One of the most fundamental truth claims of the Restoration is the divine origin of the Book of Mormon, including its origin as a translation of ancient Nephite records. That truth claim was challenged in the early days of the Church by critics (such as E.D. Howe in Mormonism Unvailed) who claimed Joseph Smith didn't really translate anything but instead
(i) read words that appeared on a "peep stone" (the "stone-in-the-hat" narrative, aka SITH) and didn't even use the plates,
or
(ii) read a manuscript written by Solomon Spalding.
Critics continue to employ the same arguments against the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. But recently, several faithful LDS scholars have embraced the SITH narrative; i.e., they agree with the critics that Joseph didn't actually translate the engravings on the plates.
They differ from the critics only in asserting that the words on the stone were from a divine source instead of from a human or malevolent source, as claimed by critics.
The Gospel Topics Essay on Book of Mormon Translation, as of 1 September 2022, accommodates the SITH narrative. I propose that it be revised or edited to provide Latter-day Saints and other interested readers an accurate resource with a range of alternative interpretations of the historical evidence.
_____
The introduction to the Gospel Topics Essays quotes D&C
88:118 and explains that "Seeking ‘out of the best books’ does not mean
seeking only one set of opinions, but it does require us to distinguish between
reliable sources and unreliable sources."
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics-essays/essays?lang=eng
The essays were originally intended “to provide accurate
and transparent information on church history and doctrine within the
framework of faith…” Leaders were told that “When church members have questions
regarding [LDS] history and doctrine, possibly arising when detractors spread
misinformation and doubt, you may want to direct their attention to these
resources.”
However, the essay as currently published does not
provide accurate and transparent information because it deliberately omits
what Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery taught about the translation by means of
the Urim and Thummim (U&T) that came with the plates.
Readers deserve to be informed about what Joseph and Oliver
taught, even though their claims contradict the currently popular
“stone-in-the-hat” (SITH) narrative.
The current version of the essay is also misleading in
several respects because it is carefully worded to accommodate the SITH
narrative. Rather than acknowledge the irreconcilable contradiction between the
SITH narrative and what Joseph and Oliver taught, the essay simply
(i)
omits what Joseph and Oliver taught and
(ii)
tries to dodge the conflict by redefining the
term Urim and Thummim to include the seer stone, contrary to the plain
meaning of what Joseph and Oliver taught.
To fulfill the stated purpose of the essay, at a minimum the
essay should
(i)
quote what Joseph and Oliver taught
(ii)
acknowledge the conflict between the SITH and
U&T narratives, and
(iii)
outline multiple alternative reconciliations. Among
these are the redefinition of terms approach and the evidence that the seer
stone accounts originated with a demonstration rather than the actual
translation process.
_____
The table below includes commentary on the essay.
|
Gospel Topics Essay |
Commentary |
|
1. Joseph Smith said
that the Book of Mormon was “the most
correct of any Book on earth & the keystone of our religion & a man
would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other Book.”1 The Book of Mormon came into the world
through a series of miraculous events. |
The footnote
explains this quotation comes from Wilford Woodruff’s journal, so it would be
better to explain that “Wilford Woodruff reported that Joseph Smith taught
that the Book of Mormon was ‘the most correct…’.” In the 1800s, Woodruff’s summary was converted into a first-person quotation attributed to Joseph Smith. Inexplicably, the fake quotation remains in the official Introduction to the Book of Mormon. |
|
2. 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
others closely associated with the translation of the Book of Mormon. |
This is an
ideal aspiration, but as we’ll see below, the essay doesn’t follow through
because instead of offering “a careful study of statements made by Joseph
Smith” and his scribes, the essay omits those statements and focuses on
others. |
|
3. Joseph
Smith reported that on the evening of September 21, 1823, while he prayed in
the upper room of his parents’ small log home in Palmyra, New York, an angel
who called himself Moroni appeared and told Joseph that “God had a work for
[you] to do.”2 |
Readers
should know that the first and most reliable and authoritative identification
of the messenger as Moroni was in Cowdery’s Letter VI, written in 1835 when
Cowdery was Assistant President of the Church and with the assistance of
Joseph Smith. https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/83
The quotation
is from what is now Joseph Smith—History 1:33. That verse identifies the
angel as Moroni. The original
version was published in the Times and Seasons on 15 April 1842. There, the angel who visited was identified
as Nephi. Lucy Mack Smith’s history quoted the Times and Seasons, also
identifying the angel as Nephi. Some have
wondered why the compilers of this history would have identified the angel as
“Nephi” and why Joseph, supposedly the active editor of the Times and Seasons
when this account was published, would not have “corrected” the
identification. One reason could be that Joseph was merely the nominal
editor; i.e., someone else was the actual editor. (That’s what I think the
evidence shows. ) Another could be that the compilers knew Joseph interacted
with both Moroni and Nephi and weren’t sure which one appeared in 1823. Brigham Young
taught that Joseph had interactions with Nephi (one of the unnamed three
Nephites from 3 Nephi 28) as well as with Moroni. One such
incident can be pieced together from the historical record. Before leaving
Harmony in May/June 1829, Joseph gave the plates to a divine messenger he
later identified as “one of the Nephites.” The same messenger later showed
the Fayette plates to Mary Whitmer. She said he identified himself as Brother
Nephi. For more about the Moroni/Nephi problem, see "Moroni and Nephi clarified" here: |
|
4. He
informed Joseph that “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.” |
Readers
should know that the earliest explanation was in Cowdery’s Letter IV, which
states that the messenger “said this history was written and deposited not
far from that place [the Smith farm near Palmyra], and that it was [Joseph’s]
privilege, if obedient to the commandments of the Lord, to obtain and
translate the same by the means of the Urim and Thummim, which were deposited
for that purpose with the record.” https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/69
|
|
5. The
book could be found in a hill not far from the Smith family farm. |
This is an
uncredited paraphrase of President Cowdery’s 1835 Letter IV, in which Moroni
tells Joseph “this history was written and deposited not far from that place
[the Smith family farm near Palmyra].” Letter IV gives additional details
from this visit that relate to the translation, but these details are omitted
