Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible

Joseph Smith Translation
Full nameInspired Version of the Holy Scriptures or Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible
AbbreviationIV or JST depending on denomination
Complete Bible
published
1867
CopyrightPublic domain
Yea, in the beginning I created the heaven, and the earth upon which thou standest. And the earth was without form, and void; and I caused darkness to come up upon the face of the deep. And my Spirit moved upon the face of the waters, for I am God. And I, God, said, Let there be light, and there was light.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Statues of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith

The Joseph Smith Translation (JST), also called the Inspired Version of the Holy Scriptures (IV), is a revision of the Bible by Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, who said that the JST/IV was intended to restore what he described as "many important points touching the salvation of men, [that] had been taken from the Bible, or lost before it was compiled".[1] Smith was killed before he deemed it complete, though most of his work on it was performed about a decade beforehand. The work is the King James Version of the Bible (KJV) with some significant additions and revisions. It is considered a sacred text and is part of the canon of Community of Christ (CoC), formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and other Latter Day Saint churches. Selections from the Joseph Smith Translation are also included in the footnotes and the appendix of the Latter-day Saint edition of the LDS-published King James Version of the Bible. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' edition of the Bible includes selections from the JST in its footnotes and appendix. It has officially canonized only certain excerpts that appear in the Pearl of Great Price. These excerpts are the Book of Moses and Smith's revision of part of the Gospel of Matthew.

  1. ^ Joseph Smith (Joseph Fielding Smith ed.), Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 16 February 1832, pp. 10–11. See also the LDS Church's "Eighth Article of Faith", which states: "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly".