I attempted to translate it to german, but it looked so horrible. Mormon scholars debate joseph smiths role in translation. Finnish, french, german, greek, haitian, hawaiian, hindi, hmong, hungarian. A comparison documentary between the bible and the book of mormon. The second installment in book of mormon centrals evidence video series tackles the translation of the book of mormon.
The truth of the book of mormon and its divine source can be known today. Some church art of the book of mormon translation shows joseph studiously looking at the plates with one finger on the engraved letters as if he could actually read what each character said. Shane jones from ephraim, ut has a pleasant conversation with a latterday saint on the topic of how joseph smith translated the gold plates. The book of mormon is an english translation of these plates. Ten littleknown facts about the book of mormon meridian. I neither condemn the books nor the translators, however, mk in german better gives the. Look up words and phrases in comprehensive, reliable bilingual dictionaries and search through billions of online translations. Digital versions of scripture translations that have already existed in print. Were the plates sometimes not in the room while joseph was translating them. German translation of mormon collins englishgerman.
The purposes of the book of mormon and jst translations were not identical. Most readers of the book of mormon naturally assume that joseph smith translated its books beginning in 1 nephi 1. Facts are facts and truth is truth, ferguson once wrote about the. From that humble beginning, today the church prints over 3 million copies a year on large web presses. Languages with lds materials international resources for latter. After the prophet joseph smiths original translation of the book of mormon from the gold plates into english in 1829 and the return of those plates to the angel moroni, no translations from english into other languages appeared until the 1850s. The translation of the book of mormon into afrikaans. Some even helped joseph smith learn german so that he could read martin luthers translation of the bible, which, joseph later remarked. I am currently engaged in the translation of two books, one in german and one in hebrew, the former rather longer than the book of mormon, the latter somewhat shorter. If one assumes that fairmormons undisputed silence is acceptance of the facts, fairmormon agrees with 100% of the ces letters book of mormon translation section. Clive barker the great and secret show 2001 to joseph. This assertion can mislead people into believing the book of mormon production process was nothing short of miraculous. For example, we might restate the objection as follows. The video presents two distinct pieces of evidence for the truthfulness of the book of mormon.
Episodes of mormon miscellaneous, a talk show on mormon history, scripture, doctrine and many controversial topics, by lds host, van hale, now in its 38th year. With howards departure, the first effort to carry the gospel message to germany came to an end. Consistent with that definition, the translation of the book of mormon by joseph smith is indeed a modernday miracle. We believe that god has revealed his word to all people in all generations and the book of mormon is simply a record of his dealings with a different nation than that of the bible. This blue edition of the book of mormon includes footnotes, crossreferences, and guide to the scriptures. Some may believe that the book of mormon must have been a translation in which nothing but formal equivalency word for word translation would be what god would provide as the translation. Book of mormon translations the encyclopedia of mormonism. According to lds belief, enoch, elijah, moses, john the apostle, the three nephites, and others were translated. Approximately million copies of the book of mormon have been printed since 1830. Critics have argued that the book of mormon cannot be true because joseph smiths claims about the book of mormon s translation seem unbelievable, but this new video seeks to put these criticisms to rest. One of the greatest single achievements of the south african saints was the translation of the book of mormon into afrikaans. The number of languages with reported translations of church materials has.
Given joseph smiths secretiveness regarding the gold plates and their mysterious disappearance along with the fact that the earliest extant version of the book of mormon is the nineteenthcentury english text that he dictated, its claim to be a translation of a reformed egyptian text. When he sat down in 1832 to write his own history for the first time, he began by promising to include an account of his marvelous experience. The french, german and italian editions soon followed in 1852. The triple combination contains the book of mormon, the doctrine. Mormonism and the biblejoseph smith translationrelationship to. Ive read mein kampf, and the red book as well as hp. Was joseph smith really uneducated when he translated the. Translate texts with the worlds best machine translation technology, developed by the creators of linguee. This week on 3 mormons, ian and kwaku talk with florian and emily. April 06, 1829 to june 16, 1829 translation of the book of mormon at this point we move to a daily analysis of the translation of the book of mormon. Was joseph smith really uneducated when he translated the book of mormon. The ten most expensive mormon books meridian magazine. Lds scriptures online in german, french, spanish and.
How a mormon lawyer transformed archaeology in mexicoand. In the theology of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints lds church, translation refers to being physically changed by god from a mortal human being to an immortal human being. The translation of the book of mormon was truly marvelous. Translating the book of mormon book of mormon facts. Elder john taylor had just supervised the translation of the book of mormon into french. In september 1851, an apostle, a mission president, a missionary and two converts came together to translate and publish the first edition of the book of mormon in german. In 30 years, ive seen the price of a first edition book of mormon. To answer your question in the authors comment, its a song from a very popular broadway musical called book of mormon. Book of mormon central has released a new video affirming the truth of the book of mormon and the historical facts surrounding its translation. Book of mormon translator converted the mormon urban. German immigrants to england were converted during the lifetime of the prophet joseph smith in london and later moved to nauvoo, illinois, where they established their own german speaking mormon congregation. The primary obstacles to the book s success include the acceptance of an outdated concept of the nature of history, a narrow research methodology, superficial knowledge of the history, culture, laws and institutions of germany, and a tedious writing style, typical of ph.
The german 1852 and the hawaiian 1855 are the rarest of the foreign language editions. It may be surprising, therefore, to learn that the small plates of nephi 1 nephi through words of mormon almost certainly came last in the translation process, after the completion of the large plates of nephi mosiah through moroni and the title. The french, german and italian editions soon followed in. It is an attempt to put an at least approximate date on each of those events which were recorded from the time joseph smith received the book of mormon plates, until the time that the translation was completed. German translation of mormon the official collins english german dictionary online. At a meeting in johannesburg on may 14, 1972, when the afrikaans boek van mormon was introduced to the south african saints, it was a happy and, at the same time, an emotionpacked experience for those in attendance. The problem is that the book of mormon does not represent a oneforone conversion of text from reformed egyptian to english. Much can be known about the coming forth of the english text of the book of mormon through a careful study of statements made by joseph smith, his scribes, and.
The translation of the book of mormon, completed by joseph. National geographic society statement on the book of mormon. As far as possible, the translators were to be members of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints. From the 2014 mormon miracle pageant in manti the bible vs. The book of mormon is published in 112 languages, and many of them are available in multiple formats online in march 1830, 5,000 copies of the book of mormon were printed in the e. Welchs excellent article entitled the miraculous translation of the book of mormon, from opening the heavens, accounts of divine manifestations 18201844, p. The book of mormon is presently in print in over eighty languages and is now being translated or prepared for publication in many, many more. Even after the translation into portuguese of the book of mormon and other church literature under the direction of president howells, the church grew slowly because of world war ii. It is claimed that each sentence and word in the 1830 book of mormon had supposedly come directly from god. The book of mormon has been translated in its entirety into 97 languages. What do we know about the method used to translate the book of mormon. The scientific legacy of a quest to prove the book of mormon. His early work on the translation, with emma smith and martin harris serving as the main scribes, was lost in 1828. Introduction to the approximate book of mormon translation.
The approximate book of mormon translation timeline was an interesting article to research. Cannon translated the book of mormon into hawaiian with the assistance of native judge and convert jonathan h. The first missionary work was done in german speaking colonies. Unless otherwise indicated, the translation was financed and the resulting text published by the church of jesus christ of latterday saints lds church. Some show joseph reading the characters to his scribe oliver cowdery with the plates exposed in. While on assignment from the lds prophet joseph smith to visit jerusalem in 1840, elder orson hyde of the quorum of the twelve apostles suggested opening a mission in germany and translating the book of mormon into german. Could joseph smith have authored the book of mormon. Translations of the book of mormon church history museum. The book of mormon came into the world through a series of miraculous events. The missionaries ordered a press from boston that was eventually shipped to san francisco, where the book was finally printed. Book of mormon index of topics mormonism research ministry. The german translation of the book of mormon, journal of.
These tables show all the versions of the book of mormon that have been translated. Privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers statistics cookie statement mobile view. The book of mormon translation was completed here in june 1829. The book of mormon is an entirely different book of scripture. Church history church leaders education events facts and figures family history. Book of mormon translation in portuguese came soon after. The above donut chart shows percentages of the book of mormon translation section of letter to a ces director that fairmormon is in agreement, disagreement, and neutral on. Scharffs journal of book of mormon studies 111 2002. A person that has been translated is referred to as a translated being. Over 100,000 german translations of english words and phrases.
Some had waited all of their lifetimes to read the book of mormon in afrikaans. National geographic society statement on the book of mormon national geographic society statement on the book of mormon language. The first edition of the book of mormon after english was danish in 1851, followed by french, italian, welsh, and german in 1852. The first german edition of the book of mormon came off the press in hamburg, germany, on may 25, 1852. The german translation of the book of mormon gilbert w. Willers was the reformed german minister at fayette and wrote this. There are hundreds of such references in the book of mormon. Joseph smith translated an ancient text by the gift and power of god to produce the book of mormon. On november 27, 1967 the metropolitan museum of art in new york city made available to the church certain papyri fragments that had once been in. Florian and emily were recently baptized and have been faithful members.
I have found that it is one thing to grasp in my mind the ideas of the original without translating those ideas into english but that it is quite a different matter to find the. Why does the book of mormon match the king james version kjv of. This is one in a series on book of mormon translations and translators. The official collins english german dictionary online. Again, it is the rate of translation, approximately 6.