in this essay. The angel “proceeded and gave a general account of the
promises made to the fathers, and also gave a history of the aborigenes of
this country, and said they were literal descendants of Abraham…. He said
this history was written and deposited not far from that place, and that it
was our brother’s privilege, if obedient to the commandments of the Lord, to
obtain and translate the same by the means of the Urim and Thummim, which
were deposited for that purpose with the record." See https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/68 Readers deserve to know that during his first visit, Moroni told Joseph “the record is on a side hill on the Hill of Cumorah 3 miles from this place.” https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/lucy-mack-smith-history-1844-1845/41
Oliver
declared it was a fact that the hill Cumorah in New York is the same as the
hill Cumorah in Mormon 6:6. https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/90
|
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6. This
was no ordinary history, for it contained “the fullness of the everlasting
Gospel as delivered by the Savior.”3 |
This is
another quotation from Joseph Smith—History 1:34. Inexplicably,
the next verse, 35, is never quoted or cited in the essay. That verse
explains what accompanied the plates: “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.” |
|
7. The
angel charged Joseph Smith to translate the book from the ancient language in
which it was written. |
This is an
inaccurate, misleading paraphrase of what Moroni said because it omits
Moroni’s explanation that Joseph would translate the plates by means of the
Urim and Thummim that came with the plates. The Urim and Thummim was
specifically prepared for a seer to translate the unknown language. The essay
should quote, or at least cite, the actual source. “Moroni said]
that it was [Joseph’s] privilege, if obedient to the commandments of the
Lord, to obtain and translate the same by the means of the Urim and Thummim,
which were deposited for that purpose with the record.” https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/69 |
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8. The
young man, however, had very little formal education and was incapable of
writing a book on his own, let alone translating an ancient book written from
an unknown language, known in the Book of Mormon as “reformed Egyptian.”4 |
Joseph’s
formal education was limited to three years, but he knew the many Biblical
passages Moroni quoted well enough to discern that Moroni had quoted some
exactly and changed the wording in other passages. Joseph was also
“intimately familiar” with Christian doctrines and writings. |
|
9. Joseph’s
wife Emma insisted that, at the time of translation, Joseph “could neither
write nor dictate a coherent and well-worded letter, let alone dictat[e] a
book like the Book of Mormon.”5 |
Actually,
Joseph wrote a letter to his uncle Jesse before he translated the Book of
Mormon. Jesse said it looked like it had been written by a prophet. A letter Joseph
wrote to Oliver shortly after the translation was complete is both coherent
and well worded, and it does not merely repeat Book of Mormon language. Emma
purportedly related this statement to her son, Joseph Smith III, shortly
before she died in 1879 (50 years after Joseph translated the plates). The
account was published after her death. Emma never publicly acknowledged the
statement. Plus, her statement doesn’t make sense because Joseph did
dictate the book. |
|
10. Joseph
received the plates in September 1827 and the following spring, in Harmony,
Pennsylvania, began translating them in earnest, with Emma and his friend
Martin Harris serving as his main scribes. |
Good as is,
except it is misleading because he didn’t receive the plates by themselves. Readers
should know about two key scriptural passages: “At length the time arrived
for obtaining the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate.” (Joseph
Smith—History 1:59) “immediately
after my arrival [in Pennsylvania] I commenced copying the characters off the
plates. I copied a considerable number of them, and by means of the Urim
and Thummim I translated some of them, which I did between the time I
arrived at the house of my wife’s father, in the month of December, and the
February following." (Joseph Smith—History 1:62) |
|
11. The
resulting English transcription, known as the Book of Lehi and referred to by
Joseph Smith as written on 116 pages, was subsequently lost or stolen. As a
result, Joseph Smith was rebuked by the Lord and lost the ability to
translate for a short time.6 |
The essay
doesn’t explain what “lost the ability to translate” means, but Lucy Mack
Smith explained that Joseph had to give up the Urim and Thummim after losing
the 116 pages. Later, Joseph
told her that “on the 22d of September [1828], I had the joy and satisfaction
of again receiving the Urim and Thummim; and have commenced translating
again, and Emma writes for me; but the angel said that the Lord would send me
a scribe, and I trust his promise will be verified. He also seemed pleased
with me, when he gave me back the Urim and Thummim; and he told me that the
Lord loved me, for my faithfulness and humility. “Soon after I
received them I inquired of the Lord, and obtained the following revelation”:
“Now, behold
I say unto you, that, because <you> delivered up those writings, which
you had power given you to translate, by the means of the Urim and Thummim
into the hands of a wicked man, you have lost them; and you also lost your
gift at the same time, and your mind became darkened;” Notice how
the Urim and Thummim was directly linked to Joseph’s ability to translate throughout
this incident. The essay explains none of this; it merely says Joseph “lost
the ability to translate for a short time.” |
|
12. Joseph
began translating again in 1829, and almost all of the present Book of Mormon
text was translated during a three-month period between April and June of
that year. |
David Whitmer
said it took 8 months. Joseph said he started translating in the fall of 1828
after he received the record and the Urim and Thummim back. Some portion or
all of the Book of Mosiah was translated before Oliver Cowdery arrived in
Harmony in April. |
|
13. His
chief scribe during these months was Oliver Cowdery, a schoolteacher
from Vermont who learned about the Book of Mormon while boarding with
Joseph’s parents in Palmyra. Called by God in a vision, Cowdery traveled to
Harmony to meet Joseph Smith and investigate further. |
|
|
14. Of
his experience as scribe, Cowdery wrote, “These were days never to be
forgotten—to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven.”7 |
This
truncated quotation misleadingly omits a key teaching relevant to the topic. “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.’ (Joseph
Smith—History, Note, 1) |
|
15. The
manuscript that Joseph Smith dictated to Oliver Cowdery and others is known
today as the original manuscript, about 28 percent of which still survives.8 This manuscript corroborates Joseph
Smith’s statements that the manuscript was written within a short time frame
and that it was dictated from another language. For example, it includes
errors that suggest the scribe heard words incorrectly rather than misread
words copied from another manuscript.9 In addition, some grammatical
constructions that are more characteristic of Near Eastern languages than
English appear in the original manuscript, suggesting that the base language
of the translation was not English.10 |
|
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16. Unlike
most dictated drafts, the original manuscript was considered by Joseph Smith
to be, in substance, a final product. |
|
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17. To
assist in the publication of the book, Oliver Cowdery made a handwritten copy
of the original manuscript. This copy is known today as the printer’s
manuscript. Because Joseph Smith did not call for punctuation, such as
periods, commas, or question marks, as he dictated, such marks are not in the
original manuscript. The typesetter later inserted punctuation marks when he
prepared the text for the printer.11 With the exceptions of punctuation,
formatting, other elements of typesetting, and minor adjustments required to
correct copying and scribal errors, the dictation copy became the text of the
first printed edition of the book.12 |
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Translation
Instruments |
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18. Many
accounts in the Bible show that God transmitted revelations to His prophets
in a variety of ways. Elijah learned that God spoke not to him through
the wind or fire or earthquake but through a “still small voice.”13 Paul and other early Apostles sometimes
communicated with angels and, on occasion, with the Lord Jesus Christ.14 At other times, revelation came in the
form of dreams or visions, such as the revelation to Peter to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, or
through sacred objects like the Urim and Thummim.15 |
|
|
19. Joseph
Smith stands out among God’s prophets, because he was called to render into
his own language an entire volume of scripture amounting to more than 500
printed pages, containing doctrine that would deepen and expand the
theological understanding of millions of people. For this monumental task,
God prepared additional, practical help in the form of physical instruments. |
|
|
20. Joseph
Smith and his scribes wrote of two instruments used in translating the Book
of Mormon. |
This is a
deliberately misleading sentence. Joseph never wrote of any instrument other
than the Urim and Thummim. Oliver
Cowdery, his main scribe for all but a few pages of the Book of Mormon we
have today, never wrote of any instrument other than the Urim and Thummim. Another
scribe, John Whitmer, also spoke only of the Urim and Thummim. That leaves
only Martin Harris and Emma Smith as scribes who wrote about two instruments. However, Martin never wrote about
the translation, and Emma wrote only a brief letter in which she mentioned
two instruments. Additional verbal statements of varying reliability have been
attributed to Martin and Emma but were not written by them. |
|
21. According
to witnesses of the translation, when Joseph looked into the instruments, the
words of scripture appeared in English. |
This is by
definition hearsay because the only person who looked into the instruments
was Joseph Smith. We have no record of a direct statement by Joseph about
what he saw or how he used the instruments, except that he used them to
translate. The witness
statements reflect inference, assumption, and conjecture. Furthermore,
these witnesses could not have seen the actual translation because Joseph was
forbidden to show them either the plates or the Urim and Thummim. Instead,
the evidence suggests they merely observed a demonstration. All of their
statements are consistent with having observed a demonstration, not the
actual translation of the plates |
|
22. One
instrument, called in the Book of Mormon the “interpreters,” is better known
to Latter-day Saints today as the “Urim and Thummim.” Joseph found the
interpreters buried in the hill with the plates.16 |
This is
another misleading statement, designed to imply that the term “Urim and
Thummim” was an invented term that is only "better known" to modern Latter-day Saints. That's directly contradicts the historical record. The “interpreters” were “better known” during Joseph’s time as the “Urim and Thummim” because Joseph himself referred to the Nephite interpreters as the “Urim and Thummim,” as is plain throughout Joseph Smith—History and his other accounts of Moroni’s visit. The essay consistently evades that important point. Furthermore, they were not “buried.” They were “deposited”
in a stone box. “Buried” implies a false connection with “buried treasure.” |
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23. Those
who saw the interpreters described them as a clear pair of stones bound
together with a metal rim. The Book of Mormon referred to this instrument,
together with its breastplate, as a device “kept and preserved by the hand of
the Lord” and “handed down from generation to generation, for the purpose of
interpreting languages.”17 |
Important:
this is the only instrument that Oliver and Joseph ever said that Joseph used
during the translation. As indicated
in the footnote, some scholars assume it was W.W. Phelps who coined the term
“Urim and Thummim” for the interpreters because Phelps’ article in the 1833 Evening
and Morning Star was thought to be the earliest extant published account
that uses that term. However, Phelps’ article is also consistent with prior
use of the term, whether verbal or printed; i.e., Phelps was providing an
explanation of the term for readers who were familiar with the Bible. More importantly, the
first known published use of the term “Urim and Thummim” that refers to the
Nephite interpreters was reported on August 5, 1832, when Orson Hyde and
Samuel Smith told an audience in Boston that the translation “was made known
by the spirit of the Lord through the medium of the Urim and Thummim.” Of course, Orson and Samuel undoubtedly
heard that from someone else—presumably Joseph or Oliver. Letter IV
portrays Moroni telling Joseph that it was his privilege “to obtain and
translate the same by the means of the Urim and Thummim, which were deposited
for that purpose with the record.” When Oliver wrote these letters, he
explained he was using original documents then in their possession. He could
have referred to the notebook he kept during the translation process, in
which he recorded the things Joseph told him. In other words, it could have
been Moroni, not W.W. Phelps, who first identified the interpreters as the
Urim and Thummim. The footnote
observes that Joseph “most often used the term “Urim and Thummim,” but does
not explain that we have no record of Joseph ever using the term “seer stone”
to explain his translation of the Book of Mormon. |
|
24. The
other instrument, which Joseph Smith discovered in the ground years before he
retrieved the gold plates, was a small oval stone, or “seer stone.”18 |
Here the
essay leads readers to think past the sale by describing the “seer stone” as an instrument
used for the translation, contrary to what Joseph and Oliver expressly taught. |
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25. As
a young man during the 1820s, Joseph Smith, like others in his day, used a
seer stone to look for lost objects and buried treasure.19 |
Joseph and
Oliver both jokingly acknowledged the allegations, but neither stated,
