The Third Testament of Joseph Smith Jr.

By Conrad Maxwell

I have a firm testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., and this is due to reading the Book of Mormon and receiving answers to prayers that the Book of Mormon is an inspired volume of holy scripture. In addition, the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price, through study, prayer, and applying the teachings in my life, have borne witness to my soul and mind of the divinity of Joseph Smith, Jr., as a true prophet of God.

 

In this book I will cover the additional revelations contained in "Joseph Smith's New Translation of the Bible" (1970, Herald Publishing House). Sections of this translation were added to the LDS scriptures in 2013 (called "Selections From the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible," or JST). The JST is another testament of the divinity of the calling of prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. The entire JST can be purchased at bookstores and is a powerful testament of modern revelation to a living prophet in our time.

 

The 1st testament of Joseph Smith, Jr., is the Book of Mormon. This book was translated from golden plates provided by an angel of God. It validates Joseph's story, that he saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ and Angels from God. The golden plates were shown and handled by eight witnesses, and three additional witnesses saw the plates, shown to them by an angel of God. His account confirms that the heavens are open to man, as in times of the olden-day prophets.

 

The 2nd testament of Joseph Smith, Jr., is the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. These volumes of revelations, translated scripture, and inspired declarations were received by modern-day prophets. Many of the sections had more than one witness, detailed in their introductions, and were accepted as scripture by consent of the entire church. The Pearl of Great Price contains a portion the Old Testament and Matthew, Chapter 24, that are part of the JST.

 

The 3rd testament of Joseph Smith, Jr., is the JST itself, which he began in 1830 and finished in 1833. This volume is more like some of the sections of the Doctrine and Covenants and is not a translation, but direct revelation from God to Joseph Smith, Jr. The theme of this volume is more than obedience to a commandment from God, but to expose changes made to the King James Bible (KJV; the most common Bible used). These changes made in the Bible caused stumbling blocks and obscured the true doctrines from mankind. These stumbling blocks are like an ideological plague to our modern Christian society and can cause misdirection for many people.

 

My goal is to highlight some key doctrines that show how Joseph Smith, Jr., was able to restore many truths once found in the original Bible. I hope you will feel as I do, that this makes the JST the 3rd testament of the divinity of the calling of Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Conrad Maxwell
• Release date: Dec 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215426319

Book preview

Preface

I have a firm testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., and this is due to reading the Book of Mormon and receiving answers to prayers that the Book of Mormon is an inspired volume of holy scripture. In addition, the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price, through study, prayer, and applying the teachings in my life, have borne witness to my soul and mind of the divinity of Joseph Smith, Jr., as a true prophet of God.

In this book I will cover the additional revelations contained in "Joseph Smith's New Translation of the Bible (1970, Herald Publishing House). Sections of this translation were added to the LDS scriptures in 2013 (called Selections From the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible," or JST). The JST is another testament of the divinity of the calling of prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. The entire JST can be purchased at bookstores and is a powerful testament of modern revelation to a living prophet in our time.

The 1st testament of Joseph Smith, Jr., is the Book of Mormon. This book was translated from golden plates provided by an angel of God. It validates Joseph’s story, that he saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ and Angels from God. The golden plates were shown and handled by eight witnesses, and three additional witnesses saw the plates, shown to them by an angel of God. His account confirms that the heavens are open to man, as in times of the olden-day prophets.

The 2nd testament of Joseph Smith, Jr., is the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. These volumes of revelations, translated scripture, and inspired declarations were received by modern-day prophets. Many of the sections had more than one witness, detailed in their introductions, and were accepted as scripture by consent of the entire church. The Pearl of Great Price contains a portion the Old Testament and Matthew, Chapter 24, that are part of the JST.

The 3rd testament of Joseph Smith, Jr., is the JST itself, which he began in 1830 and finished in 1833. This volume is more like some of the sections of the Doctrine and Covenants and is not a translation, but direct revelation from God to Joseph Smith, Jr. The theme of this volume is more than obedience to a commandment from God, but to expose changes made to the King James Bible (KJV; the most common Bible used). These changes made in the Bible caused stumbling blocks and obscured the true doctrines from mankind. These stumbling blocks are like an ideological plague to our modern Christian society and can cause misdirection for many people.

My goal is to highlight some key doctrines that show how Joseph Smith, Jr., was able to restore many truths once found in the original Bible. I hope you will feel as I do, that this makes the JST the 3rd testament of the divinity of the calling of Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr.

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Acknowledgements

I'd like to thank my daughter, Kera Washburn, for helping in the editing of the initial drafts of the book. I'd also like to thank my son, Cliff C. Maxwell, for his feedback about the initial drafts of the book.

Introduction

Why did Joseph make corrections to the KJV?

So why did Joseph Smith, Jr., compile a translation of the Bible? He was commanded to after translating the Book of Mormon in order to remove the errors or stumbling blocks contained in the KJV. He did not use a group of scholars like King James—it was dictated to a scribe after Joseph received direct revelation from God.

