New Testament Revision 1
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Source Note
New Testament Revision 1, 8 Mar.–ca. June 1831; handwriting of ; 65 pages; CCLA. Includes redactions.The Bible revision manuscripts remained in JS’s possession throughout his life—except during a brief period in 1838 and another in 1839. Upon the death of JS, the manuscript was in possession of his wife for over twenty years, until 1867 when she gave it to her son in order for the RLDS Church to publish The Holy Scriptures.Note: The transcript of New Testament Revision 1 presented here is used with generous permission of the Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center. It was published earlier, with some differences in style, in Scott H. Faulring, Kent P. Jackson, and Robert J. Matthews, eds., Joseph Smith's New Translation of the Bible: Original Manuscripts (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2004), 153–228.
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Historical Introduction
As noted in the introduction to Old Testament Revision 1, in June 1830, JS and began recording a revelation related to Moses and other prominent Old Testament figures. (See Visions of Moses, June 1830 [Moses 1].) Eventually this work expanded into what is now designated as the Book of Moses and a complete revelatory re-reading, reviewing, and revising of the Bible, an endeavor that came to be known as JS’s “New Translation,” or Bible revision. By March 1831, JS and his scribes created a sixty-one-page manuscript containing a narrative account of the visions of Moses and a revised version of the Old Testament book of Genesis, from the beginning to chapter 24, verse 41. (See Old Testament Revision 1.)JS set that work aside when instructed in a March 1831 revelation to instead begin work on the New Testament. (Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:60–61].) He and began the new document on 8 March 1831, titling it “A Translation of the New Testament translated by the power of God.” It is currently designated as New Testament Revision 1 and consists of sixty-five pages, all of it in Rigdon’s hand.New Testament Revision 1, presented here, begins with Matthew 1:1 and continues through part of Matthew 26:71. It was copied almost immediately by , who had been directed by revelation to “write & keep a regulal [regular] history & assist my servant Joseph in Transcribing all things which shall be given him.” (Revelation, ca. 8 Mar. 1831–B [D&C 47:1].) Whitmer’s copy (New Testament Revision 2) became the working copy of the New Testament for the revision project, and JS’s subsequent corrections to the text were inscribed on it. Consequently, New Testament Revision 1 is largely free from later revisions and emendations. Although the exact date JS stopped work on New Testament Revision 1 is unknown, it was apparently prior to his and ’s journey to in June 1831. (JS History, vol. A-1, 126.) John Whitmer’s copying of the manuscript began in early April 1831 and continued until shortly after JS and Sidney Rigdon stopped working on New Testament Revision 1.An analysis of both New Testament manuscripts indicates that JS made changes to about 2,100 New Testament verses (Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 5). He introduced several significant changes to the King James New Testament text in New Testament Revision 1. Among other revisions, he revised and clarified material related to Matthew 24, John the Baptist’s role, and some aspects of the Sermon on the Mount and the Beautitudes. (See, Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 157.)Note: The transcript of New Testament Revision 1 presented here is used with generous permission of the Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center. It was published earlier, with some differences in style, in Scott H. Faulring, Kent P. Jackson, and Robert J. Matthews, eds., Joseph Smith's New Translation of the Bible: Original Manuscripts (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2004), 153–228.
elves kill the prophets like unto your fathers you Serpents a generation of Vipers how can you escape the damnation of hell Wherefore behold I send unto you prophets and wise men and scribes and of them you shall kill and crucify and of them you shall scourge in your Synagouges and persecute from City to City that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias whom you slew between the Temple and the Alter verily I say unto you all these things shall come upon this generation you bear testimoney against your fathers when you yourselves are partakers of the same wickedness behold your fathers done it through ignorence but you do not wherefore their sin shall be upon your heads then Jesus began to weep over Jerusalem saying o Jerusalem Jerusalem you who will kill the prophets and will stone them who are sent unto you how often would I have gethered your children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and you would not behold your house is left unto you dessolate for I say unto you, that you shall not see me henceforth and know that I am he of whom it is written by the prophets untill you shall say blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord in the clouds of heaven and all the holy Angles with him.
th) Then understood his disciples that he should come again on the earth after that he was gloryfied and crowned on the right hand of God and Jesus went out and departed from the Temple and his disciples came to him for to hear him saying master shew us concerning the buildings of the Temple as thou hast said they shall be thrown down and left unto you dessolate and Jesus said unto them see you not all these things and do ye not understand them verily I say unto you there shall not be left here upon this Temple one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down and Jesus left them and went up on the Mount of Olives and as he sat upon the Mount of Olives the disciples came unto him privately saying tell us when shall these things be which thou hast said concerning the distruction of the Temple and the Jews and what is the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world or the distruction of the wicked which is the end of the world and Jesus answered and said unto them take heed that no man deceive you for many shall come in [p. 56[a]]
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