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lynnettejane
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Can anyone tell me if they came across or ever used Joseph Smith’s translation of the Bible? If so what were your impressions
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batman1973
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The Community of Christ(RLDS) prints that version of the Bible and many of the Community of Christ’s splinter groups known as the restoration churches still use that version of the Bible and I used to use it when I was in the Remnant LDS. It basically reads like the King James Version of the Bible but has a lot of additions at Joseph put in to the bible. He perverted many things including the Lord’s Prayer. It’s about as trustworthy a guide as the Jehovah’s Witness Bible. it’s good for firewood or trash.
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gazelam
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The Joseph Smith Translation (JST) of the Bible is included with the King James Bible that is published by the LDS Church. References to the JST are found in the footnotes of those verses where a change was made. Also, those JST excerpts too lengthy for inclusion in the footnotes are included in a separate section. The lengthy excerpts can be found here lds.org/scriptures/jst?lang=eng. I can’t find an easy way to reference only the footnoted changes on line, other than looking at each footnote. For example, go to lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/7?lang=eng and select the first hyperlink in verse 1. You’ll see the JST version of the verse along with other verses that correlate to that verse. Select the second hyper link in that verse and you’ll only see a reference that topic which is described in the LDS Topical Guide found here lds.org/scriptures/tg?lang=eng. I hope this helps.
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lynnettejane
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Gazelam, I belive you are LDS, why doesn’t your church use this version?
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Byzantine_Wolf
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I have read it, and it basically reads as a rewrite of the KJV. Some changes are clearly attempting to read or give credibility to Joseph Smith’s theology and claims. Most interesting is his change to Romans 4:5, which originally read “who justifies the ungodly”, and was changed by Smith to read “who justifies the godly.” Not only is this a completely dishonest translation of ἀσεβῆ, which is the word used in all the earliest Greek manuscripts and which means “without respect to the godly” (the ἀ added to σέβομαι to convey this), but it completely contradicts the apostle Paul’s overall point in that chapter and indeed most of that section of the epistle, which is that there are none godly (Ro 3:9-12), all have fallen short of God’s glory (Ro 3:23), and it depends not on the one who works but the one who is credited righteousness by God (Ro 4:4-5).
Their religion status says “Formerly LDS”, but they might have an answer to your question.
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lynnettejane
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Apologies, as has been pointed out you are formerly LDS, however you may still be able to give an answer to my question
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Publisher
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I’m not Friend Gazelam, but from my understanding the Inspired Version (JST) was not completed in Joseph’s time…he was killed before he could finish. The RLDS, now Community of Christ claims otherwise.
My own personal belief is that the LDS don’t use it because the original manuscripts and Bible Joseph used are the property of the Community of Christ…formerly Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Until very recently there was a lot of animosity between the two traditions…things have mellowed in the last several decades.
The local Deseret Book Store here in the Portland area sometimes carries the Inspired Version published by the RLDS as well as a volume of the “Joseph Smith Translation”, both published by Herald House. The JST volume has every revision Joseph made in one column and the KJV in a parallel column so one can readily see and find every revision.
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xixxvmcm85
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He’s still LDS. “Now Quaker” is a flippant response from another thread in which somebody used a quote from Albert Einstein lauding the Quaker church as a reason for Mormons to become Catholic
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xixxvmcm85
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This is precisely it. Joseph Smith’s widow stayed in Missouri with the group that would become the RLDS and sustain Joseph Smith’s son as their prophet. Personally, I think the RLDS have a much better claim to succession than the LDS do, and apparently US courts have agreed (hence the RLDS ownership of the JST, and the Kirtland Temple).
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gazelam
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That is an excellent question. The short answer is that it does and that it has been integrated in over time. This text is copied from wikipedia, but it rings somewhat true to my limited recollection.
Joseph Smith was killed prior to the publication of the translation. At the death of Joseph Smith Jr. the manuscripts and documents pertaining to the translation were retained by his widow, Emma Smith, who would not give them to the Quorum of the Twelve although Willard Richards, apparently acting on behalf of Brigham Young, requested the new translation from her. Consequently, when Young’s followers moved to the Salt Lake Valley, they did so without the new translation of the Bible.
Following Joseph Smith’s death, John Milton Bernhisel asked permission of Emma Smith to copy the notes that were made into his own Bible. He spent much of the spring of 1845 working on this project. The LDS Church has this in its offices in Salt Lake City, but it contains less than half of the corrections and is not suitable for publication. For many years the Bernhisel Bible was the only source for LDS Church members living in the Salt Lake Valley.
In 1866, Emma Smith gave the manuscripts into the custody of the CoC church (then the RLDS), of which she was a member, and her son Joseph Smith III the prophet-president. In 1867 the CoC published the first edition of the translation and obtained a copyright for it. The CoC Church still retains the original manuscripts and publishes the Inspired Version through its publishing arm, Herald House Publishing. The copyright has expired on the 1867 edition[17] and a bound photo reproduction of that edition is published by a private concern. In 1944, the CoC Church brought out a carefully prepared “new corrected edition.”
Because LDS scholars had not yet had an opportunity to compare the corrected edition of the 1944 CoC edition of the Bible version to the original manuscripts, its initial acceptance by LDS Church members was limited.[18] Explorations of the textual foundations of the JST began in earnest with the pioneering work of the CoC scholar Richard P. Howard and the LDS scholar Robert J. Matthews beginning in the 1960s.[19][20] Matthews’ summary of an exhaustive study corroborated the CoC claims that the 1944 and subsequent editions of the “Inspired Version,” notwithstanding their shortcomings, constituted a faithful rendering of the work of Joseph Smith and his scribes—insofar as the manuscripts were then understood. With painstaking effort over a period of eight years, and with the full cooperation of the Community of Christ, a facsimile transcription of all the original manuscripts of the JST was at last published in 2004.
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gazelam
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Let’s just say that’s our little secret…He’s still LDS. “Now Quaker” is a flippant response from another thread in which somebody used a quote from Albert Einstein lauding the Quaker church as a reason for Mormons to become Catholic
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El_Confundido
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I’ll be honest; I chuckledLet’s just say that’s our little secret…
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El_Confundido
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The short of it: The KJV is mostly correct and the changes JS made were minimal. Using the other standard works as guides, and the promptings of the Spirit, we can discern what’s true and what isn’t in the KJV. I also suspect that using the Inspired Translation would make missionary work harder.
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kimg901
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None of what you believe is true. So are you a latino? If you are how can you be a mormon?
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El_Confundido
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kimg901
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You dont know what has been taught then by your church. Maybe you need to read up on its history and its teachings. I was once a mormon then found out what they believe in. Good luck.
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El_Confundido
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Rather than beat around the bush, why don’t you just come right out and say what you mean? I do indeed know what has been and is taught by my church. What about being Latino precludes me from being LDS?
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kimg901
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Check the other thread for my response. If you can believe in it, then you are lost. But hey, its your soul, not mine.
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El_Confundido
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Ah so you’re here to play games. Fair enough.
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kimg901
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I dont play games. Lets put it this way. Mormons will tell you whatever you want to hear and leave out the bad parts for their own benefit. So let me ask you this, do you believe in what the mormon prophets say is true?
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