That the book of mormon quotes from isaiah is not a problem, except that joseph smiths 1830 translation reads nearly verbatim to. David whitmer, one of the three witnesses to the book of mormon, made this statement. In several cases, the book of mormon follows king james version translation errors. Strikethrough denotes words that are included in the kjv but not the bom. Book of mormonanachronismstranslation errors from the. Ces letter provides zero examples or evidence to back up their false claim that kjv translation errors appear in the book of mormon. Book of mormon difficulties, contradictions and explanations. But why would the lord use faulty texts in the book of mormon if it was the most correct. The book of mormon and the king james version secular web. Needless to say, he made all sorts of mistakes, except in places where the book of mormon plagiarized from the kjv.
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 true that he made some changes, but new testament writers often did that as well, while relying on the lxx text. Joseph smiths other writings, such as his history and diary, reflect the modern english era of his day. Yet the book of mormon is not a slavish copy of the kjvthere are numerous words deleted, revised, or added to the text. Brackets in the kjv are italicized to avoid confusion.
Furthermore, the book of mormon is full of scripture, and for the world of joseph smiths day, the king james version was the scripture, as we have noted. These take the form of such things as double negatives, incorrect adverbs and adjectives, and incorrect tenses. Jospeh smith made it up and copied large parts from other texts, including the kjv. The book of mormons dependence on the kjv an exhausting. 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. Many adherents to the theory of an inerrant translation of scripture, namely those referred to as kjvonlyists, are thoroughly convinced that yahuwah has preserved his sacred written word in the english language through the translation of the king james version, which is also called the authorized version. The naming of this version is another interesting story that i will not go into here. The king james version of the bible is, in all likelihood, the most successful of all the english translations. Isaiah variants in the book of mormon religious studies.
And the book of mormon just happens to omit this word. The book of mormon, translation, errors, and even the. 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. Lds scholar hugh nibley wrote the following in response to a letter sent to the editor of the church news section of the deseret news. I dont think you can say that the book of mormon contains unique errors from the king james version bible. We can validate this claim directly by asking expert biblical. The book of mormon contains many linguistic similarities to the king james bible kjv. If the book of mormon is an accurate translation, some claim that it shouldnt contain. For many years the mormons taught that the lord had given joseph smith a perfect translation of the book of mormon, and that all of the errors were errors which were made by the nephites on the original plates.
Smith copied the kjv blindly, not showing awareness of translation problems and errors in the kjv. You are comparing apples and turnips grammatical errors can occur within any booki am stating the bom contains errors that belong to the kjv yet you claim js did not have it to copy fromyou are then saying that god dictated to js speaking the same errors that belong to the kjv. Debunking fairmormon letter to a ces director book of. Textual errors in the book of mormon also found in the. The book of mormon narrative says that the jews who left jerusalem for the new world had with them the scriptures written up until that point 600 b. For example, there is the mention of the most precious steel in. Similarly, when joseph smith dealt with the bible quotes in the book of mormon, he relied on the most widelyused english translation of the day, the kjv, even when it contained errors. 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. Rather than translate from an ancient document, smith seems to have quoted from matthew 57 of the kjv and to have made. Not only is almas rendering different from the kjv, its also different from matth. Kjv isaiah, bom 2nd nephi, correct translation, kjv bom translation.
That the book of mormon is filled with direct lengthy quotes from the very 1769 king james edition of the bible owned by the smith family, including its translation errors unique to that specific edition of the bible, leaves little doubt that joseph not only had access to a bible while dictating the book of mormon but borrowed heavily from. Use of the term new testament instead of new covenant reduces gods relationship with the church to a book or a legal document, whereas gods covenant with israel was a binding relationship based on love, in fact, a marriage covenant. Kjv isaiah in the book of mormon why the lds church is. If the book of mormon is an accurate translation, some claim that it shouldnt contain these translational errors. There is evidence that the biblical passages cited in the book of mormon were translated from hebrew, not copied from the king james bible. The king james version is a version, not edition, of the bible. The web page you linked to is clearly about the book of mormon and not the kjv. In some passages, the book of mormon and kjv agree against modern translations. So one of the talking points in the ces letter, which i have seen quoted in this sub as well, is that there are 1769 kjv bible edition errors unique to only that edition present in the book of mormon. In response, apologists sometimes claim that the book of mormon does not transmit translation errors, mainly focusing on the highly subjective nature of translating.
