Translation of the Book of Mormon

According to the Prophet Joseph

“Through the medium of the Urim and Thummim I translated the record by the gift and power of God.”

Is that it?

Concealed Truth

Oct. 25, 1831 Conference

“The reason we do not have the secrets of the Lord revealed unto us, is because we do not keep them but reveal them; we do not keep our own secrets, but reveal our difficulties to the world, even to our enemies, then how would we keep the secrets of the Lord? I can keep a secret till Doomsday.”

According to Oliver Cowdery

“I wrote with my own pen the entire Book of Mormon (save a few pages), as it fell from the lips of the Prophet Joseph Smith, as he translated by the gift and power of God, by the means of the Urim and Thummim, or, as it is called by that book, ‘Holy Interpreters.’”

“These were days never to be forgotten—to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the

inspiration of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom! Day after day I continued, uninterrupted, to write from his mouth, as he translated with the Urim and Thummim, or, as the Nephites would have said, ‘Interpreters,’ the history or record called ‘The Book of Mormon.’”

According to David Whitmer

“I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated. Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light. In the darkness the Spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that

appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God and not by any power of man.”

According to David Whitmer

“He did not see the plates in translation, but would hold the interpreters to his eyes and cover his face with a hat, excluding all light, and before his eyes would appear what seemed to be parchment on which would appear the characters of the plates in a line at the top, and immediately below would appear the translation in English, which Smith would read to his scribe, who wrote it down exactly as it fell from his lips. The scribe would then

read the sentence written, and if any mistakes had been made, the characters would remain visible to Smith until corrected, when they would fade from sight to be replaced by another line.”

According to Emma Smith

“In writing for your father I frequently wrote day after day, often sitting at the table close by him, he sitting with his face buried in his hat, with the stone in it, and dictating hour after hour with nothing between us.... The plates often lay on the table without any attempt at concealment, wrapped in a small linen table-cloth, which I had given him to fold them in.”

Face-in-Hat Confirmation Emma Hale Smith Joseph Knight, Sr. Anne Whitmer Cowdery Isaac Hale Michael Morse David Whitmer Martin Harris

The World’s Perspective

According to Martin Harris

“The Prophet possessed a seer stone, by which he was enabled to translate as well as from the Urim and Thummim, and for convenience he used the seer stone…By aid of the Seer Stone, sentences would appear and were, read by the prophet and written by Martin, and when finished he would say ‘written’ and if correctly written, that sentence would disappear and another appear in its place, but: if not written correctly it remained until

corrected, so that the translation was just as it was engraven on the plates, precisely in the language then used.”

•Martin’s Test of the Prophet

•Our Test of the Prophet

Plates Present or Absent?“I have sometimes had seasons of skepticism, in which I did seriously wonder whether the Prophet and I were men in our sober senses, when he would be translating from plates, through ‘the Urim and Thummim,’ and the plates not be in sight at all.” – Oliver Cowdery

“The plates often lay on the table without any attempt at concealment…” – Emma Smith

Purpose of the Plates?

Seer Stone or Nephite Interpreters?

“… the Lord … took from the prophet the Urim and Thummim and other wise expressed his condemnation. By fervent prayer and by other wise humbling himself, the prophet, however, again found favor, and was presented with a strange, oval-shaped, chocolate-colored stone, about the size of an egg only more flat, which, it was promised, should serve the same purpose as the missing Urim and Thummim.... With this stone all of the present Book of Mormon was translated.” – David Whitmer

“After the 116 pages were lost Joseph translated the rest of the Book of Mormon with a stone.” – William E. McLellin

“Now the first that my husband translated was translated by the use of the Urim and Thummim, and that was the part that Martin Harris lost, after that he used a small stone, not exactly black, but was rather a dark color.” – Emma Smith

Urim & Thummim Defined

“The Urim and Thummim is a stone or other substance sanctified and illuminated by the Spirit of the living God, and presented to those who are blessed with the gift of seeing.” – Orson Pratt

