It is a book of eminent importance to Latter-day Saints. Review of Producing Ancient Scripture: Joseph Smith’s Translation Projects in the Development of Mormon Christianity, edited by Michael Hubbard MacKay, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Brian M. Hauglid (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2020). It is the first time all of the changes Joseph Smith made have ever been in print. Joseph Smith shows us that they are ordained high priests chosen from among every nation to carry forth the gospel and bring as many as will come to the true Church (see D&C 77:11). This second volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers presents Joseph Smith’s revelations in the format that early Latter-day Saints most often experienced them. In sum, volume 4 of The Joseph Smith Papers, Revelations and Translation series, Book of Abraham and Related Transcripts, is an extraordinary scholarly accomplishment. [16] Merrill C. Tenney, Interpreting Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1957), 75. 2. Under the sounding of the fifth trumpet, John saw a “star fall from heaven” and open the “bottomless pit” (Revelation 9:1–2). [32] Smith, History of the Church, 6:196. 2–14). In times of intense persecution and martyrdom, this would have served as a great encouragement to the faithful to stay true to their commitments. We do have decent evidence that he was translating this way from papyrus, but at the same time, some evidence points to his receiving revelation in a manner more similar to the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible, meaning he may have been looking at the papyrus and receiving revelation regarding something that was not at all present on that document. . Scorpions may signify archers; and hence the description has been applied to Cestius Gallus, the Roman general who had many archers in his army. The Prophet gave us access to the mysteries of Revelation through four major means: 4. 299: Haley Lemmon – The Joseph Smith Translation – Revelation or Plagiarism Haley Wilson Lemmon sits down with us today to discuss the Joseph Smith translation of the Bible . This seems puzzling at first, but again the information revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith helps us with the interpretation. 3. Another is found in Moses 4:1–4 and Doctrine and Covenants 76:25–30, which give more information about the war in heaven, which John barely mentions (see Revelation 12:7). Most scholars agree that it is one of the most difficult books in either the Old or new Testaments. The seven seals represent the seven thousand-year periods which the earth will have during its temporal existence. This second volume of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers presents Joseph Smith’s revelations in the format that early Latter-day Saints most often experienced them. For example, the Gospel of Matthew is not generally considered to be a mysterious or difficult book. The Revelation is of John. Gerald N. Lund, “Insights from the JST into the Book of Revelation,” in The Joseph Smith Translation: The Restoration of Plain and Precious Truths, ed. 4. The committee that worked on the LDS edition of the King James Version included changes for only forty-seven of the ninety verses, or just slightly better than half of the total changes. In fact, it becomes a key to our understanding of this whole section on the kingdoms of the world and of Christ. But the Prophet changed or explained all references to the seven Spirits and the seven angels to show that the seven Spirits and the seven angels both refer to the leaders of the seven churches (see JST for all of the above verses). [Page 257] Abstract: Producing Ancient Scripture is a collection of sixteen … The imagery of Nephi’s vision shows that the iron rod is a symbol of the word of God (see 1 Nephi 15:23–24) which helps somewhat, but in the JST, the Prophet dropped the imagery of smashed pottery and turned it instead into the idea of potter shaping and molding vessels. TABLE 1: Some Significant Additions in the Joseph Smith Translation (see also Book of Moses and Joseph Smith—Matthew in Pearl of Great Price). [24] Smith, History of the Church, 1:253. Monte S. Nyman and Robert L. Millet (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1985), 251–70. It doesn’t take a lot of study of the book of Revelation to come to the conclusion that the imagery of chapter 5 is pivotal to the whole structure of the book. In a conference of the Church on April 8, 1843, the Prophet Joseph Smith said, “The book of Revelation is one of the plainest books God ever caused to be written.” 4 This statement may have shocked his listeners because it so thoroughly contradicted their own experience. Therefore, rejoice O heavens, and ye that dwell in them. 4.On this, see Book of Mormon Central, “Was Joseph Smith the ‘Author’ of the Book of Mormon?” Most of the book—and it is no problem to count the verses so included—is clear and plain and should be understood by the Lord’s people. Hebrew masculine plurals generally end in -im. . Because the Lord revealed to Joseph certain truths that the original authors had once recorded, the Joseph Smith Translation is unlike any other Bible translation in the world. Note the changed sequence of verses in the JST. There is no book, they say, that is more veiled or unrevealing than this one. Though initially the volume was probably intended to be a record book for preserving revelation texts, it was later used as a copy text from which the revelations were published. Space allows discussion of only the most significant of the contributions from all four areas. Knowing that the Millennium is the major event of the seventh seal, we might expect John to dwell at great length on that. John Whitmer, who was close to those involved, stated that “Joseph the Seer saw these Record[s] and by the revelation of Jesus Christ could translate these records.” Joseph Smith himself, however, was silent on the subject. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1951), 478. The first five (6:1–11) are covered briefly, merely highlighting the thing of greatest import to the covenant people that happened in that time frame. Joseph Smith, aided by the Holy Spirit, made dozens of changes to the Book of Revelation. However, he could use the term differently, such as with the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. Joseph Smith, Revelation. 17 Therefore, the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Provo, UT 84602
And though not part of the actual text, section 77 certainly ranks as one of the most important, if not the most important, contributions of the Prophet in aiding our interpretation of the book of Revelation. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954–56), 1:229. Grant Building
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