When you say Bible, you really mean the Joseph Smith translation yes?

Anonymous from Sandy, 6/10/2009

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AllAboutMormons.com Webmaster from La Jolla, California:




I agree with Juan. The Joseph Smith translation is not canonized. The name aside, it's really more of an inspired Bible commentary than a "translation." Of course there's a lot of important information in the Joseph Smith translation, but when Mormons talk about the "Bible," they aren't thinking about the JST. English-speaking Mormons typically use the King James version of the Bible.

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Pamela Dean from Clarenville:



When members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints speak about the Bible, we are referring to the King James Version. Our edition of the KJV also includes small portions of what is commonly called the 'Joseph Smith Translation', found as footnotes to the text to help explain doctrinal principles. One of the more common examples of this is found in 1 Corinthians 15:40-41. In verse 40 two degrees of glory are mentioned, but in verse 41 three degrees are mentioned. Joseph was inspired to bring these two verses into alignment with each other; thus, his addition of the words 'and bodies telestial' to the original KJV words 'celestial bodies and bodies terrestial'. This verse now corresponds with with verse 41, which talks about the glory of the sun, the moon and the stars.

Sometimes the confusion you indicated in your question is because the *reformed* Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, now called the Community of Christ, uses/used(?) *all* of the inspired Bible that was in the process of being prepared. Their feeling was that the entire text of Joseph's inspired version was worthy of study because it had been done by the prophet, who was also the husband and father of its originators.

Our church, however, does not use the entire text. From what I have read, it is my understanding that this is for two reasons. First, Joseph had not completed his Inspired Version before his martyrdom. Therefore, to call the entire work complete and doctrinal is not prudent from our church's point of view, but we fully respect that the others do. The parts that we use are either parts that it is fairly certain that Joseph was finished with, or are parts that obviously correct and explain doctrine more clearly, such as the example I mentioned above. Second, legally speaking, we do not have the right to use the Joseph Smith Translation in its entirety, as the copyright belongs to the Community of Christ. Therefore, legally we are limited to, at most, ten percent of the entire work in order to comply with copyright law.

Webmaster: Very interesting, Pamela! I did not know that the Community of Christ had canonized the entire Joseph Smith Translation.

Richard from Provo:


In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when we say the Bible most of the time we are refering to the authorized King James version of the Bible. The King James version of the Bible was read through by Joseph Smith Jr., and Joseph was guided by the Holy Spirit to comment on some of the words and mis-translations found in that Bible.

Juan Figuroa from Seattle:


What you call the "Joseph Smith translation" is simply marginal notes to the King James version of the Bible. English-speaking latter-day saints study the King James version of the Bible, and consider Joseph Smith's brief marginal notes to be instructive in understanding the original intent of the text.
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