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Response to "Difficult Questions for Mormons: Influenced by the KJV of the Bible"

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• Response to claim: "Why does the B of M use old KJV type English at a time when it was not currently used"
• Response to claim: "Why is about 1/8th of the B of M copied directly from the KJV (1611AD) when it was alleged to have been written some 1200-2000 years before the KJV existed?"
• Response to claim: "How do you explain the fact that Joseph Smith copied from the KJV but deleted the italicized words in the KJV because he figured they were not in the original?"
• Response to claim: "Why are portions of Isaiah quoted off of the plates of brass when these items weren't written until after Nephi supposedly got the plates out of Laban's treasury?"
• Response to claim: "Why was Paul referred to before his time? (Paul said, "Death where is thy sting")"
• Response to claim: "Why is it that of the 350 names in the Book of Mormon, 100 are found in the Bible, others are place names found on early 19th century maps, and the rest are derivatives of Bible names?"
• Response to claim: "Why didn't Joseph Smith ever acknowledge using the KJV of the Bible to 'translate'?"
• Response to claim: "Why were the following phrases used out of the New Testament supposedly before the New Testament was even thought of--much less written?"
• Response to claim: "Why is a Greek word like "Christ" used throughout the Book of Mormon?"
• Response to claim: "Why does the Book of Mormon always follow KJV errors?"
• Response to claim: "Why don't the Book of Mormon quotes from out of the Old Testament agree to earlier Latin, Syriac, Coptic, or Patristic texts?"
• Response to claim: "Why does the phrase 'the lamb of God' appear only in the New Testament portion of the Bible yet it appears in the Book of Mormon over 30 times--28 times in 1 Nephi alone?"
• Response to claim: "Why do the words of Malachi 4:1 appear in 1 Nephi 22:15 over a hundred years before Malachi wrote them?"
• Response to claim: "Why do so many stories seem like exaggerated borrowings from the Bible?"

Response to claim: "Why does the B of M use old KJV type English at a time when it was not currently used"

The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:

Response to claim: "Why does the B of M use old KJV type English at a time when it was not currently used."

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: "Why is about 1/8th of the B of M copied directly from the KJV (1611AD) when it was alleged to have been written some 1200-2000 years before the KJV existed?"

The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:

Response to claim: "Why is about 1/8th of the B of M copied directly from the KJV (1611AD) when it was alleged to have been written some 1200-2000 years before the KJV existed?"

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: "How do you explain the fact that Joseph Smith copied from the KJV but deleted the italicized words in the KJV because he figured they were not in the original?"

The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:

Response to claim: "How do you explain the fact that Joseph Smith copied from the KJV but deleted the italicized words in the KJV because he figured they were not in the original? 'Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips' Isa 6:5, The words 'is & am' are deleted in the Book of Mormon."

FAIR's Response

Question: What do the italicized words in the Bible represent, and why is it relevant to the Book of Mormon?

Italicized text is used in some Bible translations to indicate when a word has been "added" because of necessity of English grammar

Often, the italicized word is a word which is implied in the original Greek or Hebrew text, but must be explicitly used in English. It is claimed by some that Joseph Smith was aware of this, and while copying the KJV passages, tended to alter the italicized words to make it look more like a translation.

Some members accept the possibility that the italicized words are often altered "intentionally," but disagree with what this means about the translation. They do not see it as threatening Joseph's inspiration, the divine nature of the translation, or the reality of an ancient text on the plates. Others hold that there is no evidence that Joseph even had access to a Bible, nor that he was aware of the italics' meaning. (It should be noted that the Bible that Joseph had access to at age 14 in which he read James 1:5 prior to the First Vision belonged to his parents. At the time of the translation, Joseph did not have access to that Bible).

Either option is a viable response, and each has its strengths and weaknesses. Hopefully more data will be forthcoming to help resolve the issue, that we might better understand the translation process of the Book of Mormon.

Question: Did Joseph know what the italics in the Bible meant?

Joseph didn't even know that Jerusalem had walls around it. His basic knowledge of the Bible was limited

Just as there is no evidence that Joseph owned a Bible, there is even less that he had any knowledge of what the italicized words in the translation meant. Emma made Joseph's early ignorance crystal clear:

When he stopped for any purpose at any time he would, when he commenced again, begin where he left off without any hesitation, and one time while he was translating he stopped suddenly, pale as a sheet, and said, ‘Emma, did Jerusalem have walls around it?’ When I answered, ‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘Oh! [I didn’t know.] I was afraid I had been deceived.’ He had such a limited knowledge of history at that time that he did not even know that Jerusalem was surrounded by walls.^[1]

If Joseph didn't know this, how do the critics expect that he knew what the italics in a Bible (which he likely did not own) meant? This is something which many modern Bible readers do not know. However, one cannot conclude with certainty that Joseph did not understand what the italicized words meant. Some LDS scholars believe that he did.

