ZARAHEMLA t@REGORD i I ; ii I Allresearch is conductedwith a biasor "viewpoint."This is trueno matter L'how "objective"the researchermay be, The biasor viewpointheld by ZarahemlaResearch Foundation is thatthe Bookof Mormonwas written by ancientHebrews on metalplates, divinely preserved and delivered to Joseph Smith.While this is primarily a conviction based on faith, there is a risingtide of evidenceto supportthis viewpoint. Thepast two issues of theRecord have explored some of themost convin- cingtestimony ever that this assertion is true.The presence of qualityHebrew poetryin suchabundance within the Bookof Mormonmust be accounted for outsideof JosephSmith or anyoneelse in the 1830's, Whenthe truesignificance of thepoetry dawns upon us, we thenrealize theimportance of eachword of thetext. Therefore, we nowturn to a studyof thewords of the originaland printer's manuscripts. This issue and the next issuewill be devotedto themanuscripts and editions of theBook of Mormon. We believethis research will provide a betterunderstanding of, andgreater appreciationfor, this miraculous book. I ,^. by Lucy Mack Smithto her sister- ^^- in-law.The lettercontained the informationthat Sariahwas the rn#l I I I ;;;;'il. llopaseswhichwourd \ havebeen the onlypart of the - ir tl--LaIt I Bookof Mormontranslated by the i iit!''ot thetetter. Ashworth atso purchasedfrom Hofmann a letter supposedlywritten by MartinHar- HISTORICALDOCUMENTS ris reaffirminghis testimonyof the PROBABLEFORGERIES Bookn^^l- of^t Mormontt--,-^--^ (lbid.,lL!i pp, 96-97),AA Atr o',:-"::' o-'. WilliamHofmann "discovereo' Ine - ,- -":'l': v"t," 's' n".l,r":' ;;ili;;riii'non transcript o.i*..n arrangement93131:I^1Pf?',?1s.?jll9in Utahwhere he*^ has,^^^ the pagesof a 1668;'::;'x^.j;:':,' Camb , BibleEtihr^ purportedn,.rarrra:r tor^ haverrar,^ been^^^^-o- been indicted for murder, Mark lishedan articlebased on tr found the tools and "new" Anthontranscript in'iie equipmentI':.:,l"u" necessary to create Zirdneiia Aecord#11vv^'i^ ' documentsin Hof' ;;r inenreprinted in ntr'ii' -i{hentic" , ment9,li^":,!i"{-' pp.- 51'53'v!';;;;;i;;; ' vY' ffi}:S,ilT?;AX?Ti,,T'tLiJ13|,v''r"v "rv' rr the;;'rv'vr'' forging process, will be The Joseph Smith blessing availableshortly, l^^---^^-^L ^r a A/ rL-----L 9fyfglt99cyT91t ofor 1e811981 came t[.orglthrough Becauseso manyauthorities in lrrt.t.HofmanntllllLDS Church tnethe various fields have been and then to the RLDSChurch in deceivedby thesedocuments, a exchangefor an 1833 Bookof r..--rrv vtttvvrvrrJ vr, r .- 1,.-o--. In 1982, BrentAshworth, a discussand explore the problems Provoa rvvv lawyer,rsrr purchased vrrsvvY fromrrY Hof. of authenticatinghistorical manna lettersupposedly written documents 2 PARTl: MAilUSGRIPTS0F THEB00K 0F M0RM01{ fiold Platos, Fool$0ru rlnter's In this first of two articles, the history and descriptionof the Book of Mormon manuscnpts utill be presented,Part II - Edifi'onsof the Book of Ink lvlormon- will be an oueruiewof the 1830, 1837, 1840, 1874 and 1908 editionswith examples by thlrley R. Heater comparingthe textswith the manuscripts.We hope that this reuiewof the manusuipts and editions of the Book of Mormon will giue the reader THE116 LOST PAGES (Book of Lehl) a greater understandingof the present-dag editions of the Book of Mormon, Table 1 illustrates the T f," goldenplates were delivered to JosephSmith, sequence and relationships of the different I Jr., by the angelMoroni on September22, 1827. manuscripts and editions. They consistedof Mormon'sabridgment of the large platesof Nephi,along with Moroni'swritings, the unabridgedsmall platesof Nephi,and a sealedpor' tion. Josephbegan his work of translationfrom Mormon'sabridgment which beganwith the Book of Lehi. Usingdivinely prepared interpreters, Joseph read from the plates(2 Nephi 11 2142; lsaiah 29:221.V.), dictatingto a scribewho wrote as he spoke.Joseph's wife, Emma, and her brother,Reuben Hale, were P scribesduring this earlyperiod of translation.Martin PRINTER'S Harrisbecame the primaryscribe after he joined the work. At least 116 pageswere completed by mid- MAllUSCRlpr June, 1828.After much persistence,Martin obtained Joseph'spermission to borrowthe manuscript.In additionto showingthe manuscriptto his wife, father and mother,brother and sister-in-law,Martin also showedit to others;the manuscriptdisappeared and was never recovered. After the loss of the manuscript,Joseph lost his gift to translateand had to surrenderthe platesand interpretersto the angelMoroni. They were returned to Joseph three months later on September22, 7828. OHIGINAIMANU$CRIPT I t was some time beforethe work of translating I beganagain as evidencedby Joseph'sstatement: "l did not howevergo immediatelyto translating,but went to laboringwith my handsupon a srnallfarm which I had purchasedof my wife'sfather, in order to '- PART.rt,:If,AIIUSGRIPTS OF TllE BOOK OF il|ORt|Oil providefor my family" (fES 3:817).Joseph resumed iranslatingduring the winter of 1828-1829with Emma t3 -l Smith and SamuelSmith assistingas scribes.Only a small portion had beentranslated when the work was interruptedagain. This is evidencedby a revelation \ '1.829, o given in March, (Dt'C 5:6a)which states:"When \ thou hast translateda few more pagesthou shalt stop S € for a season. ." Translationbegan full-time after (o Oliver Cowderyanrived in Harmony,Pennsylvania in I \ April and becameJoseph's primary scribe.Martin I 6 Harrisalso wrote again for Joseph at some point. I b. Then,in the first four daysof June, 1,829,Joseph, J with Whitmerto Flg. 1. Two sizes of "foolscap" paperwere used in the Emma and Oliver moved David the Originalmanuscript. The drawingabove illustrateshow they home of his father,Peter Whitmer, in Fayette,New were folded to create two differentpage Eizes.a. The longer York. Translatingresumed on June 5th with members pagesresulted when 13-114" x 16-1/2" sheetswere folded of the Whitmer family also assistingin recording. and sewn the.longdirection, thus creatingo Fogggize of ,, 6-5/8" x 16-1/2". Firstand Second Nephi of the surviving Applicationwas made for a copyrighton June 11, Originalmanuscript pages are thie size. See figure 2. b. The 7829,and it is believedthat the work of translating shorter page$were oreatedfiom 13" x, l6",sheetg,,which the Book of Mormon was completedby July 7, 7829. wer.efolded and sewn the short length, resulting,in q page size of 8" x 13". This'isthe size of the existingiiages from the' It is estimatedthat the actualtime spenttranslating Bookof Alma. was 65 to 75 days.This was a miraculousfeat-a manuscriptof over 288,000words, written one time, particulars forth straightthrough, in spite of severalinterruptions- the world all the of the:coming of,the . it was not:,expedient when comparedwith "scholarly"translations of the Book of Mormon;and also. it took thirteenyears for Martin .,. to relate thesethings," A revelationreceived , Bible. For example, iiafter,hav', Luthei to translatethe Bible, fifteen yearsfor 32 sevendays after the confer€rc€ stateslhat scholarsto translatethe RevisedStandard Version, ing receivedthe recordof the Nephiles,Vgar even my power and fourteenyears for 82 translatorsto preparethe servantJoseph Smith, Jr., might have to power EnglishRevised. The King JamesVersion was trans- translate,through the mercy of God, by the of (D€'C lated in two yearsand nine monthsby 54,scholars. Cod, the Book of Mormon" 1:5d;see also 165 3:707\.The Book of Mormon text itself corroborates that this recordwould come forth "by the gift and hen Joseph'sgift to translatewas restoredto Powerofthe.Lamb',(1Nephi..3:185).:....:' page him, he was instructednot to redo what he had Concerningthe translationof the title of the perqonal previouslytranslated. Instead, he was to translatethe Book of Mormon, Joseph said in his history: unabridgedsmall platesof Nephi(which covered the I wish also to mention.here, that the title pageof the Book sameperiod of time as the 116 lost-pagestranslated of Mormon is a literaltranslation, taken from the very last from the largeplates) and then continuewhere he had leaf,on the left hand side of the cqllectionor book of ,,1 plates,which containedthe recordwhich has been left,offin translatingthe abridgment.' translated;the languageof the whole,running,th€;6-Brne?s However,we know that some pagesfrom the initial all Hebrewwriting in general;and that, saidtitle,page isrnot translatingeffort (beyond the 116 lost pages)re- by any meansa modern composition,eitherof mine or of. mainedin Joseph'spossession. In D€'C3:9b, Joseph any other man'swho has livedor does live in this genera- was tion. Therefore,ih order to correctan e'rrorwhiih geneially told: part page existsconeerning it, I give belowthat of the title ', . .therefore, you shall translatethe engravings which are of the Englishversion of the Book of Morrnon,which is a on the plates of Nephi, down even till you come to the genuine ind llterattranslation of the title page of the reign of King Benjamin, or until you come to that which OriginalBook of Mormon,as recordedon the plates.(Em- you have translated, which gou haue retained;(Emphasis added) Followingthis statement,Joseph includes the title, ,Josephshared very little about the actualprocess sub-heading,and the two paragraphsfrom the title, of t:ranslating.He was told by the Lord'that people pageof the 1830 Book of Mormon."The remaindeiof "would not believeyou, my servantJoseph, if it were the title page is of course,modern," Joseph states possibleyou could show them all thesethings. I (I6s 3:943). havereserved those things which I haveentrusted un- It is apparentthat what Josephdid was not "or- to you, my servantJoseph, and it shall be made dinary" translating.Normally, a translatormust know known unto future generations"(Dt'C 5:2c,3a). both languages.We are told by the authorsof the Josephwas askedby his brother,Hyrum, to relate Book of Mormoh that they wrote in reformed Egyp- "the,informationof the coming forth of the Book of tian, usingthe Hebrewpattern, and that because Mormon" at a churchconference which was held "non'bother people knowetho-ur,language, therefore October25, 7831,at Orange,Ohio. Thb minutesre- he [the Lord] hath preparedmeans for the interpreta- cord his response-that "it was not intendedto tell tion thereof"(Mormon 4:100).