The book of mormon agrees with the textus receptus not the original text and includes the later phrase by them of old time. A few thougths by hugh nibley on what the kjv of isaiah are doing in the book of mormon. Errors which are unique to the 1769 edition that joseph smith owned. A book of mistakes, error, and fraud by jon gary williams introduction the mormon church promotes the book of mormon as an inspired writing. The book of mormon has no claim to validity due to its lack of incorporation into the biblical cannon. Needless to say, he made all sorts of mistakes, except in places where the book of mormon plagiarized from the kjv. 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. But when we investigate these examples, we see that these translations were perfectly reasonable. Kjv isaiah, bom 2nd nephi, correct translation, kjv bom translation. Sources and notes on presence of 1769 king james version edition errors in the book of mormon a supposed ancient text.
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. That the book of mormon quotes from isaiah is not a problem, except that joseph smiths 1830 translation reads nearly verbatim to the 1611 king james translation. For example, there is the mention of the most precious steel in. However, after a fair and candid examination of the evidence, many thousands of honest mormons have discovered that this claim simply is not true. Contradictions between the book of mormon and the bible.
Are there errors from the 1769 king james version of the. Ces letter claims there are 1769 king james version edition errors in the book of mormon. Kjv translation errors as found in the book of mormon. Kjv in the book of mormon general discussions mormon. Textual and linguistics issues book of mormon research. While other books were attempted to be added, they were considered noncanonical due to the lack of eyewitnesses, the heavy gnostic heresy content, historical errors, etc. Ces letter provides zero examples or evidence to back up their false claim that kjv translation errors appear in the book of mormon. Plagiarism 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. In short, he read from the stone as he translated the texts. Errors represented across both 1611 and 1769 kjv a. What are 1769 king james version edition errors doing in the book of mormon.
Certainly the book of mormon should not have the same errors which displaced the original and crept into the text over the centuries, they conclude, quoting stan larson. Although few in number, the king james version does contain a number of undeniable incorrect translations. The book of mormon contains many linguistic similarities to the king james bible kjv. What resulted was a mormon version of the kjv, complete with some of the translation errors included in the old kjv and hundreds of minor and significant text changes. I dont think you can say that the book of mormon contains unique errors from the king james version bible. 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. Book of mormonplagiarism accusationsking james bible. 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. Apparently, smith used what he considered to be grammatical errors of the king james version as justification to leave in his own mistakes. Welch, a byu professor of law, admits that the best early manuscripts lack tois archaiois in matthew 5. Many of these errors, however, are found in the kjv bible. The extensive use of isaiah poses several problems. Joseph smith said that the book of mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to god by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book history of the church, vol. They present this as evidence that joseph smith wrote the book of mormon by plagiarizing the authorized king james version of the bible.
For example, there is the mention of the most precious steel in 1 nephi 4. This is a clear case of plagiarism, with no other purpose than adding volume to the book of mormon without too much effort. The kjv of the bible has been shown to have many mistranslations in it. Kjv isaiah in the book of mormon why the lds church is. The book of mormon and the king james bible wikipedia. Generally, we find that when the king james version commits a translation error, the book of mormon usually follows. If the book of mormon is an accurate translation, some claim that it shouldnt contain these translational errors. 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.
There is evidence that the biblical passages cited in the book of mormon were translated from hebrew, not copied from the king james bible. For none can have power to bring it to light save it be given him of god. At red door church weve been taking a look at the church of jesus christ of latterday saints lds. Debunking fairmormon letter to a ces director book of.
Since joseph smith claimed to have translated the book of mormon by divine means, the urim and thummim, it should be error free. What are 1769 king james versionedition errors doing in. 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. The fact is, the king james version is a good translation, and far better than the paraphrases which are so popular today e. That errors of grammar and faults in dictation do exist in the book of mormon and more especially and abundantly in the first edition must be conceded. As for factual errors, there are a number of anachronisms in the book of mormon. The book of mormon isaiah text matches with the kjv and bishops bibles, but not with the rest of the english translations.