Errors represented across both 1611 and 1769 kjv a. Fifth, the majority of differences between the book of mormon text and the isaiah text are not associated with italicized words in the king james version. When you ride that translation pony, you import the errors it carries. 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. Below is a partial listing of king james version kjv bible translation errors. What are the errors in the king james version bible. The king james version itself was considered a vile innovation by many when it first came out. Many of these errors, however, are found in the kjv bible. Jims first response on page 16 of his very long pdf was to jeremys question about kjv quotes and errors 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. The living bible, and the book, which is a new edition of the living bible, but it is not perfect. Are there errors from the 1769 king james version of the bible. 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 only explanation is that the book of mormon is not an ancient text, but rather came into being after the kjv i. Since joseph smith used no paper notes, scripts or other texts, whatever he produced in the book of mormon came from god. If the book of mormon was translated by the power of god, it is reasonable to. The original 1830 edition, book of mormon had s of. Well, what about any imperfections or difficulties in the afrikaans translation of the bible. Yet the book of mormon is not a slavish copy of the. In short, he read from the stone as he translated the texts. The jst is not considered perfect, just as the kjv and the book of mormon are not considered perfect.
Does the book of mormon preserve king james version translation errors. Of the 8 verses from the book of mormon that contain possible or likely kjv translation errors all of these errors seem to be preserved in the 1611 king james version in general, the book of mormon appears to rely exclusively on the 1769 king james translation compared with the 1611 king james version or other derivatives in other instances where the two texts diverge. While joseph smith described the book of mormon as a translation of text written on golden plates, smith had not. For example, no, the book of mormon does not contain unique errors from the king james version bible. Are there errors from the 1769 king james version of the. Although few in number, the king james version does contain a number of undeniable incorrect translations.
Why would these errors exist in the book of mormon. Michael hickenbotham, answering challenging mormon questions. 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. These book of mormon verses should match the inspired jst version instead of the incorrect kjv version that joseph later fixed. I wont repeat all of them here, but ill copy one because i think its instructive of how the kjv is the obvious source. Kjv errors in the book of mormon book of mormon research. 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 kjv was not available until thousands of years later. Tvedtness analysis and evidence was highly ambiguous, substantially incomplete, strained, or simply in error. The book of mormon and the king james bible wikipedia. Two translation errors unique to the king james bible were the plurals. Do jehovahs witnesses have a book equivalent to the book. What are 1769 kjv edition errors doing in book of mormon.
Do jehovahs witnesses have a book equivalent to 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. This is a clear case of plagiarism, with no other purpose than adding volume to the book of. The verses in question are given first and then what is. Below is the modern map of the area of smiths youth.
The book of mormon is supposed to be a history of real people living in a real place. The fact is, the king james version is a good translation, and far better than the paraphrases which are so popular today e. It is also true that the king james version contains some textual errors. Ricks, the translation and publication of the book of mormon, provo, utah. The book of mormon is the sacred text for the church of jesus christ of latter day saints. Some 58 are paraphrased and 11 others are variants and or paraphrases. His response was printed in the church news in 1961.
Kjv in the book of mormon general discussions mormon. Volumes have been written on its distinctive and rhythmic style, and it is still regarded as a triumph of modern english literature. The king james version of the bible and the book of mormon. The book of mormon includes what appears to be mistranslated biblical passages that were later changed in joseph smiths translation of the bible. 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 york state where. A lot of people make a big deal about their being nearly 5,000 textual changes to the book of mormon since its first publication. Two chapters of the prophet malachi are quoted by jesus in iii nephi 24 and following. Why do italic translator words from the kjv bible appear. In others, the book of mormon and kjv agree against the jst. The joseph smith translation of the kjv has, as far as i know, not been changed since joseph smith stopped working on it. Book of mormontranslation errors from the kjv fairmormon. 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. As for factual errors, there are a number of anachronisms in the book of mormon.
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