Writings: Latter-day SaintsThe Joseph Smith Translation Manuscripts10 of 10

Writings: Latter-day Saints

The Joseph Smith Translation Manuscripts

The Joseph Smith Translation manuscripts record Joseph Smith's revision of the King James Bible, dictated to scribes from June 1830 to July 1833, including the Book of Moses. Community of Christ held them until March 5, 2024, when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints took ownership; the Joseph Smith Papers place them in Salt Lake City.

Last reviewed:

Three dates, kept apart

  1. The text's date: the tradition's view

    June 1830 to July 1833, when the Latter-day Saint church teaches Joseph Smith dictated the Bible revision, with no church year given for any ancient text it restores (the church's Bible Dictionary: begun June 1830, the major portion done by July 1833, with changes continuing until 1844; the church's sources consulted give no year for the ancient texts the revision is said to restore, so the bar marks the dictation alone)

  2. The text's date: critical scholars' view

    1830 to 1833, H. Michael Marquardt's dates for Smith's Bible revision, which he and Kevin Barney read as a revision of an English text (Barney gives no dates of his own; neither identifies an ancient text behind most changes, so neither dates one, and the bar marks the dictation alone, as the tradition's bar does)

  3. This copy made

    June 1830 to July 1833, Joseph Smith's revision dictated and written down (the Joseph Smith Papers editors' dates: the first Old Testament manuscript June 1830 to about March 7, 1831; the second about March 8 to April 5, 1831 and late July 1832 to July 1833; the first New Testament manuscript March 8 to about June 1831)

  4. This copy found

    Not a find: the manuscripts passed from Joseph Smith to Emma Smith, in 1867 to Joseph Smith III and the Reorganized Church, now Community of Christ, and on March 5, 2024 to the Latter-day Saint church.

All four rows share one timeline. A row with no marker says why in words. How ancient texts are dated.

What it is

The Joseph Smith Translation manuscripts are the handwritten pages, recorded in ink, in which scribes wrote down Joseph Smith's revision of the King James Version, the English Bible of 1611.12 He dictated it between 1830 and 1833.34 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints calls the work the Joseph Smith Translation (JST); it came to be known as his New Translation4.5 The Joseph Smith Papers, the church's own scholarly edition, describe two Old Testament and two New Testament manuscripts. The church's 2024 list also names an early partial copy, Old Testament manuscript 3, which Kent Jackson describes as John Whitmer's copy of the first twenty pages of the first.4672

The first manuscript opens with a vision of Moses and expands Genesis as far as chapter 24. Its first twenty-one pages are the text now called the Book of Moses, in the Pearl of Great Price, a volume of the Latter-day Saint church's scripture.3428

How the copy was dated

The manuscripts carry dates. The first Old Testament manuscript opens with a heading dated June 1830, and Frederick G. Williams wrote at the end of Malachi in the second, Finished on the 2d of July 18334.3 The Papers, published by the church's Church Historian's Press, give the ranges above. The sources describe no physical test of the paper or ink.3469

The end of the work is read differently. The church's Bible Dictionary says the major portion was done by July 1833. Smith kept modifying the text, it adds, while preparing it for the press, until his death in 1844.5 Jared Ludlow, a professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, which the church founded, supports, and guides, surveys the scholarship and quotes Kent Jackson, who taught ancient scripture there until he retired in 2017. Jackson holds that the evidence is clear that Smith finished the whole revision in July 1833.101112 For methods, see how ancient texts are dated.

The text: its date and authorship

The strip marks one event in both rows: Smith's dictation of the revision, June 1830 to July 1833.

