Why all the changes In the Book of Mormon Text

#Why all the changes In the Book of Mormon Text?

Some critics of the Church have asked, “If the Book of Mormon is an inspired book—even “the most correct of any book on earth” (Joseph Smith, HC 4:461)—why has it been necessary to make so many changes in the text from the original manuscript to the present edition?

Prior to the following discussion, please make certain you are familiar with the article, The Process of Translating the Book of Mormon. It is a simple observational fact that during the process of the translation of the Book of Mormon, the Lord did not maintain iron-clad control of the text. The process of translation went on hour after hour, day after day. Word capitalizations and spelling were not specified except for some proper names which were spelled by the Prophet. Joseph dictated, and the scribe (usually Oliver Cowdery) wrote and read back what he had written. Joseph made no visual inspection of the record after it was recorded. The resulting transcription had many misspelled words and virtually no punctuation. Though the process, overall, was a remarkable miracle, the Lord kept a human element involved in the process. It would have been humanly impossible to complete the book without many errors.

The punctuation was left to John H. Gilbert, a typesetter and employee of the printer, E. B. Grandin. Gilbert punctuated the text as he saw fit. The original manuscript included many errors due to misspelling, miscopying, typesetting errors, and/or mishearing. Examples include & for an, away for a way, bear for bare, chaste for chased, drugs for dregs, forth for fourth, hare for hair, head for heed, holly for holy, know for now, least for lest, life for light, loose for lose, maid for made, new for knew, no for know, oar for ore, of for off, read for red, reign for rain, strait for straight, the for thee, then for than, there for their, thou for though, tittle for title, to for too, wedge for wage, where for were, and ye for yea. These were largely corrected either directly in the original manuscript, or while the printer’s manuscript was being transcribed, or when the text was first printed in 1830. Joseph apparently had little to do with the supervision of the copying, typesetting, proofreading, or printing of the first edition.

Occasionally errors were made in the process of producing the Book of Mormon which led to the possibility of alterations in meaning. One might well imagine, for example that “errors of the ear” might occur when a homophone (two words with the same sound but different meanings) is used. Examples include straight and strait, sun and son, and right and rite. Such difficulties are a natural product of the dictation process and are evidence that there was no collusion between the dictator and the scribe. The process of correcting these errors is referred to as “conjectural emendation” and requires inspired judgment. Most all of these corrections were made by Joseph Smith by the time of the second edition of the Book of Mormon, published in 1837.

As soon as the first edition was out, the readers could not avoid noticing many typographical, spelling, and grammatical errors. The common assumption is that Oliver Cowdery was poorly educated even though he was a schoolteacher. However, an examination of this supposition raises questions about the historical development and evolution that was taking place in the English language in 1829. Many of the words that we thought Oliver had misspelled are actually legitimate English variants and can be found in the Oxford English Dictionary of that day. This means that they were used by other writers at the time of the translation of the Book of Mormon. For example, the spellings adhear, adultry, ancles, babtized, befal, burthensome, condescention, devlish, fraid, journied, moulten, nought, phrensied, and written—all fail to indicate that Oliver was an unlearned schoolteacher as many have thought.

Oliver’s handwriting also presented a challenge. His r (which looks like a “Palmer r”) and his n are difficult to distinguish from each other. For example, in the 1830 edition Gadianton was once called “the nobler” rather than “the robber.” In a similar way, the typesetter apparently elsewhere mistook Oliver’s rm for un. In 1 Nephi 13 there are several instances in which the original manuscript read formation, but the typesetter apparently thought the printer’s copy said founation and supplied what seemed to be a “missing” d to make it read foundation. This was finally corrected in the 1981 edition.

