The article you linked to used to say that the king james bible 1769 contains unique translation errors which also occur in the book of mormon, implying that the book of. Some of the sharpest detractors of the book of mormon translation have confessed that as we stated earlier, most of the 3,9 changes which we found were related to the correction of grammatical and spelling errors and do not really change the basic meaning of the text. In the process, many translation and spelling errors from the king james version, which was only published in 1611, ended up in the book of mormon unless one supposes that it was important to god that the book of mormon contain the same translation errors as the king james bible, the evidence suggests that large parts of the book of mormon were. And the book of mormon just happens to omit this word. Although few in number, the king james version does contain a number of undeniable incorrect translations.
The book of mormon comprises fifteen main parts or divisions, known, with one exception, as books, usually designated by the name of their principal author. In response, apologists sometimes claim that the book of mormon does not transmit translation errors, mainly focusing on the highly subjective nature of translating. Mormon is allegedly a prophethistorian who was the native american believed by mormons to have written the book of mormon the main religious text of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints mormonism. Why is the book of mormon written in king james english. Jospeh smith made it up and copied large parts from other texts, including the kjv. Inaccuracies are pointed out, and some examples are given that show matching with 1611 king james usage as well as with other earlier usage. It is claimed that each sentence and word in the 1830 book of mormon had supposedly come directly from god. Joseph smith once said, the book of mormon is the most correct of any book on this earth, and the keystone of our religion, and. The book of mormon and the king james bible wikipedia.
The best confirmation that the book of mormon used the kjv bible is the. Isaiah variants in the book of mormon religious studies. The problem is that joseph smith copied the bible chapters into the book of mormon, including many translation errors and italicized words in the process. Top 10 embarrassments of the mormon religion listverse. While joseph smith described the book of mormon as a translation of text written on golden plates, smith had not. Book of mormontransmission from translator to printed.
Id say this was highly improbable, and creates additional problems see the note below. The book of mormon is divided into smaller books, titled after the individuals named as primary authors and, in most versions, divided into chapters and verses. We can validate this claim directly by asking expert biblical. A very strange text translating the book of mormon. The english bible lied to you interfaith now medium. The book of mormon is published in 112 languages, and many of them are available in multiple formats online in march 1830, 5,000 copies of the book of mormon were printed in the e. Kjv translation errors our understanding of the hebrew language today is much more advanced than it was in the 1600s when king james authorized an english translation of the bible. Kjv isaiah in the book of mormon why the lds church is. I dont think you can say that the book of mormon contains unique errors from the king james version bible. It is written in english very similar to the early modern english linguistic style of the king james version of the bible, and has since been fully or partially translated into 111.
The only explanation is that the book of mormon is not an ancient text, but rather came into being after the kjv i. Tvedtness analysis and evidence was highly ambiguous, substantially incomplete, strained, or simply in error. In short, he read from the stone as he translated the texts. It is either of divine or human origin, and if it is of human origin that means that joseph smith concocted the book. However, the book of mormon is not written in elizabethan english, except for the copies of the twenty chapters of isaiah that are found in the book. Twentyseven chapters in the kjv of the bible are repeated almost verbatim in the 239 chapters of the book of mormon. Are there errors from the 1769 king james version of the bible. Somehow the divine process guiding josephs translation of the book of mormon didnt prevent him from making identical translation errors. Ces letter no translation errors i dont think you can say that the book of mormon contains unique errors from the king james version bible.
What are 1769 kjv edition errors doing in book of mormon. Some 58 are paraphrased and 11 others are variants and or paraphrases. Why do italic translator words from the kjv bible appear. Do jehovahs witnesses have a book equivalent to the book. Kjv isaiah, bom 2nd nephi, correct translation, kjv bom translation. There are two possible explanations for the origin of the book of mormon. If the book of mormon is an accurate translation, why would it contain translational errors that exist in the king james bible. Fairmormons response to presence of 1769 kjv errors in book of mormon in terms of attempting to pinpoint the origin of the book of mormon, even more significant than book of mormon revisions are places where it follows the kjv into error, echoing mistranslations or including translations of late and derivative greek texts. For the first 150 years of mormonisms existence, everyone thought it was a story about a people who left the middle east and came to south or central america, and who fought wars clear up into new. What is more, the bom quotes sections of the kjv which scholars now know to contain errors.
Volumes have been written on its distinctive and rhythmic style, and it is still regarded as a triumph of modern english literature. For example, no, the book of mormon does not contain unique errors from the king james version bible. Jeremy runnells, a formerly committed mormon and byu grad, in his now famous letter to a ces director, asks at the very beginning of his paper. It is to the variants that we will give our attention here. Why would these errors exist in the book of mormon. Sometimes the quotation is explicit, as in the second book of nephi, which contains 18 quoted chapters of the book of isaiah. Large portions of the book of mormon are very similar to the king james version of the bible, which of course was about the only english bible available to joseph smith in the 1820s. Royal skousen is a professor of linguistics at brigham young university and has spent years studying the text of the book of mormon to look for variants and textual patterns. The book of mormon has the structure of a translation from the hebrew language. The king james version of the bible is, in all likelihood, the most successful of all the english translations.