Since that time, the lds church has continued to make revisions as well amounting according to one source as. Book of mormon central why do new testament words and phrases show up in the book of mormon. In addition to these chapters, many other phrases from matthew appear in the book of mormon text, as shown below. The king james version of the bible and the book of mormon. Kjv errors in the book of mormon book of mormon research. Not only is almas rendering different from the kjv, its also different from matthews version. In several cases, the book of mormon follows king james version translation errors. Since joseph smith used no paper notes, scripts or other texts, whatever he produced in the book of mormon came from god. The book of mormon contains several stories that, to say the least, are absurd, and which involve tales that strain common sense. The king james bible and the book of mormon religious.
However, one of those mistranslations that was corrected later on is found in a verse by nephi when he is referencing the brass plates record of isaiah. When mormon missionaries properly called latter day saints or simply lds come to your door, they will often offer a free copy of the book of mormon and tell you about its author, joseph smith. 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. What are 1769 king james versionedition errors doing in the book. Book of mormontranslation errors from the kjv fairmormon. The living bible, and the book, which is a new edition of the living bible, but it is not perfect. Brackets in the kjv are italicized to avoid confusion.
Along the way, weve noticed that joseph smith quotes directly from the king james bible kjv or paraphrases it in a handful of places in the book of mormon which was allegedly revealed to him by the angel moroni. Book of mormon doctrine and covenantspearl of great price. If the book of mormon is an accurate translation, why would it contain translational errors that exist in the king james bible. In contrast, the bible specifically declares that adams transgression was a sinful act of rebellion that unleashed the power of sin and death in the human. Fairmormon acknowledges the evidence of 1769 kjv errors and 17th century kjv italics in the book of mormon and the weakness of relying on the argument that the witnesses never reported that a bible or any other book was present during the translation, by conceding below that it is entirely possible that joseph had access to a bible. The king james version itself was considered a vile innovation by many when it first came out. His response was printed in the church news in 1961. 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. It is true that he made some changes, but new testament writers often did that as well, while relying on the lxx text.
The book of mormon and the king james bible red door church. Deuteroisaiah verses in the book of mormon overview of the deuteroisaiah problem in the book of mormon. The book of mormon contains passages from the king james bible summary. However, when confronted with the presence of 1769 kjv errors and 17th century italics in the book of mormon, many of the same apologists will revert to the loose translation by claiming that maybe joseph smith indeed used a 1769 kjv bible to borrow verses over into the book of mormon. The book of mormon and the king james version secular web. Textual errors in the book of mormon also found in the.
The best confirmation that the book of mormon used the kjv bible is the. For example, royal skousen has demonstrated that of the 516 variants between the book of mormon s isaiah texts and the kjvs isaiah texts, 150 approximately 29 percent of them are concerned with the italicized portions. Strikethrough denotes words that are included in the kjv but not the bom. Smith, they will say, translated the book of mormon from golden plates he dug up in a hill in new york in the early 1800s. The original 1830 edition, book of mormon had s of. The king james version is a version, not edition, of the bible.
What are 1769 kjv edition errors doing in book of mormon. That said, the bible verses embedded in the book of mormon do show a clear reliance on the 1769 king james version of the bible and not on the 1611 version. 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. Yet it contains many grammatical errors and required changes in subsequent editions. Many of those mistranslations have been corrected in later versions of the bible which reference the same hebrew and greek scripts that were originally translated off of. Critics of the book of mormon claim that major portions of it are copied, without attribution, from the bible.
In the book of mormon, slightly modified versions of chapters 5, 6, and 7 of matthew are included in the account of jesus appearance in chapters 12, and 14 of 3 nephi. 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. No, the book of mormon does not contain unique errors from the king james version bible. 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. The book of mormon teaches that the disobedience of adam and eve in eating the forbidden fruit was necessary so that they could have children and bring joy to mankind 2 nephi 2.