What has been added, under authorization from the First Presidency, is chapter and verse designations at the top of the pages, new explanatory chapter headings, new cross references to all volumes in the standard works, over six hundred quotations from the Joseph Smith Translation (popularly known as Joseph Smith’s “Inspired Version” of the Bible) that illuminate difficult verses in the King James version, new language notes, a 750-category topical guide that makes the new Bible edition an incalculably valuable resource for discovery and study, a revised Bible dictionary with information especially useful to Latter-day Saints, and a valuable 24-page section of four-color maps. Not one word of the King James text has been changed in this edition. This new edition of the Bible will be a powerful aid in that process of discovery and rediscovery. “I am convinced that each of us, at some time in our lives, must discover the scriptures for ourselves-and not just discover them once, but rediscover them again and again.” ( Ensign, Sept. And President Kimball in 1976 asked the members of the Church “to begin now to study the scriptures in earnest, if you have not already done so,” reminding us of our great blessing of living in the times of restoration and of a correspondingly great accountability if we do not take advantage of such accessibility. President Wilford Woodruff in 1890 urged that the standard works should be the “chief text books” of members of the Church ( Messages of the First Presidency, 3:87). Flinders, “Teach the Children,” unpublished manuscript, 1978, p. On 11 November 1867, President Brigham Young “spoke on education and said if he were to select the books his first choice would be the Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants” (Neil J. This understanding increased steadily as the Prophet Joseph Smith spent much of his limited time revising essential passages in the King James translation and sharing those insights with members of the Church.Ĭontinuing this heritage of loyalty to the Bible, later presidents of the Church have reiterated the importance of knowing and cherishing the scriptures. These same early members subsequently recognized with joy the glad tidings of the gospel’s restoration, a restoration that greatly increased their understanding of the Bible message and their faith in it. Many of them had studied the New Testament and concluded that its truths were not being taught on earth. In addition to the Bible’s early impact on Joseph Smith, nearly all early members of the Church were familiar with the Bible. Indeed, we might say that the Restoration began when the teenaged Joseph Smith followed James’s counsel to “ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally” ( James 1:5). The Bible has always been very important to Latter-day Saints. Kimball gave the original committee: “to assist in improving doctrinal scholarship throughout the Church.” The publication this fall of this historic new edition of the King James Bible crowns the efforts of hundreds of workers and the General Authorities who have directed them, efforts that have lasted almost seven years.Įventually, this new edition of the Bible will be joined by a new edition of the triple combination to fulfill the charge President Spencer W. This year, for the first time in the history of the Church, Latter-day Saints will have an edition of the King James Bible whose references and supplementary material reflect the unique illuminations shed on it through our modern-day scriptures.
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