a link provided at the end of this page to a comprehensive article on this subject, entitled Corruption of the Bible is an LDS Smokescreen.)

Amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls that were discovered in 1947, were portions of every book in the Old Testament except for Esther. They all agreed with our modern day translations. There was also a complete copy of the book of Isaiah, written in an early form of the square letter. This dates it as far back as the second century before Christ, which makes it the same rendering of Isaiah that was read and quoted by the Lord Jesus. He accepted and proclaimed it as the true Word of God. And this very ancient copy of Isaiah agrees with our modern English translations of today. Nevertheless, Joseph Smith's amendments to the Bible included sections in the book of Isaiah.

When it comes to the New Testament, we have thousands of documents in the original languages, some of them dating as far back as AD 70-807, that are in line with our modern translations. Furthermore, the apostles' teachings were quoted in numerous ancient sermons, letters and documents. And these all agree with our modern translations of the Bible. (The only sections of the New Testament that weren't quoted, were the introductions to the epistles.)



JOSEPH SMITH'S DEFINITION OF THE WORD "TRANSLATION"

Before we get down to discussing Joseph Smith's translation of the Bible, we need to clarify his idea of what of the word "translation" meant.

Some time prior to his translation of the Bible, Joseph claimed to have translated the Book of Mormon from reformed Egyptian script engraved on gold plates. But his scribes who recorded this book as he dictated it (one of whom was his wife), all testified that he had never ever looked at the gold plates during his so-called translation. They were always carefully hidden away so that nobody could see them. (He maintained that if anyone looked at them, including himself, God would strike them dead.) His method of "translating" was to put his occultic seer stone into the base of his hat, place his face over it and dictate the words that he said were revealed to him by his stone. So he deliberately lied when he claimed that the Book of Mormon had been translated from inscriptions engraved on gold plates. (See The Book of Mormon Witnesses Who Never Saw the Gold Plates .) And the LDS leadership has knowingly perpetuated Smith's deception.

Nor did he re-translate the Bible, in spite of claiming to have done so. At the time he began his so-called translation, he had no knowledge of Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic. Nor did he have access to any of the ancient manuscripts. The way he did his so-called "translation" was to first mark all the sections he disagreed with in his 1828 King James Version. Then he wrote out his replacement passages on sheets of paper, which were referred to as his manuscript. This means that far from translating the Bible, in reality all he did was alter the 1828 King James translation, so that it fell in line with his own ideas. He had no scholarly reasons for doing this. And to give the reader some idea of how far short his so-called translation fell, the following verse from the JST is only one of his many inaccurate amendments:

And they bring him unto the place called Golgotha, which is, (being interpreted,) The place of a burial. (Mark 15:25, JST, which is Mark 15:22 in the KJV)

Easton's Bible Dictionary tells us that Golgotha was a little knoll or low, rounded, bare elevation somewhat in the form of a human skull. So, far from being a burial ground as Smith had so wrongly imagined, it had derived its name from the fact that the actual site resembled the form of a human skull. This means that Golgotha (an Aramaic word) was correctly translated in the KJ version of this verse as the "place of a skull," and that Joseph was in error in altering it. Golgotha is identical in meaning to the latin word Calvaria, which provides us with double proof of Smith's slip up here. (This is only one of a long list of indications that far from being an inspired prophet of God, Joseph Smith had been perpetrating a massive deception. And because of the information, technology and so on, available to us today, his deception is unraveling at an alarming rate.)



RE-TRANSLATING THE BIBLE

Joseph Smith claimed to have received visits from an angel named Moroni, who had quoted various scriptures that differed from the biblical record. He said this gave him an understanding of how these passages should be translated, in order to convey the correct meaning. (Joseph Smith History 1:36-41, Latter-day Saints Messenger and Advocate, Volume 1, No. 7, April, 1835, pages 109-112.) Although there are those who are utterly convinced that the angel Moroni was a fictitious character invented by Smith, Mormons need to note that the Bible warns us against deception by spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (see Ephesians 6:10-12).

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. (Galations 1:8, KJV) (Emphasis by editor.)

Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. (Proverbs 30:6, KJV)

To counteract the above scriptures, the LDS points to the case of Jeremiah chapter 36, where the king threw the scroll of Jeremiah's prophecies into the fire (verses 21-23). The Lord then commanded Jeremiah to write his prophecies down again, and to add more words to them.

The LDS argues that if Jeremiah could add to scripture, then why shouldn't their prophet Joseph Smith also be entitled to do the same with the Bible?