suggested, or implied it was anything as extensive as the critics (and some modern LDS historians and apologists) claim. |
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26. As
Joseph grew to understand his prophetic calling, he learned that he could use
this stone for the higher purpose of translating scripture.20 |
The last
sentence is pure speculation, portrayed here as fact. There are no historical
records in which Joseph says or implies anything like this. |
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27. Apparently
for convenience, Joseph often translated with the single seer stone rather
than the two stones bound together to form the interpreters. |
This is also pure speculation, portrayed as fact. Neither Joseph nor Oliver ever said he used one seer stone to translate the text. Others claimed they observed Joseph dictating words, but none of them reported what the words were. No one quoted Joseph saying he was translating the plates during these occasions. These accounts are consistent with people
who observed a demonstration and inferred it was the actual translation. But
these accounts also said Joseph did not use the Urim and Thummim or the plates, so by
their own admission, they did not observe what Joseph and Oliver claimed
about the actual translation. |
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28. These
two instruments—the interpreters and the seer stone—were apparently
interchangeable and worked in much the same way such that, in the course of
time, Joseph Smith and his associates often used the term “Urim and Thummim”
to refer to the single stone as well as the interpreters.21 |
Although the
essay claims Joseph and his associates “often” used the term to refer to a
seer stone, the footnote gives only one example, and that example doesn’t
support the claim. The example is from Wilford Woodruff's journal. This happens to be one of the few events that Woodruff recorded for which we have another contemporaneous account that differs significantly from what Woodruff recorded, but the essay doesn't tell readers about that. Over a decade
after the translation, on December 27, 1841, Wilford Woodruff recorded in his
journal “The Twelve or a part of them spent the day with Joseph the seer + he
unfolded unto them many glorious things of the kingdom of God the privileges
+ blessings of the priesthood + I had the privilege of seeing for the first
time in my day the URIM & THUMMIM.”
Woodruff does not describe the object, leaving historians to surmise he was referring to the seer stone so many people reported seeing Joseph use years previously. But Joseph had given that stone to Oliver Cowdery. Besides, if Woodruff was referring to the seer stone that many people had already seen, he doesn’t explain why it was such a privilege. Brigham Young recorded the same occasion differently. “I met with the Twelve at brother Joseph’s. He conversed with us in a familiar manner on a variety of subjects, and explained to us the Urim and Thummim which he found with the plates, called in the Book of Mormon the Interpreters. He said that every man who lived on the earth was entitled to a seer stone, and should have one, but they are kept from them in consequence of their wickedness, and most of those who do find one make an evil use of it; he showed us his seer stone.“ This quotation contradicts the main thesis of SITH. Brigham Young made an explicit distinction between "the Urim and Thummim which he [Joseph] found with the plates," and the "seer stone" Joseph had, which Joseph displayed to explain that "every man who lived on earth was entitled to" such a seer stone. Every man on earth was not entitled to the Urim and Thummim that Joseph found with the plates. Thus, Brigham Young specifically refuted the modern theory that the term "Urim and Thummim" referred to the seer stone Joseph found in a well. Unlike Brigham, Woodruff
didn’t mention two separate objects. His statement can be interpreted several
ways. Maybe he did use the terms interchangeably, contrary to Brigham. Maybe he missed part of the meeting or misunderstood. Maybe he didn’t care enough about the seer stone to mention it, but was impressed because Joseph still had the actual Urim and Thummim. On February 19, 1842, Woodruff recorded in his journal that “the Lord is Blessing Joseph with Power to reveal the mysteries of the kingdom of God; to translate through the Urim and Thummim Ancient records.” We can't tell whether Woodruff reported this from direct observation, from something Joseph said, or merely from his own inference. Lucy Mack Smith wrote that “Joseph kept the Urim and Thummim constantly about his person.” She was writing about an event that occurred in 1827, but in Joseph Smith—History 1:60, he says nothing about him delivering the Urim and Thummim to the messenger. Years later, Heber C. Kimball declared in General Conference that Brigham Young had the Urim and Thummim. Some say this referred to a seer stone, which is possible. But it is also congruent with Woodruff’s journal entry to infer that what Woodruff saw and what Brigham Young possessed was the actual Urim and Thummim that Joseph obtained with the plates. All of
Joseph’s contemporaries and successors in Church leadership, including
Brigham and Wilford, taught that Joseph translated the plates with the Urim
and Thummim. None said or implied that he used a seer stone instead. See the references and discussion here: https://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/2023/08/u-in-elders-journal-outdated-narratives.html |
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29. In
ancient times, Israelite priests used the Urim and Thummim to assist in
receiving divine communications. Although commentators differ on the nature
of the instrument, several ancient sources state that the instrument involved
stones that lit up or were divinely illumined.22 Latter-day Saints later understood the term
“Urim and Thummim” to refer exclusively to the interpreters. |
The Urim and Thummim in the Bible was never described as spectacles. Joseph never said or implied that the Urim and Thummim he had was the same as was mentioned in the Bible. When the essay says "Latter-day Saints later understood the term..." it implies that the term was coined years after Joseph obtained the interpreters from Moroni. However, Joseph’s
history shows it was Moroni who identified the interpreters as Urim and
Thummim. JS-H 1:52. |
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30. Joseph
Smith and others, however, seem to have understood the term more as a
descriptive category of instruments for obtaining divine revelations and less
as the name of a specific instrument. |
“Seem to have understood” is mindreading—and unsupportable historical revisionism. It's true that by 1843, usage had developed this way (D&C 130:8-10), but not before Nauvoo, and not with reference to the "seer stone" Joseph found in a well. In 1834,
there was no confusion about the two terms. The 1834 book Mormonism Unvailed
spelled out the two distinct and alternative explanations for the
translation: SITH and U&T. In response
to Mormonism Unvailed, Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith declared unequivocally
that Joseph used the Urim and Thummim. They published Letter I (now the
footnote to Joseph Smith—History 1:71 that we discussed above). Thereafter,
Joseph and Oliver consistently taught that Joseph used the Urim and Thummim.