On 25 June 1833, Joseph wrote to W. W. Phelps (a printer), “As soon as we get time, we will review the manuscripts of the Book of Mormon, after which they will be forwarded to you.” However, due to the pressure of other matters, the second edition did not appear until 1837, having been prepared by the Prophet with the assistance of Oliver Cowdery. Over one thousand corrections were made, and some minor clarifications were added, the majority having to do with grammar. By 1837 the Prophet, who had had limited formal schooling, was reading Greek, learning Hebrew, and studying grammar. This edition was followed in 1840 by a third edition. Appearing on the title page of the third edition (1840) are the words “Carefully Revised by the Translator.” It appears that improving the printed copy continued because on 15 January 1842, Joseph recorded in his journal, “I commenced reading the Book of Mormon, at page 54, American stereotype edition [the third] (the previous pages having been corrected), for the purpose of correcting the stereotype plates of some errors which [had] escaped notice.”

Any conjectural emendation found necessary subsequent to the death of Joseph Smith has been judiciously and sparingly applied. Only specially appointed committees of brethren working under direct appointment from the President of the Church have made any changes, and then only after prolonged and prayerful consideration.

In 1879 President John Taylor assigned Orson Pratt to prepare a new edition which would include a re-division of chapters (increasing the number from 114 to 239), re-versification, and scriptural cross-references. He was followed after the turn of the century by a committee, serving under the chairmanship of James E. Talmage, which prepared the 1920 edition with double-column pages, revised references, a pronunciation guide, an index, and many grammatical improvements. This latter edition was the most commonly used edition in the Church for over half a century. As work was under way for the new LDS edition of the King James Version of the Bible, it was felt that additional work should be done on the Book of Mormon. Consequently, with further corrections growing out of research over the last twenty-five years, the 1981 edition of the Book of Mormon was prepared under the supervision of the Scriptures Publication Committee by direction of the First Presidency.

It seems clear that had Joseph lived longer, he would likely have continued to correct the text of the Book of Mormon to produce a book without human errors. It has been in this same spirit that corrections have been made in succeeding editions.

In all, some 3,913 changes have been made in the Book of Mormon text since the first edition. Most all of them have been related to the correction of grammatical and spelling errors and do not really change the basic meaning of the text. In 1834 the prophet Joseph was criticized for “glaring errors” in a published revelation. He replied that shades of meaning or literary mechanics were not as important as the general message: “We did not think so much of orthography [spelling], or the manner, as we did the subject matter, as the word of God means what it says” (Letter to William Edward, et al., 30 March 1834, from Oliver Cowdery’s letter book, 30-36, quoted in Dean Jessee, Journal of Mormon History 3 (1976): 28-29). Even before the 1981 edition was published, a careful student of the original manuscript and printer’s copy said, “A great value of these early manuscripts is that for the most part they substantiate the correctness of the present Book of Mormon text—fully 99.9% of the text is published correctly” (Stanley R. Larson, “Textual Variants in Book of Mormon Manuscripts,” Dialogue, 10 [August 1977]: 8).

Notwithstanding the fact that this sacred Nephite witness of Jesus Christ already towers far above many of the other scriptures in the integrity of its text, still the Church has endeavored to make it even more correct, as is shown by the following statement about the 1981 edition: “Some minor errors in the text have been perpetuated in past editions of the Book of Mormon. This edition contains corrections that seem appropriate to bring the material into conformity with prepublication manuscripts and early editions edited by the Prophet Joseph Smith” (Introductory pages of the 1981 edition of the Book of Mormon). The changes and corrections are not only correct but appropriate. (Horton, “Changes in the Book of Mormon and How to Handle Them,” 36-39.)

When Joseph Smith said “the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth,” it seems evident that he was not talking about grammar, punctuation, or spelling. He was referring to the clarity and depth of doctrine, to the mission and message of the book, to the spirit of inspiration that it fosters, to the divine desire that it sparks in the soul to make the “mighty change,” and to the abiding love of the Lord that it brings into our hearts. All of these correct things help make the Book of Mormon just exactly what the Prophet said it 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” (HC 4:461). The Lord himself has similarly testified with a solemn oath—“And he [Joseph] has translated the book, even that part which I have commanded him, and as your Lord and your God liveth it is true” (D&C 17:6).

Another, rather dramatic factor has now been discovered that explains most all of the grammatical errors that were apparent in the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon. Please see the article, “Early Modern English and the Translation of the Book of Mormon.”