But we are talking here about two different things. Joseph Smith didn't just add to scripture. He completely altered the meanings of important doctrinal sections, in a bold, radical manner, to make them fit in with his own ideas. On the other hand, Jeremiah didn't alter the meaning of the prophecy God had given to him. He merely re-wrote word for word, the record of his latest prophecy that the king had destroyed, and that was still fresh in his mind. Then, as instructed by God, he added yet a further revelation only just given him by God at that particular time, without altering the previous revelation at all. Bear in mind that Jeremiah was still in the process of recording his book, which hadn't yet been completed. So this entire record was later included as scripture in the biblical book bearing his name. (The reader will note from verses 29 to 31 of Jeremiah 36, that the extra words added to the destroyed prophecies, were God's judgment on the King for treating His prophecy that had been directed to him, in such a disrespectful manner.)

Unlike Joseph Smith, Jeremiah never so much as attempted to alter the meaning of scriptures God had given either through himself or through any other prophets either, because the Jewish folk had the utmost respect for scripture.

Bear in mind that the book of Jeremiah and the rest of the Old Testament were still being written, and that the Bible as a completed canon of God's word to us, hadn't yet been completed, which was not the case when Joseph Smith decided to have his way with it. And Smith didn't merely add a further revelation from God as in the case of Jeremiah, he radically altered the meanings of many important doctrinal sections, from Genesis all the way through to Revelation. Furthermore, he altered scriptures that did not emanate from himself, but from the completed canon, recorded by trusted and proven great men of God, and that are backed up by thousands of ancient documents. What is more, Smith claimed the idea for the alterations had been given to him by an angel named Moroni. He felt that this was grounds enough for him to change the biblical record in spite of the warning in Galations 1:8).

Seeing the LDS wants to use this line of reasoning, i.e. quoting what Jeremiah had done when the written record of his prophecy had been destroyed, why then didn't their prophet, Joseph Smith, re-write the first 116 pages of the Book of Mormon that had been destroyed by persons unknown? Why was this such a tragedy, that it left him in a state of inconsolable dismay for the next six months and ended up with him scrapping that section? Why couldn't he just re-translate it — after all, they maintain he had the ability to carry on retranslating the rest of the inscriptions. What was so different about the section he'd already translated? It should have been easier for him to re-translate it, because he'd already become familiar with it.

If truth be told, Joseph didn't have the courage to attempt to re-translate those first 116 pages, because he was engaged in an outright deception. There were no engraved inscriptions; there weren't even any gold plates. And he wasn't a translator; he was a con artiste. He knew he'd never be able to recall all the details on those 116 pages. But if he had genuinely translated those 116 pages by the power of God, as he claimed to have done, it would have been an easy matter to have re-done the work, exactly as Jeremiah had done. However, the difference here was that Jeremiah's original prophecies were not an invented work of deception. They had come directly from God. So he had both the courage and the conviction that God would guide him in re-writing accurately, exactly the same wording that had been on the destroyed scroll. Unlike Joseph Smith's case concerning his missing 116 pages, God's true prophets never feared the opinions of men, they feared only God. The problem here is that Joseph knew he had every reason to fear the opinions of men. He was in danger of being exposed for who he was, a deceiver and a false prophet.

He really gave himself away in a big way, by his amazing reaction to the missing 116 pages. (See the full details in the article, The Book of Mormon Exposed.)



BEGINNING HIS TRANSLATION

Although there is no record of the exact date that Smith commenced his translation work, it was probably somewhere round about the time that he claimed to have had his revelation of the visions of Moses in June, 1830 (see Pearl of Great Price, Moses 1). And The History of the Church, Volume 1, pages 368-369 records a letter from him, confirming that his translation work had been completed on the 2nd July, 1833. This was countersigned by all three members of the then LDS Presidency (c/f Times and Seasons, Volume VI, page 802).

However, the seeds of yet another radical change in theology had already begun germinating in his mind. And he realized that if he published his translation, it would invalidate his new but as yet undisclosed doctrines, or vice verse. So he held back the printing of his translation. And in spite of having previously maintained that his translation had been completed, he added further amendments to it, and continued to do so until until his life was cut short.

Because of space constraints this article will not deal with the all the alterations, additions and deletions that are featured in the JST. But in order to give the reader some idea of Smith's motivations behind it, we will deal with his amendments to John 1, verses 1 to 5. Bear in mind that this is only the tip of the iceberg.



SMITH'S CHANGES CONCERNING CHRIST, THE WORD OF GOD

The Bible teaches that Christ was the Word, i.e. the revelation of God, in the flesh.

John 1:1-5, 5:39, 10:28 and 17:2 say that Christ was the Word of God, that He was God, that in Him was life, that His life was the light of men, and that He was the giver of eternal life.

