Joseph Smith: Translating the Book of Mormon
On September 21, 1823 Joseph Smith
was praying when a light began to fill his room. A person appeared in
the light and began to speak to Joseph. Joseph recorded this
experience, “He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a
messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was
Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be
had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that
it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people. He
said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an
account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source
from whence they sprang. He also said that the fulness of the
everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to
the ancient inhabitants; Also, that there were two stones in
silver bows—and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted
what is called the Urim and Thummim—deposited
with the plates; and the possession and use of these stones were what
constituted “Seers” in ancient or former times; and that God had
prepared them for the purpose of translating the book. After
telling me these things, he commenced quoting the prophecies of the Old
Testament.” After this Joseph was shown the place where the plates were
hidden, which was a hill not far from Joseph’s home.
After this night, every September for four years Joseph Smith
was instructed to go to the Hill Cumorah to be taught by Moroni.
Finally in September of 1827, Moroni gave the plates to Joseph to be
translated. Emma, Joseph Smith’s wife, worked for a time as scribe
during translation. Numerous attempts were made to steal the plates
from Joseph, and the attacks became so vicious that Emma and Joseph
went to stay with her family in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Martin Harris, a good friend of the Smith, family followed them to Harmony and acted as scribe for Joseph.
Just a short time later, “Martin asked Joseph if he could take 116
pages of translated material home to show his family members to prove
to them the validity of the work they were doing. Joseph asked the Lord
for permission, but the Lord’s answer was no. Martin pleaded for Joseph
to ask again, which Joseph reluctantly did two more times and finally
received permission. Martin made a covenant to show the manuscript only
to certain people, but he broke his promise, and the pages of
manuscript were stolen. This loss caused Joseph inconsolable grief, for
he thought that all his efforts to serve the Lord had been lost. He
cried, ‘What shall I do? I have sinned—it is I who tempted the wrath of
God. I should have been satisfied with the first answer which I
received from the Lord.’
Joseph sincerely repented, and after a brief period when the plates
and the Urim and Thummim were taken away, the Lord forgave him and he
began translating once again. The Lord instructed him not to
retranslate the lost material, which contained a secular history.
Instead, Joseph was to translate other plates prepared by the prophet
Nephi that covered the same period of time but contained greater
prophecies of Christ and other sacred writings. The Lord had foreseen
the loss of the 116 pages and inspired Nephi to prepare this second
history” (see Our Heritage).
In April of 1829 Oliver Cowdery began working as scribe for Joseph
Smith during the translation of the Book of Mormon. Of this time Oliver
Cowdery wrote, These were days never to be forgotten—to sit under the
sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awakened the
utmost gratitude of this bosom! Day after day I continued,
uninterrupted, to write from his mouth, as he translated with the Urim
and Thummim, or, as the Nephites would have said, ‘Interpreters,’ the
history or record called ‘The Book of Mormon.’”
Persecutions began again to vicious and numerous so Joseph moved to
Fayette, New York and stayed in the home of the Whittmer family.
Translation continued until it was completed in July 1829. The gold
plates and Urim and Thummim were then returned to the angel Moroni.
Other Links:
Joseph Smith - Home
Joseph Smith, Jr. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith - American Prophet
Joseph Smith Daguerreotype
Fulfilled Prophecies of Joseph Smith
JS-H 1
Joseph Smith
BBC - Religion & Ethics - The Story of Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith: Biography and Much More From Answers.com
Joseph Smith - Lightplanet
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