Furthermore, italicization patterns varied between Bibles, and an analysis of Joseph's Book of Mormon "changes" to the KJV concluded that changes to the italics were not a determining factor.^[2]

Barney: "three types of evidence favoring the conclusion that Joseph understood the meaning of the italicized words"

Some LDS scholars do believe that Joseph may have understood the meaning italicized words. Kevin Barney: ^[3]

I think there are basically three types of evidence favoring the conclusion that Joseph understood the meaning of the italicized words. First, and most importantly, is the distribution of the variants in Joseph’s inspired translations, which show a clear (though by no means absolute) tendency to revolve around the italicized words. Skousen and Wright agree roughly on this distribution, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of 30%, give or take, but they draw different conclusions from it. My experience spending a fair amount of time examining variants is that the italics were a significant factor.

Second is the practice of often crossing out italicized words in the “marked Bible” used as an aid in preparing the JST. Anyone with access to the critical text can see this phenomenon for herself, since they have actual pictures of the marked Bible text.

Third are near-contemporary statements from Joseph’s milieu evincing a familiarity with the purpose of the italics. A prominent example is this from a W.W. Phelps editorial in the Evening and Morning Star (January 1833):

The book of Mormon, as a revelation from God, possesses some advantage over the old scripture: it has not been tinctured by the wisdom of man, with here and there an Italic word to supply deficiencies.—It was translated by the gift and power of God.^[4]

Question: Could Joseph have used a Bible during and simply dictated from it during Book of Mormon translation?

Nobody ever reported seeing a Bible, because Joseph was looking at the stone in the hat in full view of witnesses

The witnesses of the translation are unanimous that Joseph did not have a book or papers, and could not have concealed them if he did have. Since much of the translation was done via Joseph's seer stone placed into his hat to exclude the light, it is not clear how the critics believe Joseph concealed a Bible or notes in the hat, and then read them in the dark.

Emma Smith described this portion of the translation:

Q — [Joseph Smith III]. What is the truth of Mormonism?

A — [Emma]. I know Mormonism to be the truth; and believe the church to have been established by divine direction. I have complete faith in it. 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.

Q —. Had he not a book or manuscript from which he read, or dictated to you?

A —. He had neither manuscript or book to read from.

Q —. Could he not have had, and you not know it?

A. — If he had anything of the kind he could not have concealed it from me.

Q. — Could not father have dictated the Book of Mormon to you, Oliver Cowdery and the others who wrote for him, after having first written it, or having first read it out of some book?

A. — Joseph Smith could neither write nor dictate a coherent and wellworded 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.^[5]

NOTE: Some Mormon scholars believe that the passages in the Book of Mormon which match, for the most part, the wording of similar passages in the King James Bible, indicate that Joseph Smith simply used the wording from the Bible as he dictated. If this is the case, he clearly received that wording as part of the revelatory process, since the witnesses confirm that there was no book or Bible present at the time. For more information see Ensign (Sept. 1977): "If his translation was essentially the same as that of the King James version, he apparently quoted the verse from the Bible"

Ensign (Sept. 1977): "If his translation was essentially the same as that of the King James version, he apparently quoted the verse from the Bible"

Richard Lloyd Anderson (Ensign, September 1977):

In fact, the language in the sections of the Book of Mormon that correspond to parts of the Bible is quite regularly selected by Joseph Smith, rather than obtained through independent translation. For instance, there are over 400 verses in which the Nephite prophets quote from Isaiah, and half of these appear precisely as the King James version renders them. Summarizing the view taken by Latter-day Saint scholars on this point, Daniel H. Ludlow emphasizes the inherent variety of independent translation and concludes: “There appears to be only one answer to explain the word-for-word similarities between the verses of Isaiah in the Bible and the same verses in the Book of Mormon.” That is simply that Joseph Smith must have opened Isaiah and tested each mentioned verse by the Spirit: “If his translation was essentially the same as that of the King James version, he apparently quoted the verse from the Bible.” ^[6] Thus the Old Testament passages from Isaiah display a particular choice of phraseology that suggests Joseph Smith’s general freedom throughout the Book of Mormon for optional wording. ^[7]

NOTE: Witnesses to the translation process, including Joseph's wife Emma, state that Joseph Smith never consulted a Bible or any other book as he was dictating. If Joseph did indeed quote passages from the Bible word-for-word, as Richard Lloyd Anderson suggests, he did it without the aid of having a physical Bible present during the translation. For details, see Question: Could Joseph have used a Bible during and simply dictated from it during Book of Mormon translation?.