All of Joseph’s contemporaries and successors did likewise. There are no
known instances in which Joseph or Oliver ever used the term Urim and Thummim to
refer to anything Joseph used for the translation of the Book of Mormon
except the instrument Moroni put in the stone box. |
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31. Some
people have balked at this claim of physical instruments used in the divine
translation process, but such aids to facilitate the communication of God’s
power and inspiration are consistent with accounts in scripture. In addition
to the Urim and Thummim, the Bible mentions other physical instruments used
to access God’s power: the rod of Aaron, a brass serpent, holy anointing oils,
the Ark of the Covenant,
and even dirt from the ground mixed with saliva to heal
the eyes of a blind man.23 |
These
examples of divinely prepared instruments demonstrate that the Urim and
Thummim was not a generic term applying to ordinary rocks, but instead
referred to a specially prepare instrument, carefully preserved along with
the plates. |
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The
Mechanics of Translation |
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32. In
the preface to the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith wrote: “I
would inform you that I translated [the book], by the gift and power of God.”
|
This excerpt misleadingly portrays Joseph as saying merely that he
“translated” “by the gift and power of God.” However, in
the balance of his statement, which the essay omits, Joseph explains the
source: “the which I took from the Book of Lehi,” referring to the plates. He did not
say “the which I read on a stone.” When read in
context, Joseph unambiguously explained that he translated the plates. |
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33. When
pressed for specifics about the process of translation, Joseph repeated on
several occasions that it had been done “by the gift and power of God”24 and once added, “It was not intended to
tell the world all the particulars of the coming forth of the book of
Mormon.”25 |
This is
another misleading rephrasing of the original source. The record does not show that Joseph was “pressed for specifics about the process of translation.” He was asked about “the coming forth of the book of Mormon” which involved more than the translation, such as Joseph being tutored by divine messengers (including Moroni and Nephi), details about the plates, the breastplate, and the interpreters, information about the repository in the hill Cumorah, whether there was only one or more sets of plates, or even where the Title Page was published. While this 1831 statement could have also referred to the manner of translation, those present at the meeting did not apparently understand it that way. David Whitmer and Martin Harris were both present, and both later discussed details about the translation. If Joseph meant “it is not intended to tell the world all the particulars of the translation of the Book of Mormon,” then these two men violated Joseph’s instructions. There is no record of anyone stating that Joseph told them not to talk about the mechanics of the translation. For that
matter, after 1831 both Joseph and Oliver provided more details about the process
of translation when they testified that Joseph translated the plates by means
of the Urim and Thummim that came with the plates. |
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34. Nevertheless,
the scribes and others who observed the translation left numerous accounts
that give insight into the process. |
This statement simply assumes these non-scribe witnesses observed the actual translation, even though their testimony directly contradicts what Joseph, Oliver, and John Whitmer said. If we accept
what Joseph and Oliver said, then whatever the witnesses observed regarding
SITH was not the translation. |
|
35. Some
accounts indicate that Joseph studied the characters on the plates. Most of
the accounts speak of Joseph’s use of the Urim and Thummim (either the
interpreters or the seer stone), and many accounts refer to his use of a
single stone. |
This analysis conflates the accounts and redefines “Urim and Thummim” to include the seer stone. Joseph said he studied the characters (JS-H 1:62). Joseph and Oliver consistently said that Joseph translated the plates with the U&T that Moroni put in the stone box. Neither of them ever said or implied that Joseph used a seer stone. Other observers who described SITH may or may not have observed the translation. They did not record what words they heard Joseph dictate, so we can’t tell what parts, if any, of the text they thought they witnessed being translated. Dan Vogel, a critic of Joseph Smith, agrees with the anonymous authors of this essay. “Eyewitness testimony confirms that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon in the same manner that he once hunted for buried treasure: that is, with his brown-colored seer stone placed in the crown of his white top hat and his face snug to its brim. Rather than seeing treasures in the bowels of the earth, Smith claimed he saw luminous words on the stone, which he read to a scribe. In this manner the entire Book of Mormon as we have it came into existence. This fact conflicts with Joseph Smith's official history, which claims that he used magic spectacles—which he euphemistically called Urim and Thummim—attached to a breastplate.” I agree with Vogel that SITH conflicts with the official history, as well as every other statement Joseph and Oliver made. But I
disagree with Vogel—and this Gospel Topics Essay—when they claim the other
witnesses observed Joseph translating the Book of Mormon. |
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36. According
to these accounts, Joseph placed either the interpreters or the seer stone in
a hat, pressed his face into the hat to block out extraneous light, and read
aloud the English words that appeared on the instrument.26 |
Here again,
the essay simply assumes the witnesses were describing the actual translation
