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Background Information on Doctrine and Covenants Section 45
In early March of 1831, the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote to his brother Hyrum in Colesville to persuade him to lead the Saints to Kirtland as soon as possible. Hyrum left immediately. Newel Knight stayed behind to help prepare the Saints in Colesville to come to Kirtland. Due to the many false reports and lies in newspapers, Joseph Smith inquired of the Lord for help and received another revelation, what is now Doctrine and Covenants Section 45. (see Conkling, A Joseph Smith Chronology, p. 22)
In his book The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Lyndon W. Cook provides background information to help us better understanding this revelation:
Date. 7 March 1831.
Place. Kirtland, Geauga County, Ohio.
Historical Note. On 4 March 1831 a special conference was held in Kirtland, Ohio, and several elders were sent forth to preach the gospel. Concerning section 45 John Whitmer wrote, “In these days the Lord blessed his disciples greatly, and he gave revelation after revelation, which contained doctrine, instruction, and prophecies. The word of the Lord came to the Seer as follows [section 45].”
Section 45, which focuses on events having to do with the second coming of Christ, instructed Joseph Smith to begin translating the New Testament (compare Matthew 24 and Joseph Smith-Matthew). Until this time work on the inspired translation had been limited to the book of Genesis. With Sidney Rigdon as scribe, the Prophet began translating the New Testament March 8. The manuscript bears the following notation: “A Translation of the New Testament translated by the power of God.”
Publication Note. Section 45 was first published in the Evening and Morning Star (June 1832) and was included as chapter 48 in the Book of Commandments in 1833. Verses 72-75 were not published as part of this revelation until 1844. (p. 63)
The miraculous translation and publication of the Book of Mormon had already been completed, and the text was disseminated among the people. But Joseph Smith’s role as a Prophet, Seer, Revelator, and Translator had just begun. The process of translating the Bible was in some ways different than the process of translating the Book of Mormon, but the inspiration and source of revelation was the same. Joseph Smith translated the Bible, as he did the Book of Mormon, by the gift and power of God.
In her chapter “Joseph Smith’s Bible Translation” in Revelations in Context, Elizabeth Maki explains the Bible translation project, the process of translation, and the background for D&C 45:
As Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon in the late 1820s, he learned more than the history of the Lamanites and Nephites.
More than once, the Book of Mormon text indicated that “many plain and precious parts” of the Bible had been lost.1 In the summer of 1830, just a few short months after the Book of Mormon was published, Joseph Smith began a new translation of the Bible intended to restore some of those plain and precious parts. This effort defied the prevailing opinion of the day that the Bible contained the inerrant word of God as contained in the revered text of the King James Version.
Joseph’s translation was not carried out in the traditional sense. He didn’t consult Greek and Hebrew texts or use lexicons to create a new English version. Rather, he used the King James Version of the Bible as his starting point and made additions and changes as he was directed by the Holy Ghost.
Although Joseph made many minor grammatical corrections and modernized some language, he was less concerned with these technical improvements than he was with restoring, through revelation, important truths not included in the contemporary Bible. Historian Mark Lyman Staker characterized the translation as one of “ideas rather than language.”2
Joseph Smith worked diligently on his translation from the summer of 1830 until July 1833. He considered this project a divine mandate, referring to it as a “branch of my calling.”3 Yet while portions were printed in Church publications before his death, Joseph Smith’s complete translation of the Bible was not published during his lifetime.
Even so, the effort the Prophet poured into that work is evident in the pages of the Doctrine and Covenants; the translation process served as the direct catalyst for many revelations contained in that book, which includes more than a dozen sections that arose directly from the translation process or contain instructions for Joseph and others pertaining to it.4
Maki continues:
The Translation Process
It was while the Book of Mormon was being printed at E. B. Grandin’s print shop in October 1829 that Oliver Cowdery purchased from Grandin the King James Bible that Joseph Smith used in the translation.
