Changes in the Book of Mormon

Posted by: Andee / Category: ,

Again, from The Skeptic's Annotated Book of Mormon, here are some of the changes made to the Book of Mormon over the years. Many people read this and think, "So what?" but when Joseph Smith supposedly translated the Book of Mormon, he claimed it to be the most correct book on the face of the Earth, and that it should never be changed in any way... Hmm, why was it changed then?

    1 Nephi

  1. 1830: Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of God.
    Now: Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son God. 11:18

  3. 1830: Behold, the Lamb of God, yea, even the Eternal Father!
    Now: Behold, the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! 11:21

  5. 1830: yea, the everlasting God was judged of the world
    Now: yea, the Son of the everlasting God was judged of the world 11:32

  7. 1830: and Jesus Christ, which is the Lamb of God
    Now: and the Messiah, which is the Lamb of God 12:18
    (This was changed to avoid contradicting 2 Nephi 10:3, which first reveals to Nephi the name of Christ.)

  9. 1830: ...the Lamb of God is the Eternal Father...
    Now: ...the Lamb of God is the son of the Eternal Father... 13:40

  11. 1830: ...and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the Lord...
    Now: ...are come forth out of the waters of Judah, or out of the waters of baptism, who swear by the name of the Lord...20:1

    2 Nephi

  12. First appearance of the word "Christ" in the modern BoM. "Christ" appeared earlier (1 Nephi 12:18) in the 1 830 edition, but was changed to "Messiah" to avoid contradicting this verse. 10:3

  14. 1830: seraphims
    Now: seraphim
    The 1830 edition copied the KJV error in the plural of seraph. 16:2, 6

  16. 1830: Wo me!
    Now: Wo is unto me! 16:5
    The omitted italicized word "is" was later corrected.

  18. 1830: Here I; send me.
    Now: Here I am; send me. 16:8
    The omitted italicized word "am" was later corrected.

  20. 1830: ...they shall be a white and delightsome people...
    Now: ...they shall be a pure and delightsome people.... 30:6
    "White" was changed to "delightsome" to try to soften the obvious racism of this prophecy.

    Mosiah

  21. 1830 version: "...that king Benjamin had a gift from God..."
    Now: "...that king Mosiah had a gift from God..." 21:28
    Since King Benjamin was dead at the time, this change was needed to avoid the obvious error.

    Alma

  22. 1830: ... the Son of the only begotten of the Father ...
    Now: ... the only begotten of the Father ... 5:48

  24. 1830: cherubims (as in the King James Version)
    Now: cherubim 12:21 (Cheribims is the incorrect plural of cherub.)


4 comments:

  1. David Says:
    December 10, 2007 at 8:04 PM

    Perhaps some of the other problems that you have with Mormonism are valid, but this one is really a stretch.

    The Book of Mormon was dictated to a scribe, who took the written (by a quill pen) pages to a printer, who manually typeset them on a hand operated press and with the help of others printed them. This all happened in the 1820’s without the use of any word processors, spell checkers or automated printing presses. Anyone who has written even a short book and had it published knows absolutely how impossible it is to keep it error free – even with the technology and education of today.

    There were a lot more people involved in publishing the first edition of the Book of Mormon than just Joseph Smith.

  1. Andee Says:
    December 10, 2007 at 8:23 PM

    I disagree. Most of these changes didn't happen until many decades after the first translation. The "White and delightsome" phrase was changed because it was racist. Everything changed was changed for a reason, not because of any accident.

  1. Anonymous Says:
    February 9, 2008 at 3:10 PM

    In response to the argument that there have been many changes made to the Book of Mormon over the years, I have a unique perspective to share. I worked in Religious Education at BYU for several years and had two interesting experiences there. First, I not only had the opportunity to see an 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon, I held it in my hands and examined it. My second experience was seeing a copy of a portion of the manuscript given to the publisher, E. B. Grandin, in Oliver Cowdery's own handwriting. Both of these experiences led to the following conclusion: Oliver Cowdery did not spell certain words the way we do now, for instance, he spelled the word angel as 'aangel'. John H. Gilbert, the typesetter for the publisher was the person who actually added punctuation to Oliver Cowdery's handwriting. In 1830, the punctuation and grammar were not at all perfect, but it was important for the Book of Mormon to be published, so the printing went forward. Over the years, grammatical changes have occurred in the Book of Mormon, but those changes have sought to correct mistakes made by men in earlier printings of the book. So, if anyone still has a problem with grammatical changes made to the Book of Mormon, feel free to read Oliver Cowdery's handwritten manuscript, but you might need an aangel to assist with the punctuation and spelling.

  1. Andee Says:
    February 9, 2008 at 4:03 PM

    Okay, the issues I had with the changes had more to do with grammar, and if you didn't get that I am sorry.

    White and delightsome was changed because it was racist and they knew they would have to change it. Period.

Post a Comment