View source for Question: If the Joseph Smith Translation (JST) is Joseph Smith's 'correction' of Biblical errors, why do these corrections not match known Biblical manuscripts?

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==Question: If the Joseph Smith Translation (JST) is Joseph Smith's 'correction' of Biblical errors, why do these corrections not match known Biblical manuscripts?==
===The Joseph Smith Translation (JST) is better thought of as an "inspired commentary" rather than a "translation"===

The Joseph Smith Translation (JST) is not a translation in the traditional sense.  Joseph did not consider himself a "translator" in the academic sense. The JST is better thought of as a kind of "inspired commentary"--Joseph was not usually restoring 'lost text' (though in some few cases he may have). The Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible is not, as some members have presumed, simply a restoration of lost Biblical text or an improvement on the translation of known text.  Rather, the JST also involves harmonization of doctrinal concepts, commentary and elaboration on the Biblical text, and explanations to clarify points of importance to the modern reader. 

Some aspects of the JST may reflect a restoration of lost Biblical text. Joseph did not claim to be mechanically preserving some hypothetically 'perfect' Biblical text.  Rather, Joseph used the extant King James text as a basis for commentary, expansion, and clarification based upon revelation, with particular attention to issues of doctrinal importance for the modern reader.  Reading the JST is akin to having the prophet at your elbow as one studies&mdash;it allows Joseph to clarify, elaborate, and comment on the Biblical text in the light of modern revelation.

The JST comes from a more prophetically mature and sophisticated Joseph Smith, and provides doctrinal expansion based upon additional revelation, experience, and understanding.

===Joseph Smith: "I might have rendered a plainer translation to this, but it is sufficiently plain to suit my purpose as it stands"===

It is important to remember that Joseph did not consider one 'translation' of anything to be perfect or 'the final word.'  Joseph had indicated that Moroni quoted Malachi to him using different wording than the KJV (See [http://scriptures.lds.org/js_h/1/36#39 Joseph Smith History 1:36&ndash;39]).  However, when Joseph quoted the same passage years later in a discussion about vicarious baptism for the dead, he said:

<blockquote>
I might have rendered a plainer translation to this, but it is sufficiently plain to suit my purpose as it stands. It is sufficient to know, in this case, that the earth will be smitten with a curse unless there is a welding link of some kind or other between the fathers and the children, upon some subject or other-and behold what is that subject? It is the baptism. for the dead ({{s||DC|128|18}}). {{ea}}
</blockquote>

Thus, to Joseph, the adequacy of a translation depended upon the uses to which a given text will be employed.  For one discussion, the KJV was adequate; for others, not.  A key element of LDS theology is that living prophets are the primary instrument through which God continues to give knowledge and understanding to his children.  Scriptures are neither inerrant, nor somehow "perfect," but are instead produced by [[Fallibility_of_prophets|fallible mortals]].  Despite this, because of current prophets and the revelation granted each individual, the writings of past prophets are sufficient to teach the principles essential for salvation.  Additional revelation is sought and received as required.

Modern readers are accustomed to thinking of a 'translation' as only the conversion of text in one language to another.  But, Joseph used the term in a broader and more inclusive sense, which included explanation, commentary, and harmonization.  The JST is probably best understood in this light.

===An Example: The Lord's Prayer===

There is a great example of this kind of difference in the Lord's prayer.  Compare the following:

:And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (Book of Mormon).
:And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (KJV Bible).
:And ''suffer us not to be led into'' temptation, but deliver us from evil (JST Bible).

The JST changes the statement to passive voice whereas the KJV Bible and the Book of Mormon are in active voice.  According to E. W. Bullinger, this particular scripture contains a Hebraism, namely, "active verbs were used by the Hebrews to express not the doing of the thing, but the permission of the thing which the agent is said do."  Consequently, Bullinger interprets the passage this way: "Lead us not (i.e., suffer us not to be led) into temptation."<ref>See E. W. Bullinger, ''Figures of Speech used In the Bible: Explained and Illustrated''  (London: Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1898), 819-824.</ref>

Adam Clarke agrees with Bullinger.  He wrote this scripture means "'Bring not in,' or 'lead us not into.' (This is a mere Hebraism. God is said to do a thing which He only permits or suffers to be done)."<ref>Adam Clark, ''Commentary an the Bible'', abridged by Ralph Earle, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book, 1979), 778.</ref>

In ''Barnes' Notes on the New Testament'' we read the same interpretation. "This phrase then must be used in the sense of permitting. Do not suffer us or permit us, to be tempted to sin. In this it is implied that God 'has such control over us and the tempter, as to save us from it if we call on him."<ref>''Barnes' Notes on the New Testament'', edited by Ingram Cobbin, (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1980), 30.</ref>

When properly considered, this passage is an example of where the JST reading and the KJV/Book of Mormon are both correct.  The KJV and Book of Mormon are literal interpretations while the JST is an interpretive translation that is also correct.  Given Joseph's relative inexperience in prophetic interpretation in 1829, he would be far more likely to render a verse literally than engage in interpretation.

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[[es:Pregunta: Si la Traducción de José Smith (TJS) es "corrección" de José Smith de errores bíblicos, ¿por qué estas correcciones no coinciden conocido manuscritos bíblicos?]]
[[pt:Pergunta: Se a Tradução de Joseph Smith (TJS) é uma "correção" dos erros bíblicos, por que essas correções não correspondem a manuscritos conhecidos?]]