Description

Joseph Smith Translation

No sooner in 1830 was the Book of Mormon off Grandin’s Press in Palmyra than Joseph Smith was reassigned. The project is little known and even less understood, even by Joseph’s own people, yet it was so critical a work that he devoted much of his time to it for over two years. The endeavor was launched by commandment of the Almighty himself and shepherded by Him to its completion. Joseph would later call this monumental work a “Branch of his calling.”

It was known and prophesied millennia before that Joseph would do it. Moses himself looked forward to this work, and counted on it. It was key to the Restoration of Christ’s Gospel. So much doctrine – so many revelations came because of this work, and at times it was tedious. The contribution of it to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its theology is incalculable, not to mention how the work itself educated and edified Joseph Smith.

Today, too many hold it in their hands, carry it everywhere they go, and have no idea of the treasure they possess. What is this powerful gift? It’s the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible.

Speaking of it, the Lord told Joseph when he began, “The scriptures shall be given even as they are in mine own bosom to the salvation of mine own elect” (D & C 35:20).

Day after day for more than two years a scribe sat with paper, pen, and ink while Joseph read from the King James Bible. As he read without the aid of seer stones or Urim and Thummim, his mind was opened, inspired, and enlightened. He restored the Bible as it was in the hearts of the original authors and the Lord himself.

He dictated all manner of changes to the Bible. Sometimes they were as minor as correcting punctuation, spelling, or grammar. Other times they were just small deletions. But most impressively, whole chapters and verses were added that detailed doctrine and history heretofore unknown. Pertaining to Enoch, Moses, Joseph of Egypt, and even the Lord Jesus himself – so much was revealed.

From the fountain of his expanded mind, Joseph dictated verse after verse, word-for-word, at a pace slow enough to be written down long-hand, and that without ever losing his train of thought, having to start over, or stop to gather his creativity. Just the process as described by witnesses is miraculous, considering the material revealed. But the miracle becomes utterly astonishing when the work is carefully studied and pondered. How could a 24 year-old uneducated farmer from the frontier have produced such a genius work? It is inconceivable – making the Joseph Smith Translation another tangible testament with the Book of Mormon that Joseph Smith was the Lord’s Prophet.

Many have opined that he never finished it or that its text was adulterated after he died, but both ideas are false. Its greatest contribution is its witness of the Savior Jesus Christ. The JST reveals a greater Christ – more noble, and even more divine, making the Joseph Smith Translation another testament of Jesus Christ, and the most correct and complete of any Bible on earth. Saying nothing of the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants, any and all of you who want to know the Savior better, study the Joseph Smith Translation.