The Latter-day Saint church's Bible Dictionary says the Joseph Smith Translation, though not the church's official Bible, is an invaluable aid to biblical interpretation and understanding.5 The church prints the book of Moses and Joseph Smith-Matthew, an extract from Matthew 24, in the Pearl of Great Price.5 In its 1979 Bible it prints other excerpts, with the permission of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, now Community of Christ.513

Community of Christ, then the Reorganized Church, published the whole revision in 1867 as The Holy Scriptures, known as the Inspired Version.132 Charmaine and Tony Chvala-Smith, theology and scripture consultants for Community of Christ, write on its website that none of the early manuscripts found in the last hundred years supports Smith's additions, and suggest seeing the revisions as a kind of commentary.1

The tradition's view

This column carries the church's Bible Dictionary, scholars in Ludlow's survey, and Jackson's reply. The Bible Dictionary teaches that Smith was divinely commissioned and saw the work as a branch of his calling. It adds that the revision to some extent helps restore plain and precious things lost from the Bible.5 Robert Millet, emeritus dean of religious education at Brigham Young University, holds that Smith restored what was once recorded but later intentionally removed, and perhaps what was said anciently but never recorded. Robert Matthews, an early Latter-day Saint scholar of the manuscripts, holds that some ancient text is restored, though not in every reading.10

Kent Jackson, who writes as a believer in Smith's mission, answers Wayment and Wilson-Lemmon, whose argument is described in the other column. He argues that none of their over thirty passages can be traced to Clarke's commentary, and he writes that he has seen no evidence that Smith ever used it. He adds that there is nothing wrong with the idea of Smith getting some ideas from an outside source.11

Scholars of the Bible revision: Barney, Marquardt, and, at second hand, Wayment and Wilson-Lemmon

Kevin Barney, a Chicago attorney writing in 1986 in Dialogue, which calls itself independent, found ancient parallels for about a dozen changes and none for most, and holds it unlikely, with very few exceptions, that the revision is a literal restoration of material in the original manuscripts. He suggests reading it as an inspired paraphrase of the King James text.1415 H. Michael Marquardt, whom Compton calls an independent researcher, writes, in a 2023 book that names no publisher and is posted on his own website, that the work does not restore a Hebrew or Greek text and is a revision rather than a translation.1617

Thomas Wayment, a Brigham Young University classics professor, and Haley Wilson-Lemmon, his former research assistant, argue, as Jackson reports, that Smith drew some ideas and language from Adam Clarke's Methodist Bible commentary. Wayment says in a podcast that he finds no parallels to Clarke in Genesis 1 to 24, but clear influence from Matthew on. As Ludlow quotes them, they see Smith melding his own prophetic inspiration into the text. This page did not read their articles: their argument reaches it through Ludlow's survey and Jackson's reply.1011

How it was found

They were not found. Smith kept them except briefly in 1838 and 1839. Emma Smith kept them for over twenty years, and in 1867 gave them to her son Joseph Smith III so that the Reorganized Church could publish them.3 The Latter-day Saint church's history page says Brigham Young, then its president, was skeptical of that printing's accuracy, not having reviewed the manuscripts, and that the church published no edition for a century.13

In the 1960s the Reorganized Church scholar Richard Howard and the Latter-day Saint scholar Robert Matthews each studied the manuscripts to check the printings.13 Ludlow reports that Matthews found the printings by and large accurate. Jackson holds that the 1867 printing of Genesis, the text of the Book of Moses, does not accurately reflect the text Smith prepared.102 Ownership passed to the Latter-day Saint church on March 5, 2024, in a joint announcement of the two churches.187

What it shows, and what it does not

They show a revision of the King James text dictated to named scribes in stages between 1830 and 1833. The work began with the Book of Moses and Genesis to chapter 24, moved to the New Testament, and then returned to finish the Old Testament.4213

They do not show whether the added words restore ancient text. The Bible Dictionary says the revision to some extent helps restore lost plain and precious things.5 Ludlow reports that Millet and Matthews hold that the revision restores at least some ancient text.10 Barney writes that most changes have no ancient parallel, and Marquardt holds that the work is not a restoration of the Hebrew or Greek text.1416 Ludlow writes that Smith never specifically addressed how or exactly why he made each change.10 Barney, Marquardt, and Jackson each argue one thesis in the works cited here.