of the Book of Mormon instead of a demonstration. The essay’s footnote claims two Apostles discussed accounts of the translation process, but each involve isolated quotations from the historical record, not rejections of what Joseph and Oliver taught about the Urim and Thummim. Obviously, neither one was a witness, and neither claimed revelation on this issue. In both cases, they relied on the same historical record that everyone else is. The footnote cites a talk by Elder Maxwell in which he wrote, “The Prophet Joseph alone knew the full process, and he was deliberately reluctant to describe details. We take passing notice of the words of David Whitmer, Joseph Knight, and Martin Harris, who were observers, not translators…." Taking "passing notice" of these observers is appropriate because they are part of the historical record. But these observers do not supersede what Joseph and Oliver explained. Elder Maxwell continued. "Oliver Cowdery is reported to have testified in court that the Urim and Thummim enabled Joseph ‘to read in English, the reformed Egyptian characters, which were engraved on the plates.’” This statement by Oliver is consistent with everything else he taught; i.e., that Joseph translated the characters with the Urim and Thummim. Many years before becoming President of the Church, Elder Russell M. Nelson wrote, “The details of this miraculous method of translation are still not fully known. Yet we do have a few precious insights.” He then quoted David Whitmer and Emma Smith without further comment. These statements are part of the historical record, so it is appropriate to mention them, but as “precious insights,” they are insights into what? Like Elder Maxwell, then-Elder Nelson did not teach that the SITH statements superseded what Joseph and Oliver taught. The statements from David and Emma give us insights into the context of the decades after Joseph and Oliver died. They apparently coordinated their statements more than 40 years after the events. As we can see from the context of the statements themselves, both David and Emma focused on SITH to refute the Spalding theory. |
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37. The
process as described brings to mind a passage from the Book of Mormon that
speaks of God preparing “a stone, which shall shine forth in darkness unto
light.”27 |
The passage in Alma (37:21-25) currently refers twice to “interpreters,” but that was a change made in the 1920 edition. Earlier editions, including the original 1830 edition, used the term “directors” instead. That suggests a meaning different from the “interpreters” mentioned in Ether 4:5 and Mosiah 8 and 28, to which Oliver Cowdery referred in Letter 1 (“the Urim and Thummim, or, as the Nephites would have said, ‘Interpreters’”). In other words, when he and his contemporaries used the term "interpreters," Oliver would not have Alma in mind. Besides, the
scriptural phrase in Alma doesn’t necessarily refer to shining words appearing on a
stone. Consider the
other instances of the phrase “shine forth” in the scriptures. “Thou shalt
shine forth” (Job 11:17). “Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine
forth” (Psalms 80:1). “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun”
(Matthew 13:43). “The King of heaven shall very soon shine forth among all
the children of men” (Alma 5:50). “Then shall the righteous shine forth in
the kingdom of God” (Alma 40:25). “It shall be brought out of the earth, and
it shall shine forth out of darkness” (Mormon 8:16). “Prepare them [stones]
that they may shine forth in darkness” (Ether 3:4). “Thy church may… shine
forth” (D&C 109:73. “Arise and shine forth…” (D&C 115:5). The teachings
of the Book of Mormon themselves “shine forth” regardless of the method of
translation. |
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38. The
scribes who assisted with the translation unquestionably believed that Joseph
translated by divine power. Joseph’s wife Emma explained that she “frequently
wrote day after day” at a small table in their house in Harmony,
Pennsylvania. She described Joseph “sitting with his face buried in his hat,
with the stone in it, and dictating hour after hour with nothing between us.”28 |
The essay cites Emma's "Last Testimony," which her son Joseph Smith III recorded shortly before Emma died. Emma never publicly acknowledged this document, and Joseph Smith III did not publish it until several months after she died. From the context of the statement itself, it is apparent that Emma sought to refute the Spalding theory (which was based on the premise that Joseph dictated from behind a curtain because he was reading the Spalding manuscript.) Although Emma claimed to work as a scribe, we have no record in which she specified when or where she wrote or what portion of the text she recorded. The historical record supports three possibilities. Emma apparently acted as scribe before Martin Harris arrived in 1828, before Oliver Cowdery arrived in 1829, and at the Whitmer home in Fayette. Another translation reference by Emma relates to her credibility and reliability. Historians often cite Emma's 1870 letter in which she wrote, “Now the first that my husband translated was translated by the use of the Urim and Thummim, and that was the part that Martin Harris lost, after that he used a small stone, not exactly, black, but was rather a dark color.” By specifically distinguishing between the two instruments, Emma's statement directly refutes the claim in the essay that we previously discussed: "Latter-day Saints later understood the term 'Urim and Thummim' to refer exclusively to the interpreters." The essay should at least acknowledge this point. Note that Emma's statement implies Joseph did not use the U&T after
the 116 pages were lost. However, Joseph said Emma wrote for him after he recovered the U&T in 1828 (they had been taken because of the lost 116 pages). Lucy Mack Smith wrote in her history that while Joseph and Oliver were working in Harmony, Joseph applied the Urim and Thummim to his eyes and looked on the plates. It doesn’t
make sense to conclude that Joseph received the U&T back in September
1828 so he could resume translating, but then did not use the U&T with Emma, and then to begin using it with Oliver starting in April 1829. I've proposed that Emma wrote part of 2 Nephi in Fayette when Joseph demonstrated the
process with a stone in a hat. That could have provided the basis for her
statements 40+ years later, especially if she sought to counter the Spalding
theory. For more on Emma's "Last Testimony," see https://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/2023/08/credibility-of-emma-smiths-last.html Note 28 here cites the Hadley article. For a discussion of that, see http://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/2023/08/the-jonathan-hadley-account-and-sith.html |
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39. According
to Emma, the plates “often lay on the table without any attempt at
concealment, wrapped in a small linen table cloth.” |
This
statement has been taken to mean Joseph never used the plates during the
translation, but that is not what it says. Joseph had to leave the plates
somewhere when he wasn’t using them. That doesn’t mean he didn’t actually use