In March of 1831, Joseph was receiving a revelation about the second coming of Christ (see D&C 45: 38-59). In verse 60, the Lord reveals to Joseph that He will tell him no more until he finishes the translation of the Bible. The Lord ends with these words: "... that ye may be prepared for the things to come" (D&C 45:60-61). These verses show that Lord wants each of us to know the revealed truths about the second coming of his Son and be aware of the stumbling blocks in the KJV, thus providing the correct doctrine and signs in preparation for the second coming.

Again in 1832 and 1833, God urged or commanded Joseph to finish this Bible translation work (D&C 73:3-4). The Lord told Joseph in March of 1833 that he could not preside over the Church and the School until after he finished the translation of the Bible (D&C 90:13). Clearly, it was a very high priority for the Lord. In section 91, he told him not to translate the Apocrypha, saying; "... it is mostly translated correctly; ... many things contained therein that are not true" (D&C 91:1-3).

In May of 1833, the Lord asked Joseph to speed up the effort (D&C 93:53). Then in August of 1833, in section 94, He told him to print the translation in a specific lot in Kirtland, Ohio (D&C 94:10). Finally, in January, 1841, in section 124, he told Joseph in Nauvoo to have the work published "unto the inhabitants of the earth." (D&C 124:89).

But where does the phrase stumbling blocks come from? Merriam-Webster defines a stumbling block as an obstacle to progress or an impediment to belief or understanding; perplexity. Nephi, a prophet in the Book of Mormon, prophesied of the stumbling blocks. In 1 Nephi 13:28, it reads: "... there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book [Bible]..." and 1 Nephi 13:34 reads "... the Gentiles do stumble exceedingly, because of the most plain and precious parts of the gospel of the Lamb which have been kept back ..." So, we can see from what Nephi said, that the stumbling blocks will be precious doctrines which will cause many to be misled by their removal or be an impediment to righteous progress.

A statement of belief from Joseph Smith, Article of Faith 8: "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God." I would add that we believe  the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price to be the word of God. These three volumes, along with the JST, witness of Joseph's divine calling as a true prophet of God.

In 1985 at a BYU symposium, Robert J. Matthews said: We now have a second chance to use the Joseph Smith Translation (JST). The JST was offered to the Saints during the days of Joseph Smith. They did not reject it, but they did neglect it. After Joseph Smith died, the Church lost the manuscript, and for over a hundred years we didn’t have access to it. Now we do; that’s why it was available to be included in the new edition of the Bible. We should be careful not to neglect it again. It was while teaching the OT and the NT in gospel doctrine class that I found the JST and began my study of it and incorporated it into my lessons to add further insights and knowledge of the true doctrines.

The Bible dictionary states that Joseph "was divinely commissioned to make the translation and regarded it as 'a branch of his calling' as a prophet...he continued to make modifications while preparing a manuscript for the press until his death in 1844, and it is possible that some additional modifications would have been made had he lived to publish the entire work..."

Therefore, the goal of this book is to identify the key stumbling blocks that are found in the KJV, then show the corrected doctrine or information using the JST, and finally give examples of the effect of these concepts on modern society and how these concepts can be correctly applied. By doing so, the corrected revelations will testify of the divine calling of Joseph Smith, Jr, using primarily the JST. I will also use modern revelations which were also revealed to Joseph Smith and modern prophets to bring to light the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ our Savior, in reference to the things removed from the KJV.

Now let's briefly look at the background of the creation of the King James Bible (KJV) to provide a frame of reference about its origins in England.

The King James Version of the Bible (KJV)

The KJV was translated from the original tongues by command of His Majesty King James I of England, to the English tongue, for the Church of England in 1611. It was the third translation into English; Henry the VIII and Queen Elizabeth had translated it before King James. King James convened the Hampton Court to address some issues with the previous translations, as found by the Puritans. It was translated from Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin. James I told the 47 scholars to make sure it supported the views of the Church of England.  It became the most used version of the Bible for the English-speaking world. 

Chapter 1 – The Creation Story part 1

The basic structure going forward: I will start with a quote from KJV-Bible, then highlight the missing or modified content. Once the current situation is explained, the corrected verse(s) from JST -Bible will be shown. and then several modern examples will be listed to show how this concept has affected mankind. I will end each section with a summary of the stumbling blocks.

The King James Version - Bible (KJV)

Here is a verse at the very beginning of the Old Testament.

KJV Genesis 2:2 "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and Genesis 1:1 ... God created the heaven and the earth."  - error in translation

KJV Overview: It should be noted—the story of the creation is the oldest story in the Bible, with the most chance for translation error from the passage of time. The physical things which the earth went through, which fossils and sediment layers provide evidence of, make it clear by the laws of nature that it took more than 7 days (24 hours each) to make the earth. The use of the word create makes the KJV readers think the earth was made out of nothing, sort of like a form of magic. Many readers of the Bible in our day reject the Bible as factually based due to the creation story.

It’s clear from this very old and simplified narrative of the creation that information or detail is missing, and it seems to contradict the earth's