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. Generally, we find that when the king james version commits a translation error, the book of mormon usually follows. Another major problem for the book of mormon is archeology, a major embarrassment for the mormon church. Not only are there more than a thousand years of history in the book of mormon involving some two hundred named individuals and nearly a hundred distinct places, but the narrative itself is presented as the work of. Walter martins religious infonet kingdom of the cults. The book of mormon is a sacred text of the latter day saint movement, which, according to adherents, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the american continent from approximately 2200 bc to ad 421.
God gave joseph smith 1769 king james edition errors. In reality, the original text and current text of the book of mormon is a mixture of nineteenthcentury nonsense, plagiarism, and selected existing kjv scripture verses including its 1769 kjv edition errors as well as 17th century italics made by 17th century translators. With so many english translations of the bible that are easy to read, why does the. What nephis vision teaches about the bible and the book. Joseph smiths other writings, such as his history and diary, reflect the modern english era of his day. But if the book of mormon was first written between 600 b. The verses in question are given first and then what is. The king james version of the bible is, in all likelihood, the most successful of all the english translations.
The book of mormon is a creative translation that involves considerable intervention by the translator or shall we say translators, since were in a speculative mood. A kings sacred name reveals an easter egg in the book of. Making it a separate book so that recommendations are better or cleanup is easier seems to be putting the excuse the pun bibliograhic cart before the colophon of the horse. There is no verse that tells me how god will preserve his word, so. Kjv does not take the word for rock and accidentally translate. We have documented kjv translation errors and have marked them in our bible. Sometimes the quotation is explicit, as in the second book of nephi, which contains 18 quoted chapters of the book of isaiah other significant connections between the two books include book of mormon words and phrases that only appear in. When the church was organized in 1830, the king james version kjv, also. All of the mormons i have spoken with accept the king james version of the bible as true scripture. Book of mormon difficulties, contradictions and explanations.
We use the king james version as our main study bible. Mormons believe joseph smiths english translation of the book of mormon from the nephi plates was done under inspiration. Proof the book of mormon isnt true the book of mormon contradicts the bible and was actually a work of fiction written by joseph smith in the 1800s, who copied much of it from the king james version, trying to make it look like an ancient manuscript. Translation errors in the king james bible appearing in the book of mormon. Is the king james bible the only legitimate version. Second, this makes clear that the only way a translation of the book of mormon could have happened is with a tight translation. Its considered to be a good translation, although its english is archaic. All this statement does is transfer the problem to why god chose to have joseph smith translate the book of mormon into king james version biblical language see that topic below. The errors in the king james bible kindle edition by.
In some cases, entire passages are duplicated in the book of mormon. What are 1769 kjv edition errors doing in book of mormon. First, i want to affirm with all evangelical christians that the bible is the word of god, inerrant, inspired, and our final authority for faith and life. Critics wonder why many of the quotes from isaiah in the book of mormon are identical to the king james version. So there you have an easter egg a chiasm thats complete only if theres a play on words.
Errors which are unique to the 1769 edition that joseph smith owned. According to one recent scholarly summary, here is what joseph effectively produced in those 65 working days of translation. It seems reasonable to assume that since 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. These king james onlyist people can and usually do get arrogant, violently agitated, and very rude with anyone who opposes their theory on any grounds, but especially on the grounds that the errors of translation that are there are quite obvious to anyone with an honest and discerning eye. One benefit from the duplication of isaiah is the correction of some errors in our english translation, the king james version. Holy bible should the lds edition of the king james. Because all the major bible aides are based on the kjv. A question of book of mormon scholarship is whether the several chapters or passages of isaiah cited or paraphrased in the book derive from an ancient text or whether they have been copied with some revision from the king james version. Does the book of mormon preserve king james version translation errors. The king james version contains certain translation and textual errors which will facilitate a global transition from the true gospel of jesus christ to the false gospel of the antichrist.
Latterday saints use the king james bible along with other scripture to learn the. 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 also true that the king james version contains some textual errors. The book of mormon and the bible mormons in transition. Why is the book of mormon written in king james english. It is to the variants that we will give our attention here. For that reason, many people consider the language of the king james bible to be biblical, but its really just the english of the 1500s. Yet because the book of mormon was originally written in king james language, we are confronted with the fact that the kjv, regardless of what bible translation. The errors in the king james bible ruckman, peter s on. Two chapters of the prophet malachi are quoted by jesus in iii nephi 24 and following. The text of the lds editions of the king james bible isare exactly the same.
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. Why i do not think the king james bible is the best. King james translation errors in the book of mormon. The book of mormon and the king james bible wikipedia. The isaiah text in the book of mormon is an inspired rendering of text taken originally from the brass plates of laban and which consequently predates our current isaiah texts by several centuries. What are 1769 king james version edition errors doing in the book of mormon. 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. This addendum hopes to present information which will enable the reader to understand what the gnostic doctrine teaches and which mistranslations in the kjv support these errors. The language of the original text of the book of mormon. Anachronisms and contradictions not only does the book of mormon plagiarize heavily from the king james bible, but it betrays a great lack of information and background on the subject of world history and the history of the jewish people.