In June 1830, Joseph received a revelation that he described as the “visions of Moses.”5 This revelation may have served as a catalyst to Joseph’s work on the translation. This revelation now appears as the first chapter in the book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price. The earliest manuscripts of the Bible translation, beginning with Genesis 1 (now Moses 2), were created in Harmony, Pennsylvania, about one month later, with Oliver Cowdery and John Whitmer acting as scribes. Shortly thereafter, in a revelation addressed to Joseph’s wife, Emma Hale Smith, the Lord instructed that Emma serve as Joseph’s scribe6 for the translation, which she apparently did for a brief time.7 Over the next few months, the translation progressed through the book of Genesis.
In December of that year, after Sidney Rigdon was baptized in Ohio and traveled to Fayette, New York, to meet the leader of his new faith, Joseph Smith received a revelation directing Rigdon to serve as his scribe: “Thou shalt write for him & the scriptures shall be given even as they are in mine own bosom to the salvation of mine own elect.”8
Rigdon commenced to serve as scribe, and shortly after he and Joseph recorded the story of Enoch, Joseph was instructed to cease translating for a time and take the Church to Ohio. He did so, and soon after he was settled in Kirtland, the translation again became one of his primary tasks. In early February 1831, Joseph received a revelation instructing that a home be built in which he could “live & translate.”9 A few days later, another revelation assured Joseph that as he asked, the “scriptures shall be given.”10
Maki then sheds more light on the background for D&C 45:
The earliest work of the translation focused on the text of Genesis, but a March 7, 1831, revelation soon changed Joseph’s course. In the revelation, canonized as Doctrine and Covenants 45, Joseph was instructed to put aside the Old Testament for a time and instead focus on translating the New Testament.
“I give unto you that ye may now Translate it,” he was told, “that ye may be prepared for the things to come for Verily I say unto you that great things await you.”11
Accordingly, Joseph and Sidney began the next day to work on the New Testament translation. They continued until leaving for Missouri that summer and then resumed the translation in the fall, after Joseph and Emma moved roughly 30 miles south of Kirtland to Hiram, Ohio, to live in the home of John Johnson. The move was, in part, Joseph’s attempt to find a place “to work in peace and quiet on the translation of the Bible.”12 Joseph Smith later recalled that the bulk of his time after arriving at the Johnson home was spent in preparing to continue his translation work.
Joseph also set about overseeing the Church and preaching in the area, and then in January 1832 he received a revelation that directed him to once again focus his work on the translation “untill it be finished.”13 It was while he and Sidney Rigdon did so that, on February 16, they received a landmark revelation in the Johnson home. While working to translate the book of John, the men’s inquiries led to a vision of the kingdoms of glory that was a source of significant new doctrines for the young Church. Today, that vision is contained in Doctrine and Covenants 76. (pp. 99-101)
Why don’t Latter-day Saints study Joseph Smith’s inspired translation of the Bible anymore? Why is this essential text such a mystery to most modern Saints? Why doesn’t the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints publish this text (see also here) as part of the Standard Works or on its main website? It makes no sense.
Apparently we don’t use the JST because Joseph Smith never finished his inspired translation, and we don’t know what other changes he might have made. Furthermore, the Church doesn’t even own the copyright to the JST. The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (RLDS, now Community of Christ Church) held the copyright and later published it as their authoritative Bible. These do not seem like sufficiently good reasons for excluding the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible from our cannon.
I began to study Joseph Smith’s Inspired Translation of the Bible some time ago, and it is marvelous. The entire text should be part of the Standard Works that members of the Lord’s Church study. It is much clearer and easier to understand than the original King James Version of the Bible.