Sources

  1. Charmaine Chvala-Smith and Tony Chvala-Smith (Community of Christ Seminary; described on the page as theology and scripture consultants for the church). Does It Really Matter What Bible Translation You Use? (section 'As for the Inspired Version...'). Community of Christ (cofchrist.org, Articles), the section 'As for the Inspired Version...'. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  2. Kent P. Jackson (Brigham Young University). History of the Book of Moses (a chapter of The Book of Moses and the Joseph Smith Translation Manuscripts). Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University (Provo, 2005); the chapter PDF on the center's site, 2005, pp. 1 to 51 of the chapter, as numbered in the file. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  3. Joseph Smith Papers editors. Old Testament Revision 1 (source note and historical introduction). The Joseph Smith Papers (Church Historian's Press), the Source Note and the Historical Introduction. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  4. Joseph Smith Papers editors. Old Testament Revision 2 (source note and historical introduction). The Joseph Smith Papers (Church Historian's Press), the Source Note and the Historical Introduction. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  5. Joseph Smith Translation (JST). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Bible Dictionary). Accessed 2026-11-03.
  6. Joseph Smith Papers editors. New Testament Revision 1 (source note and historical introduction). The Joseph Smith Papers (Church Historian's Press), the Source Note and the Historical Introduction. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  7. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Community of Christ. Frequently Asked Questions Clarify the Transfer of Sacred Sites and Historic Documents (with its appendix, List of Items Transferred). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Newsroom, 2024, questions 1 to 3 and 7; the appendix. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  8. Pearl of Great Price: Introduction. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Accessed 2026-11-03.
  9. About the Project. The Joseph Smith Papers (The Church Historian's Press). Accessed 2026-11-04.
  10. Jared W. Ludlow (Brigham Young University). The Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. BYU Studies 60, no. 3, p. 147 (web edition at byustudies.byu.edu), the article (the web text shows no page numbers inside). Accessed 2026-11-06.
  11. Kent P. Jackson (Brigham Young University). Some Notes on Joseph Smith and Adam Clarke. Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 40 (2020), pp. 15 to 60, 2020, pp. 15 to 17 (abstract and opening), p. 27 for the count of passages and his statement that he writes as a believer, and the author note at the end for his affiliation. Accessed 2026-11-06.
  12. About BYU (mission statement). Brigham Young University. Accessed 2026-11-04.
  13. Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Church History Topics). Accessed 2026-11-03.
  14. Kevin L. Barney. The Joseph Smith Translation and Ancient Texts of the Bible. Dialogue, A Journal of Mormon Thought 19, no. 3, 1986, pp. 85 to 102. Accessed 2026-11-03.
  15. Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (home page). Dialogue Foundation. Accessed 2026-11-04.
  16. H. Michael Marquardt (an independent researcher, per Compton). Development in Early Mormonism (Sandy, Utah, 2023): chapter 5, 'Changing Revelatory Messages: A Mormon Example', pp. 87 to 111, and chapter 7, 'The Joseph Smith Bible Project', pp. 112 to 123. Self-published by the author, 2023 (the PDF names no publisher and carries the author's copyright, which is the basis for 'self-published'); posted as a PDF on his site. Chapter 5 was first published in the John Whitmer Historical Association Journal 33 (Spring/Summer 2013), per the book's note., 2023, chapter 5 (pp. 87 to 103 on revisions to the revelations) and chapter 7 (pp. 112 to 123 on the Bible revision). Accessed 2026-11-06.
  17. Todd M. Compton. Textual Tradition, the Evolution of Mormon Doctrine, and the Doctrine & Covenants (review of H. Michael Marquardt, The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text & Commentary, Signature Books, 1999). Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 33, no. 3 (Fall 2000), web edition, 2000, the review (the web edition shows no page numbers). Accessed 2026-11-06.
  18. Community of Christ and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (joint statement). Responsibility and Ownership of Sacred Sites and Historic Documents Transfer to Church of Jesus Christ. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Newsroom (with Community of Christ), 2024, the statement. Accessed 2026-11-06.