Question: Did Joseph own a Bible at the time of the Book of Mormon translation?

There is no evidence that Joseph owned a Bible during the Book of Mormon translation

The difficult financial circumstances of Joseph's family during the Book of Mormon translation are well known.^[8] There is no evidence that Joseph owned a Bible during the Book of Mormon translation.^[9] In fact, Oliver would later purchase a Bible for Joseph, who used it in producing his revision of the Bible (which became known as the Joseph Smith Translation). This purchase occurred on 8 October 1829, from the same printer that was then setting the type for the already-translated Book of Mormon.^[10] Why would Joseph, poor as he was, get a Bible if he already owned one?

Response to claim: "Why are portions of Isaiah quoted off of the plates of brass when these items weren't written until after Nephi supposedly got the plates out of Laban's treasury?"

The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:

Response to claim: "Why are portions of Isaiah quoted off of the plates of brass when these items weren't written until after Nephi supposedly got the plates out of Laban's treasury?"

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: "Why was Paul referred to before his time? (Paul said, "Death where is thy sting")"

The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:

Response to claim: "Why was Paul referred to before his time? (Paul said, "Death where is thy sting")"

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: "Why is it that of the 350 names in the Book of Mormon, 100 are found in the Bible, others are place names found on early 19th century maps, and the rest are derivatives of Bible names?"

The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:

Response to claim: "Why is it that of the 350 names in the Book of Mormon, 100 are found in the Bible, others are place names found on early 19th century maps, and the rest are derivatives of Bible names?"

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: "Why didn't Joseph Smith ever acknowledge using the KJV of the Bible to 'translate'?"

The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:

Response to claim: "Why didn't Joseph Smith ever acknowledge using the KJV of the Bible to 'translate'?"

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: "Why were the following phrases used out of the New Testament supposedly before the New Testament was even thought of--much less written?"

The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:

Response to claim: "Why were the following phrases used out of the New Testament supposedly before the New Testament was even thought of--much less written?

• 1. "oh wretched man that I am" Romans 7:24 / 2 Nephi 4:17
• 2. "earthquake, rocks rent" Matt 27:51 / 1 Nephi 12:14
• 3. "old serpent, which is the devil" Rev 20:2 / 2 Nephi 2:18
• 4. "one faith, one baptism" Ephesians 4:5 / Mosiah 18:21
• 5. "One man perish" Jesus/Laban / John 11:50 / 1 Nephi 4:13"

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: "Why is a Greek word like "Christ" used throughout the Book of Mormon?"

The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:

Response to claim: "Why is a Greek word like "Christ" used throughout the Book of Mormon?"

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: "Why does the Book of Mormon always follow KJV errors?"

The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:

Response to claim: "Why does the Book of Mormon always follow KJV errors?"

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: "Why don't the Book of Mormon quotes from out of the Old Testament agree to earlier Latin, Syriac, Coptic, or Patristic texts?"

The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:

Response to claim: "Why don't the Book of Mormon quotes from out of the Old Testament agree to earlier Latin, Syriac, Coptic, or Patristic texts? Example: Matthew 5:27 and 3 Nephi 12:27 "by them of old time" not included in earliest Greek (should have said "to them of old") Matthew 6:4, 6, 18 and 3 Nephi :4, 6, 18 "openly" added later. Matt 6:13 and 3 Nephi 13:13 "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" should have said, "and do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one"."

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: "Why does the phrase 'the lamb of God' appear only in the New Testament portion of the Bible yet it appears in the Book of Mormon over 30 times--28 times in 1 Nephi alone?"

The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:

Response to claim: "Why does the phrase "the lamb of God" appear only in the New Testament portion of the Bible yet it appears in the Book of Mormon over 30 times--28 times in 1 Nephi alone?"

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: "Why do the words of Malachi 4:1 appear in 1 Nephi 22:15 over a hundred years before Malachi wrote them?"