The lord, on the other hand, is the common english translation of jehovah in the king james bible. Joseph smith nor the nephites lived in jacobean england. The book of mormon and the king james version secular web. I dont agree with this because of the other texts stated here and other reasons stated elsewhere. Joseph, or someone else involved in the translation, heard or remembered or read the phrase. Often, we find that a king james clarifying phrase has been left intact in the. And, apologists sometimes claim that what the ces letter calls translation errors doesnt necessarily agree with what biblical scholars would call an error anyway. They present this as evidence that joseph smith wrote the book of mormon by plagiarizing the authorized king james version of the bible. Volumes have been written on its distinctive and rhythmic style, and it is still regarded as a triumph of modern english literature. Do kjv only advocates realize that the most powerful and irrefutable evidence that neither were translated under inspiration, is the very first edition with all their thousands of errors. Translation errors in the king james bible appearing in the book of mormon summary. The book of mormon contains many linguistic similarities to the king james bible kjv. An account written by the hand of mormon upon plates taken from the plates of nephi. Kjv does not take the word for rock and accidentally translate it is lamp post.
Later known as the authorized version in 1814, the king james version became a standard among english. Book of mormonplagiarism accusationsking james bible. The king james version of the bible and the book of mormon. However, the official lds church doctrine is that when the bible and the book of mormon contradict each other which they do, it is the book of mormon that is correct. The book of mormon even contains king james bible translation errors. The king james bible and the book of mormon religious studies. However, nowhere in the bible am i told that only one translation of it is the correct one. The errors in the king james bible kindle edition by ruckman, dr. The dependence of the book of mormon on the king james version, however, goes. The book of mormon was translated by joseph smith using some unusual tools, but for the most part translated in terms of language, word for word, grammar is a diff story, lol.
Some 27,000 words from the king james bible are found in the book of mormon. Specific bible studies king james translation errors. Due to the king james bible errors and deuteroisaiah passage in the book of mormon, it further proves that the the book of mormon is a work of joseph smiths 19th century mindset, and even apologetic lds historian. Why does the church still use the king james version. King james authorized the new translation to be read in churches in england and beyond after it was first published in 1611 a. A reader without access to the original manuscripts could then never be sure if a difference between the dss translation and the king james or any other translation represented a true difference in the dss text, or simply the choice of the dss translators to improve existing translations. Below is a partial listing of king james version kjv bible translation errors. Other translations have also made doctrinal errors in their choices of phrasing. The word translated was is hayah, and denotes a condition different than a former condition, as in genesis 19. By following zedekiah with jehovah, mormon is engaging in classic hebrew wordplay, and with this wordplay, the center of the chiasm becomes complete. The joseph smith translation is josephs supposedly inspired revision of the king james bible. A covenant implies a contract based between two parties in a relational bond whereas a testament may be a book, a witness or a will. Isaiah variants in the book of mormon religious studies.
Religious studies center, brigham young university. King james english in the book of mormon an oddity in the book of mormon, published in 1830, is that it uses antiquated english resembling the style of the king james version kjv bible. If the book of mormon is an accurate translation, some claim that it shouldnt contain. The tanners have listed, one by one, 400 verses and portions of verses quoted from the new testament in the book of mormon in their book, the case against mormonism. Joseph smiths inspired revisions to the king james. The book of mormon regularly combines short snippets from different parts of the king james bible and combines them into a new verse. Kjv translation errors as found in the book of mormon. No, the book of mormon does not contain unique errors from the king james version bible. Errors of mormonism by keith piper but though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Royal skousen said the following on this topic in his 2016 fairmormon conference presentation, which of everything in this blog post is the most insightful to understand the bom text. The point of this passage is that when the book of mormon was published in the nineteenth century, gentiles that is, traditional christians would object to the claim that the book of mormon is scripture and insist that the bible is the only scripture that we have or need. They took possession of his land and the land of og king of bashan, the two kings of the amorites, who were across the jordan to the east. The situation with the book of mormon is likely analogous.
The book of mormon contains passages from the king james bible summary. I dont think you can say that the book of mormon contains unique errors from the king james version bible. Peter s download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. This article explains that joseph claimed to be restoring the true, original meaning of the bible, and looks at examples of josephs changes to the gospel of john proving this claim to have been false. 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.
Critics of the book of mormon claim that major portions of it are copied, without attribution, from the bible. In several cases, the book of mormon follows king james version translation errors. Approaches to lehis dream and nephis vision 2011 sperry symposium, ed. Latterday saints relied on it in their meetings, and the book of mormon. The book of mormon has the structure of a translation from the hebrew language. King james bible language in the book of mormon lds. Fraser, anthropologist and ethnologist, agrees with the smithsonian institution and adds that copper mosiah 8. 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. Id say this was highly improbable, and creates additional problems see the note below. The book of mormon adds text that turns out to make a better translation. It did need a few clarifications and corrections, which is what joseph smith did.
Although few in number, the king james version does. Translation errors here is a partial listing of king james version translation errors. How something should be translated is often subjective. Discussing the importance of analyzing all the evidence for the claim the book of mormon just simply slavishly and stupidly copies the king james version of the bible. Book of mormontranslation errors from the kjv fairmormon. There are a couple of circumstances that bear on the similarity to the king james version. It was first published in march 1830 by joseph smith as the book of mormon. The king james version is a translation named after king james i of england who commissioned the new english bible translation in 1604 a.