them when he translated. This is not complicated. |
|
40. When
asked if Joseph had dictated from the Bible or from a manuscript he had
prepared earlier, Emma flatly denied those possibilities: “He had neither
manuscript nor book to read from.” |
This is part
of the refutation of the Spalding theory, which was the original purpose for
the interview. Emma volunteered her comments about the manner of translation;
they were not in response to specific questions from her son. |
|
41. Emma
told her son Joseph Smith III, “The Book of Mormon is of divine
authenticity—I have not the slightest doubt of it. I am satisfied that no man
could have dictated the writing of the manuscripts unless he was inspired;
for, when acting as his scribe, your father would dictate to me for hour
after hour; and when returning after meals, or after interruptions, he would
at once begin where he had left off, without either seeing the manuscript or
having any portion of it read to him.”29 |
If Joseph was
translating the plates, he naturally would have resumed the translation where
he ended it, with no need of seeing the manuscript to jog his memory. |
|
42. Another
scribe, Martin Harris sat across the
table from Joseph Smith and wrote down the words Joseph dictated. Harris
later related that as Joseph used the seer stone to translate, sentences
appeared. Joseph read those sentences aloud, and after penning the words,
Harris would say, “Written.” |
After he would say “Written,” Martin claimed that “if correctly written that sentence would disappear and another appear in its place, but if not written correctly it remained until corrected, so that the translation was just as it was engraven on the plates, precisely in the language then used.” The reference
to the engravings on the plates is consistent with the language of D&C
10. D&C 10, by directing Joseph to translate the engravings on specific plates (the plates of Nephi which he didn't have at the time), refutes the idea that he was reading words off a stone. Martin’s statement seems to imply a literal and perfect translation, but the only part of the translation that Joseph said was literal was the Title Page. And we can all see that the Original Manuscript (OM) we have today contains inconsistent spellings and other errors that Joseph later corrected, so Martin's description contradicts the evidence from the OM. Of course, Martin wrote the lost 116 pages, so the process may have been different for the translation of the text we have today. In that sense, Martin's testimony is irrelevant. Martin never claimed to have seen what Joseph saw when he translated. He also didn’t claim that Joseph told him what he saw. Instead, Martin apparently made this claim based on his own inference of what occurred. This statement has led some to conclude that the translation was “tightly controlled,” but we do not have the 116 pages to see if there were misspellings and other errors of the type present in the OM. |
|
43. An
associate who interviewed Harris recorded him saying that Joseph “possessed a
seer stone, by which he was enabled to translate as well as from the Urim and
Thummim, and for convenience he then used the seer stone.”30 |
The essay’s footnote here points out that Martin Harris recognized the distinction between the Urim and Thummim (the Nephite interpreters) and the seer stone. Like his contemporaries, Martin didn’t use the term to apply to both. Of
course, Martin’s statement here contradicts Emma’s statement that Joseph used
the stone only after the 116 pages were lost. Martin’s first statement about
the seer stone was published in 1881, six years after Martin’s death in 1875,
and after David and Emma had used the seer stone scenario to refute the
Spalding theory. |
|
44. The
principal scribe, Oliver Cowdery, testified under oath in 1831 that Joseph
Smith “found with the plates, from which he translated his book, two
transparent stones, resembling glass, set in silver bows. That by looking
through these, he was able to read in English, the reformed Egyptian
characters, which were engraved on the plates.”31 |
This is
consistent with every statement by Joseph and Oliver about the translation,
although it contradicts the SITH narrative. |
|
45. In
the fall of 1830, Cowdery visited Union Village, Ohio, and spoke about the
translation of the Book of Mormon. Soon thereafter, a village resident
reported that the translation was accomplished by means of “two transparent
stones in the form of spectacles thro which the translator looked on the
engraving.”32 |
This report
has Joseph looking on the engraving instead of having the plates resting
nearby under a cloth. This is consistent with what Lucy Mack Smith wrote
about how Joseph translated the plates. The phrase “two transparent stones”
is the description always given of the Nephite interpreters. |
|
Conclusion |
|
|
46. Joseph
Smith consistently testified that he translated the Book of Mormon by the
“gift and power of God.” His scribes shared that testimony. The angel who
brought news of an ancient record on metal plates buried in a hillside and
the divine instruments prepared especially for Joseph Smith to translate were
all part of what Joseph and his scribes viewed as the miracle of translation.
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.”33 The translation of the Book of Mormon was
truly marvelous. |
The term
“buried” is ahistorical and implies a false connection to “buried treasure.”
Moroni explained that the plates were “deposited.” |
|
47. The
truth of the Book of Mormon and its divine source can be known today. God
invites each of us to read the book, remember the mercies of the Lord and
ponder them in our hearts, “and ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of
Christ, if these things are not true.” God promises that “if ye shall ask
with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will
manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.”34 |
|
|
The Church acknowledges the contribution of scholars to the
historical content presented in this article; their work is used with
permission. |
|
Wilford Woodruff journal, Nov. 28, 1841, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.
On the identity of the angel, see Karen Lynn Davidson, David J. Whittaker, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jenson, eds., Histories, Volume 1: Joseph Smith Histories, 1832–1844, vol. 1 of the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2012), 223 n 56.
Davidson et al., Joseph Smith Histories, 223; punctuation regularized; Joseph Smith, “Church History,” Times and Seasons 3 (March 1, 1842): 706–7. See also Joseph Smith—History 1:33–34.