Joseph smith said that the book of mormon translation was performed by the gift and power of god the lost 116 pages of the book of mormon manuscript. In this part 5 of volume 3 of the critical text, we identify one more use of early modern english in fact, a very specific one in the original text of the book of mormon, namely, quotations from the king james bible. Fairmormons response to presence of 1769 kjv errors in book of mormon. The original 1830 edition, book of mormon had s of. The book of mormon incorporates text which seems to be taken from the king james version, including passages which are now considered to be mistranslations in the king james version. It is also true that the king james version contains some textual errors. The book of mormon does not include the italicized word her, which is further proof that the book of mormon does not copy italicized portions word for word.
The first portion the first six books, ending with omni is a translation from the small plates of nephi. The king james quotations in the book of mormon kjq, 2019 royal skousen, with the collaboration of stanford carmack. If the book of mormon was translated by the power of god, it is reasonable to. It has entire chapters seemingly copied from the king james old testament, with frequent modifications around words printed in italics. In the book of mormon, there are many chapters of isaiah directly incorporated from the king james version kjv of the bible, complete with translation errors that were obviously not possible to have been recorded on the gold plates since the. Debunking fairmormon letter to a ces director book of.
Since the book of mormon is a translation, with all its faults, into english for englishspeaking people whose fathers for generations had known no other scriptures but the standard english bible, it would be both pointless and confusing to present the scriptures to them in any other form, so far as their teachings were correct. Yet an interesting thing has happened in the two years since i first responded to you letter. The book of mormon claims to be an ancient document, yet it contains scores of phrases, and even paragraphs, that appear to have been taken directly from the king james new testament. Kjv does not take the word for rock and accidentally translate. Book of mormontranslation errors from the kjv fairmormon. The book of mormon claims to be an english translation from a text on gold plates. Does the book of mormon preserve king james version translation errors. Between the books of omni and mosiah is an insert called the words of mormon. The book of mormon uses the king james bible in many areas, most notably the isaiah chapters but in many other chapters spread across the book of mormon as well. Mormonism is a religion less than two centuries old, but in this short time it has managed to accrue a long list of embarrassments which the church leaders would. There are also many king james bible translational errors contained within the book of mormon, specifically the 1769 version the joseph smith. Joseph, or someone else involved in the translation, heard or remembered or read the phrase. Today, we can have a translation from a copy of the original texts into whatever language we want. The book of mormon came into the world through a series of miraculous events.
Of the 478 verses in the book of mormon quoted from the book of isaiah, 201 agree with the king james reading while 207 show variations. One author makes the point that certain portions of the greek manuscripts of matthew 57 do not agree with the kjv of the text, and concludes that the book of mormon version of the sermon should not contain text similar to the kjv. Eighth, joseph smiths new translation of the bible used the 1830 edition of the book of mormon as a source for changing some of the corresponding biblical text in isaiah. Welchs excellent article entitled the miraculous translation of the book of mormon, from opening the heavens, accounts of divine manifestations 18201844. It seems reasonable to assume that if smith was a prophet of god and was translating the book of mormon under divine inspiration, he would have known about the errors found in the king james version, and would have corrected them for when passages from the king james version appeared in the book of mormon. All of the italic words that the book of mormon does include are universally reasonable additions for any english translation. Errors which are unique to the 1769 edition that joseph smith owned. Not only is almas rendering different from the kjv, its also different from matth. That the book of mormon replaces the corresponding matthean passage is shown by the fact that the verses immediately before and after this section in the book of mormon correspond to the verses in the kjv before and after matthew 5.
The book of mormon is the sacred text for the church of jesus christ of latter day saints. Clearly the book of mormon revises this passage, but it retains that part of the kjv which has been questioned by modern scholarship. Since joseph smith used no paper notes, scripts or other texts, whatever he produced in the book of mormon came from god. There are many hebrew literary forms found in the book of mormon. Below is the modern map of the area of smiths youth. From that humble beginning, today the church prints over 3 million copies a year on large web presses. On average one of every nine chapters in the book of mormon is copied from the bible. By its own terms, the book of mormon is a translation of an ancient book. Comments made by philip barlow on book of mormon language for an oxfordpublished book are examined. The book of mormon contains a version of the sermon on the mount, which some authors have claimed to be the achilles heel of the book of mormon.
This lecture will particularly explore the king james quotations in the book of mormon, as well as spelling in the book of mormon manuscripts and printed editions. The book of mormon is supposed to be a history of real people living in a real place. The book of mormon and the king james version secular web. In responding to the ces letters book of mormon section, fairmormon makes a few critical concessions, including that errors unique to the 1769 version of the king james version bible are included in the current version of the book of mormon. If the book of mormon is an accurate translation, some claim that it shouldnt contain these translational errors. Lecture on the history of the text of the book of mormon. Kjv translation errors as found in the book of mormon. There is evidence that the biblical passages cited in the book of mormon were translated from hebrew, not copied from the king james bible. Book of mormon difficulties, contradictions and explanations. Do jehovahs witnesses have a book equivalent to the book of mormon. What are 1769 king james version edition errors doing in the book of mormon.
I repeat, then, that the translation of the book of mormon by means of the interpreters and seer stone, was not merely a mechanical process, but required the utmost concentration of mental and spiritual force possessed by the prophet, in order to exercise the gift of translation through the means of the sacred instruments provided. Rather than ascribe these errors to deity, either through direct or indirect means, men will reject the claims of the book of mormon. The book of mormon and the king james bible red door church. Two translation errors unique to the king james bible were the plurals. Are there errors from the 1769 king james version of the.
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