Revelations and Translations I

Review
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Title: The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations: Manuscript
Revelation Books
Editors: Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, Steven C. Harper
Publisher: The Church Historian’s Press
Genre: Nonfiction
Year Published: 2009
Number of Pages: 752
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN-10: 1570088500
ISBN-13: 978-1570088506
Price: $99.95

Reviewed by Trevor Holyoak

This is the second book to be released in the Joseph Smith Papers
project, and the first volume of the Revelations and Translations
series. It is a “facsimile edition” of Revelation Book 1 (also known as
“Book of Commandments and Revelations”) and Revelation Book 2 (“Book of
Revelation” or “Kirtland Revelation Book”). It is quite large, measuring
approximately 9.25 by 12.25 inches and weighing nearly 8 pounds. This
means it won’t quite match the previously released Journals volume on
your shelf (which it effectively dwarfs), but apparently there will be a
few other volumes of the same size to go along with it, so the finished
set of 30+ volumes should end up looking quite nice together, in spite
of the two sizes. And there is a very good reason for the larger size –
the body of the book consists of photographs of each page of the two
books, with the photos on the left side, and a transcription running
parallel on the right.

Both manuscript books were used for keeping revelations, which were
written into them by scribes such as Oliver Cowdery, Orson Hyde, W. W.
Phelps, Sidney Rigdon, John Whitmer, and Frederick Williams, as well as
Joseph Smith. The books were also used in publishing many of the
revelations in the church’s first newspaper (“The Evening and the
Morning Star”), the Book of Commandments, and the Doctrine and
Covenants. Most of the revelations contained in the books are the
earliest extant versions. There are also some of which no other copy is
known to be in existence. Nine of them have never been published as
scripture.

This volume contains general reference material similar to what was in
the previously published Journals volume, such as a timeline of Joseph
Smith’s life, maps, and series and volume introductions. It also has a
scribal directory and tables showing where each item has been published
in “The Evening and Morning Star,” the Book of Commandments, and
Latter-day Saint and Community of Christ editions of the Doctrine and
Covenants, where applicable. What it does not contain is historical or
contextual information for each revelation. Instead, it contains
detailed information about what is on each page, with color-coded
transcriptions to identify each scribe who wrote anything on the page or
made changes. There will be a Documents series that will concentrate on
the earliest and best versions and will put each revelation into
context, whereas the present series helps us to see all the changes that
were made in each revelation, as they were composed and then prepared
for publication.

One of the revelations contains valuable information to help us
understand the process of reception and recording of revelation: “I am
God & have spoken it[.] these commandments are of me & were given unto
my Servants in their weakness after the manner of their Language that
they might come to understanding.” Although the revelations were from
God, there were limitations inherent in expressing them in the language
used by the people receiving them, and appropriate changes were made to
many of them prior to publication, which are easily studied in this
volume. [1]

Each manuscript page was photographed in high enough resolution to
produce a file of about 229 megabytes in size and the process is
described in detail. The photographs in the book have been reduced
significantly for print, but the original files are still available for
research. Techniques such as multispectral imaging were used to reveal
things that were invisible to the human eye, such as a notation that had
been written in graphite and then erased. Between the transcription and
the annotations, everything on the manuscript page is thoroughly
described, down to pinholes in the paper.

I found it very enjoyable to be able to see and read the revelations I
am already familiar with from the scriptures, in the handwriting of
people like Joseph Smith and Olivery Cowdery. I also found the material
which had not been canonized to be very interesting. One such item is
apparently a song:

Sang by the gift of Tongues and Translated
age after age has rolled away, according to the sad fate
of man. Countless millions [for] ever gone at length the
period of time has come that oft was seen by a prophetic
eye and writen too by all holy men [Inspired] of the Lord
a time which was seen by Enoch of Old at a time when
he stood upon the mount which was called the mountain
of God as he gazed upon nature and the corruption [of]
man and mourned their sad fate and wept
and cried with a Loud voice and heaved forth
his sighs Omnipotence Omnipotence o may I
see thee- and with his finger he touched
his eyes and he saw heaven he gazed on
eternity and sang an Angelic song and
mingled his [voice] with the heavenly throng
Hozana Hozana the sound of the trump around the throne
of God and echoed & echoed again and rang and
reechoed until eternity was filled with his
voice he saw yea he saw and he glorified
God the salvation of his people his city
caught up through the gospel of Christ
he saw the beginning the ending of man
he saw the time when Adam his father
was made and he saw that he was in
eternity before a grain of dust in the
ballance was weighed he saw that he em
-enated and came down from God he saw
what had passed and then was and is present
and to come therefore he saw the Last days the Angel
that came down to John and the Angel that [is]
now flying having the everlasting gospel to com
mit [unto] men- which in my soul I have recivd
and from death and bondage from the Devil
I’m freed [and] am free in the gospel of Christ
and Im waiting and with patience Ill wait
on the Lord hozana loud sound the trump cause
eternity to wring hozana for ever Im waiting the coming
of Christ a mansion on high a celestial abode a seat
on the right hand of God Angels are coming the holy
Ghost is falling upon the saints and will continue to fall
the saviour is coming yea the Bride groom prepare
ye prepare yea the cry has gone forth go wait on
the Lord the Angels in glory will soon be descending
go join you in singing the praises of God the trump
Loud shall sound the dark vail soon shall rend
heaven shall shake the earth shall tremble and
all nature shall feel the power of God, gaze ye
saints gaze ye upon him, gaze upon Jesus
hozana loud sound the trump his church is
caught up hozana praise him ye saints they
stand at his feet behold they are weeping they
strike hands with Enoch of Old they inherit a
city as it is writen the City of God, Loud sound
the trump, they receive a celestial crown hozana
hozana the heaven of heavens and the heavens
are filled with [the] praises of God Amen
Given February 27- 1833- [2]
This volume should be helpful for scholars as well as anyone interested
in church history or the production of modern scripture. Reading the
revelations in the handwriting of those involved is a different
experience from reading the typeset versions in our scriptures. I have
found it to be a spiritual experience, which will lead me to treasure
the book for more than just the educational interest it originally held
for me.

Footnotes:

[1] The volume introduction discusses the appropriateness of editing
revelations beginning on page xxvii, where the quoted portion appears
which later became D&C 1:24. It is then discussed further on pages 6 and
7. For another good explanation of how revelation can be received and
then revised to better communicate what was intended, see “To Acquire
Spiritual Guidance” by Elder Richard G. Scott, given in General
Conference, October 2009 (
http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1117-2,00.html ).

[2] Pages 509-511. The accompanying annotation says “No other version of
this item exists to provide additional detail about its creation, so its
authorship is unknown. This item was never canonized.” According to the
color coding, the original inscription was by Frederick G. Williams and
Joseph Smith made a few corrections.