A generic term meaning any device with the potential for “commincating light perfectly, and intelligence perfectly, through a principle that God has ordained for that purpose.” – John Taylor

The Seer Stone

Seer Stone History 1822: discovered in Palmyra, NY with Willard Chase “by

revelation” Early 1820’s: uses stone to find Martin’s pin 1823: uses stone to find where plates are 1825: attempts usage of stone for Spanish treasure (JS-H 1:56) 22 September 1823/1824: sees Emma Hale 1830: given to Oliver Cowdery 1848: Phineas Young retrieves it from Oliver’s widow and given

to Brigham Young 1877: Brigham dies 1888: Wilford Woodruff shows it at Dedication of Manti Temple 1899: Lorenzo Snow shows it to missionary 1971: confirmed as being in a safe in Joseph Fielding Smith’s

office

Urim & Thummim Doctrine Alma 37:23-25

– ‘Gazelem’ & Light

Look Into Stone, not Through

Gave Away Stone in 1830

D+C 130:7-11

Who is Entitled to a Seer Stone?

Counterfeit Seer Stone“Apostle Smith gave them [‘Sameazer Stones’] to Joseph the Prophet who pronounced them to be a Urim and Thummim--as good as ever was upon the earth--but he said, ‘They have been consecrated to devils.”

According to The Lord

How To Translate: D+C 8:2-3

Prerequisites for Translation: D+C 9:8

Papyri Story of Joseph

Translation Not A Mechanical Process

Incidents During Translation Shed Light on the Prerequisites of Translation.

– David Whitmer’s Thoughts

– Incident with Emma

– Translation Is a form of Revelation; thus it requires faith, concentration, extensive spiritual effort, humility, worthiness, etc

Principles of Revelation

Liberty, Agency, Variety: 2 Cor 3:17 I.E. ~ Radio & Signals

Factors: whether the radio is turned on; radio’s ability to pick up signal; battery power of the radio, etc

Experiment: Constants and Variables

What are the FACTORS involved that affect translation process?

Revelation Doesn’t Limit Agency, it Requires it!

Variety and Fallibility of Prophets and Scripture

Revelation’s form, imagery, illustrations, symbols depend on the education, habits, association, feelings, and the whole mental, intellectual and spiritual character.

Inspired Prophets will misuse their Language [Acts 4:13]

Mormon 8:17– Cannot blame God nor Joseph for imperfections and faults in Book!

The Translation Process

Demonstration

And it came to pass that they ate and slept, and prepared for death on the morrow…

Demonstration

And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written…

Translation Aftermath April – June 1828: 116 Pages July 15, 1828: Plates & Interpreters taken away April 7, 1829 – June 30, 1829: Present Book of Mormon

– 80 Days spent in Translation and many other errands/obstacles About 65 Days spent in Translation

– 65 Days – 531 pages: 8 Pages a day Book of Mormon Translation Order:

– Mosiah – Moroni– Title Page– 1 Nephi – Omni– Words of Mormon

4,000 References to Christ, 100 different titles for Christ, His name mentioned once every 2.8 verses

The Plates6 inches wide

8 inches long

6 inches thick

Roughly 123 pounds

“They appeared to be of gold, about six by nine inches in size, about as thick as parchment, a great many in number and bound together like the leaves of a book by massive rings passing through the edges.” – David Whitmer

The ‘Unlearned’ Prophet

According to Emma’s Experiences

‘Mistakes’ of the Book of Mormon Alma 24:19 Alma 43:38

Archeology Evidence? ‘Nuff Said.

“Joseph Smith … could neither write nor dictate a coherent and well-worded letter; let alone dictating a book like the Book of Mormon. And, though I was an active participant in the scenes that transpired, it is marvelous to me, ‘a marvel and a wonder,’ as much so as to any one else.” – Emma Smith

“Defender of the Faith”

‘So What’ Principle

Answering Critics of the Book of Mormon