The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:

Response to claim: "Why do the words of Malachi 4:1 appear in 1 Nephi 22:15 over a hundred years before Malachi wrote them?"

FAIR's Response

Response to claim: "Why do so many stories seem like exaggerated borrowings from the Bible?"

The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:

Response to claim: "Why do so many stories seem like exaggerated borrowings from the Bible? Examples:o Ammon killed six sheep rustlers with a sling (Alma 17:36) vs. David's killing of Goliath. (1 Samuel 17:50)

• Pillar of Fire. (Exodus 13:21) vs. (1 Nephi 1:6)
• Lord instructs Noah to build the Ark (Genesis 6:14) / Lord instructs Nephi to build ship (1 Nephi 17:8) / Lord instructs Jaredites to build barges (Ether 2:16)
• Jaredites brought flocks, two of a kind, seeds. (Ether 2:1) vs. Noah doing the same in (Genesis 7:9)
• Raising dead. (Matthew 10:8) vs. (3 Nephi 19:4)
• Temple of Solomon supposedly took 180,000 people seven and a half years to build (1 Kings 5, 6) / The few in number Nephites supposedly did it in less than 20 years after arriving (2 Nephi 5).
• Calming Storm (1 Nephi 18:8-21) vs. (Matthew 8:23-27).
• Men in Fire (Helaman 5:22-24) vs. (Daniel 3).
• Feeding Multitude (3 Nephi 20:3-7) out of nothing / In Bible, Christ multiplied existing food (Matthew 14).
• Christ heals masses in Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 17:9) / in Bible Jesus healed as he encountered (Luke 9:42).
• Multitude feels wounds in Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 11:13) / In Bible, Thomas felt wounds (John 20:27).
• Book of Mormon prophecies of Christ specific / Bible prophecies veiled (actually non-existent unless scripture misquoted or "prophecies" stretched to have two meanings).
• Book of Mormon Christ is completely accepted / In Bible he is rejected.
• Aminadi deciphered writing on the wall (Alma 10:2-3) like Daniel (Daniel 5).
• Daughter of Jared danced before the king (Ether 8) like the daughter of Herodias (Matthew 14) (decapitation followed in both cases).
• Daughters of Lamanites abducted like the daughters of Shiloh.
• Jews of Old Testament were monotheists / Pre-Christ Jews of Book of Mormon were not."

FAIR's Response

Notes

1. ↑ Joseph Smith III, “Last Testimony of Sister Emma,” Saints’ Advocate 2 (Oct. 1879): 51.
2. ↑ See "Italics in the King James Bible," in Royal Skousen, "Critical Methodology and the Text of the Book of Mormon (Review of New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology by Brent Lee Metcalfe)," FARMS Review of Books 6/1 (1994): 121–144. off-site
3. ↑ Kevin Barney, "KJV Italics," bycommonconsent.com (13 October 2007)
4. ↑ W.W. Phelps, The Evening and the Morning Star (January 1833)
5. ↑ Edmund C. Briggs, “A Visit to Nauvoo in 1856,” Journal of History (Jan. 1916): 454; cited in Russell M. Nelson, "A Treasured Testament," Ensign 23/7 (July 1993): 62.
6. ↑ Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1976), 141.
7. ↑ Richard Lloyd Anderson, "By the Gift and Power of God," Ensign 7, no. 9 (September 1977).
8. ↑ Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism (Urbana and Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois Press; Reprint edition, 1987), 95–100. ISBN 0252060121.
9. ↑ Matthew Roper, "A Black Hole That's Not So Black (Review of Answering Mormon Scholars: A Response to Criticism of the Book, vol. 1 by Jerald and Sandra Tanner)," FARMS Review of Books 6/2 (1994): 156–203. off-site See also John A. Tvedtnes and Matthew Roper, "Joseph Smith's Use of the Apocrypha: Shadow or Reality? (Review of Joseph Smith's Use of the Apocrypha by Jerald and Sandra Tanner)," FARMS Review of Books 8/2 (1996): 326–372. off-site
10. ↑ Robert J. Matthews, A Plainer Translation": Joseph Smith's Translation of the Bible: A History and Commentary (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1985), 26; cited in footnote 165 of John Gee, "La Trahison des Clercs: On the Language and Translation of the Book of Mormon (Review of New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology by Brent Lee Metcalfe)," FARMS Review of Books 6/1 (1994): 51–120. off-site