The authors of the article “Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible” on the LDS.org website explain what happened to the translation after the Prophet’s death:
After Joseph Smith’s death, the Bible translation manuscripts remained with his wife Emma until she gave them to her son Joseph Smith III, who led the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The Reorganized Church (now Community of Christ) published Joseph’s revisions in 1867 under the title The Holy Scriptures, Translated and Corrected by the Spirit of Revelation, but the volume quickly became known as the “Inspired Version of the Bible.”6 Brigham Young, then President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah, expressed skepticism of the accuracy of the publication, having not had the chance to review the manuscript sources himself. Despite possessing a handwritten copy of some revision manuscripts, the Church under President Young’s direction, and for a century thereafter, did not publish an edition.7
Brigham Young blocked it? Why didn’t he review the manuscript and approve it or form a committee to make corrections? Why was this text suppressed for more than a century? Not until the 1960’s did scholars verify the accuracy of the published editions and publish excerpts. Not until 2004 was the complete Bible revision published and re-published on the Joseph Smith Papers website.8 Again, this makes no sense. I had to peruse the obscure website MormonThink and FAIR to find better answers, such as this one:
There is some dispute among people who believe in the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith about the JST. The Community of Christ group and its Restoration Branches group has the most complete version of the document which it published as the Inspired Version of the Bible. The Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has portions of the original work which are integrated as footnotes and appendices in officially published scriptures.
Most LDS believe the JST is an authentic, inspired addition/correction to the King James Bible. Officially speaking, the LDS church has not addressed any of the controversies surrounding the Inspired Version, however, apologists have argued that the purpose of the JST was not to "correct" the Bible but rather to clarify and expand on it.[1]
And this,
The JST is significant in Mormon history because it contains some evidence that what Joseph said was the correct translation of the Bible actually contradicts several sections of the Book of Mormon which deliberately mirror the King James Bible. Known errors in the Biblical text are also preserved in the JST. Additionally, why was the translation project, which was never quite finished by Joseph, never undertaken by any subsequent church leaders, each of which is supposed to be a "seer, a revelator, a translator, and a prophet?"[2]
Good question. I don’t agree with everything in the MormonThink study of this topic, but it is much more thorough than most official LDS websites. It looks like LDS scholar and professor Kent P. Jackson has done the most complete work on the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. I would like to add his beautiful edition of Joseph Smith’s Translation of the Bible to my library. (see also here)
Bruce R. McConkie gave the following praise for the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible:
The Joseph Smith Translation, or Inspired Version, is a thousand times over the best Bible now existing on earth. It contains all that the King James Version does, plus pages of additions and corrections and an occasional deletion. It was made by the spirit of revelation, and the changes and additions are the equivalent of the revealed word in the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. For historical and other reasons, there has been among some members of the Church in times past some prejudice and misunderstanding of the place of the Joseph Smith Translation. I hope this has now all vanished away. Our new Church Bible footnotes many of the major changes made in the Inspired Version and has a seventeen-page section which sets forth excerpts that are too lengthy for inclusion in the footnotes. Reference to this section and to the footnotes themselves will give anyone who has spiritual insight a deep appreciation of this revelatory work of the Prophet Joseph Smith. It is one of the great evidences of his prophetic call” (Sermons and Writings of Bruce R. McConkie, p. 289).
I agree with McConkie to an extent, but it still doesn’t make sense to exclude the full Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible, or at least that which he was able to complete, from our Standard Works.
Prefacing this revelation in D&C 45, Joseph Smith’s history states that “at this age of the Church … many false reports … and foolish stories, were published … and circulated, … to prevent people from investigating the work, or embracing the faith. … But to the joy of the Saints, … I received the following.” As mentioned in the LDS Come Follow Me manual, there is much joyful news in this section, but there are also very troubling revelations concerning the perils that shall precede the Lord’s Second Coming. Nevertheless, there is hope for us:
But that peril, that darkness is not strong enough to extinguish the light of hope. “For verily I say unto you,” the Lord declared, “that I am … a light that shineth in darkness” (verse 7). That alone is reason to receive this revelation—with whatever counsel and warnings and truth He wants to give—with joy.