However, this didn't fit in with Joseph Smith's own personal ideas. He claimed that Christ, Satan, the angelic beings and the whole of mankind, were sired by God (who has a body of flesh and bone and lives a married life), in a prior existence known as our first estate. In other words, far from being eternal deity, Christ was only our brother in eternal progression, who had earned his right to godhood in the same way that we can do. Consequently the gospel of John was one of the scriptural casualties that resulted from his so-called "translation."

The radical changes that he made will easily be seen by comparing the King James version of John 1:1-5 that follows, with the Joseph Smith translation, that is quoted directly beneath it:

KING JAMES VERSION
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (John 1:1-5, KJV)

THE JOSEPH SMITH TRANSLATION
In the beginning was the gospel preached through the Son. And the gospel was the word, and the word was with the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was of God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made which was made. In him was the gospel, and the gospel was the life, and the life was the light of men; And the light shineth in the world, and the world perceiveth it not. (Joseph Smith Translation, John 1:1-5)

(Editor's note: Christ's deity is done away with, and instead of the life of Christ being the light of men, the [LDS] gospel is the life and the light of men. Christ is deprecated and the LDS gospel is elevated.)

Nothing can justify Joseph Smith's desecration of the holy Word of God.

But by the time Joseph reached 1 John 5:7 and Revelation 19:13 in his so-called inspired translation, he'd forgotten all about the alterations he'd made to John 1 about "the Word" not being Christ but being the LDS gospel. Consequently, he slipped up and rendered these verses as follows:

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one. (1John 5:7, JST)
And he is clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his name is called The Word of God. (Revelation 19:13, JST)
(Emphasis by editor.)

As Mark Twain said, "If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything."



JOSEPH SMITH'S ATTITUDE TOWARDS CHRIST

In order to understand where Joseph Smith was coming from regarding his attitude towards Christ, we will take a look at a telling statement he made, that speaks for itself. As you read it, bear in mind his LDS teaching that Christ is our brother in eternal progression, as are Paul and Peter; not forgetting the above alterations to John 1:

"I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter nor Jesus ever did. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him, but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet." (The History of the Church Volume 6, pages 408-409). (Italics inserted by author.)

What sort of person would have the audacity to place himself in a higher category than the Lord Jesus Christ?

Joseph Smith was an egotist, who imagined that he was better than "his brother in eternal progression," the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not by accident that the Christ he taught bears no resemblance to the true Saviour (see The LDS Jesus Christ is Not the Saviour of the Bible .) Mormonism has been designed to ensure that its followers will never find the true path of salvation. They have a different God, a different Christ, a different atonement and a different gospel to that of the Bible.

We would do well to heed the warnings of Paul:

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. (2 Corinthians 11:3-4, KJV)

PUBLICATION OF THE JOSEPH SMITH TRANSLATION

After Joseph Smith's death in 1844, there was a split in the LDS church. His widow, Emma, had possession of the copy of the KJV that he had marked to indicate the sections or verses that would be changed, as well as his 477 paged manuscript detailing the actual wording of the amendments. And in 1866 she handed these over to the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They then published a copyrighted edition in 1867, followed by subsequent printings. Later editions included corrections. And in 1970 a parallel column edition was released, of what they called Smith's "Inspired" Version and the King James Version.

In 1979 the Utah based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS) published a new edition of the King James Version of the Bible, incorporating many passages from Smith's translation as footnotes. Lengthier passages were included in an appendix. Their 1981 publication of Doctrine and Covenants also contains references from the Joseph Smith Translation in the headnotes, footnotes, as well as summaries of many sections.

The Joseph Smith Translation has not gained any acceptance at all apart from in Latter-day Saint circles, for obvious reasons. It is not a translation, but an alteration.



CONCLUSION

To sum up, Joseph Smith had no scholastic reasons for his alterations to the Bible. His so-called translation was nothing more than an audacious attempt to bring the Bible into line with his ever-changing ideas on theology.

The most puzzling aspect of his translation, is the fact that the LDS has only utilized selected portions of it, which they have displayed as notes in their own printing of the KJV. This seems to indicate that they don't agree with his entire translation. But on the other hand, they teach that his words are to be accepted as the words of God Himself (Doctrine and Covenants 21:5) and that he was the true, latter-day prophet of God.

The following are links to articles that have some bearing on what has been discussed above:

Corruption of the Bible is an LDS Smokescreen

The Apostasy is a Mormon Fallacy

Joseph Smith, the Latter-day False Prophet

The Bible and its Reliability as a Spiritual Weapon

Copyright 2009 by Mormonism and Biblical Truth. All rights reserved.