Mormon 9:32. See also 1 Nephi 1:2.
“Last Testimony of Sister Emma,” Saints’ Herald 26 (Oct. 1, 1879), 290.
Joseph Smith History, 1838–ca. 1841, 8–11 (draft 2), in Karen Lynn Davidson, David J. Whittaker, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jenson, eds., Histories, Volume 1: Joseph Smith Histories, 1832–1844, vol. 1 of the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2012), 252–3; available at josephsmithpapers.org; Doctrine and Covenants 3:5–15.
Joseph Smith History, ca. summer 1832, in Joseph Smith Histories, 16; Oliver Cowdery to William W. Phelps, Sept. 7, 1834, in Messenger and Advocate 1 (Oct. 1834): 14; italics in original.
Most of the manuscript disintegrated or became otherwise unreadable due to water damage between 1841 and 1882, as a result of being placed in the cornerstone of the Nauvoo House in Nauvoo, Illinois. Most of the surviving pages were later archived in the historian’s office of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. The extant original manuscript has been published in The Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon: Typographical Facsimile of the Extant Text, ed. Royal Skousen (Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2001). A complete copy of this original, known as the printer’s manuscript, was made by Oliver Cowdery and two other scribes between August 1829 and early 1830. It was used to set the type for most of the printing in Palmyra. The printer’s manuscript is published in The Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon: Typological Facsimile of the Entire Text in Two Parts, ed. Royal Skousen (Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2001). Both the printer’s manuscript and the original manuscript will be published in future volumes of The Joseph Smith Papers. (Dean C. Jessee, “The Original Book of Mormon Manuscript,” BYU Studies 10, no. 3 [Spring 1970]: 261–72; Royal Skousen, “Piecing Together the Original Manuscript,” BYU Today 46, no. 3 [May 1992]: 18–24.)
For example, when Joseph translated the text that is now in 1 Nephi 13:29, the scribe wrote “&” in one place where he should have written “an.” At 1 Nephi 17:48, the scribe wrote “weed” where he should have written “reed.” (See Royal Skousen, “Translating the Book of Mormon: Evidence from the Original Manuscript,” in Noel B. Reynolds, ed., Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins [Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1997], 67; see also Grant Hardy, “Introduction,” in The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text, ed. Royal Skousen [New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009], xv–xix.)
John A. Tvedtnes, “Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon” and “Names of People: Book of Mormon,” in Geoffrey Kahn, ed., Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics (Brill Online, 2013); M. Deloy Pack, “Hebraisms,” in Book of Mormon Reference Companion, ed. Dennis L. Largey (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2003), 321–25; John A. Tvedtnes, “The Hebrew Background of the Book of Mormon,” in John L. Sorenson and Melvin J. Thorne, eds., Rediscovering the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1991), 77–91; Donald W. Parry, “Hebraisms and Other Ancient Peculiarities in the Book of Mormon,” in Donald W. Parry and others, eds., Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon (Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2002), 155–89.
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On the role of the typesetter John Gilbert, see Royal Skousen, “John Gilbert’s 1892 Account of the 1830 Printing of the Book of Mormon,” in Stephen D. Ricks and others, eds., The Disciple as Witness: Essays on Latter-day Saint History and Doctrine in Honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson (Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2000), 383–405.
Some grammatical constructions that sound odd to English speakers were edited out of later editions of the Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith or others in order to render the translation into more standard current English. See Richard E. Turley Jr. and William W. Slaughter, How We Got the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2011), 44–45. Approximately five-sixth of the 1830 first edition of the Book of Mormon was typeset from the printer’s manuscript. The other one-sixth was typeset from the original manuscript. (Royal Skousen, “Editor’s Preface,” in The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text, xxx.)
Michael Hubbard MacKay, Gerrit J. Dirkmaat, Grand Underwood, Robert J. Woodford, and William G. Hartley, eds., Documents, Volume 1: July 1828–June 1831, vol. 1 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, Richard Lyman Bushman, and Matthew J. Grow (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2013), xxix.
Mosiah 28:14–15, 20; see also Mosiah 8:13, 19; and Ether 4:5. Joseph Smith seems to have used the terms “interpreters” and “spectacles” interchangeably during the early years of the Church. Nancy Towle, an itinerant Methodist preacher, recounted Joseph Smith telling her about “a pair of ‘interpreters,’ (as he called them,) that resembled spectacles, by looking into which, he could read a writing engraven upon the plates, though to himself, in a tongue unknown” (Nancy Towle, Vicissitudes Illustrated in the Experience of Nancy Towle, in Europe and America [Charleston: James L. Burges, 1832], 138–39). Joseph’s 1832 history referred to “spectacles” (Joseph Smith History, ca. summer 1832, in Joseph Smith Histories, 16). In January 1833, the Latter-day Saint newspaper The Evening and the Morning Star, edited by William W. Phelps, equated “spectacles” and “interpreters” with the term “Urim and Thummim”: the Book of Mormon “was translated by the gift and power of God, by an unlearned man, through the aid of a pair of Interpreters, or spectacles— (known, perhaps, in ancient days as Teraphim, or Urim and Thummim)” (“The Book of Mormon,” The Evening and the Morning Star, January 1833, [2]). By 1835 Joseph Smith most often used the term “Urim and Thummim” when speaking of translation and rarely, if ever, used the terms “interpreters” or “spectacles” (Joseph Smith, Journal, Nov. 9–11, 1835, in Journals: Volume 1: 1832–1839, 89; Joseph Smith, History, 1834–1836, in Davidson et al., Histories, Volume 1, 116; John W. Welch, “The Miraculous Translation of the Book of Mormon,” in John W. Welch, ed., with Erick B. Carlson, Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820–1844 [Provo, UT, and Salt Lake City: Brigham Young University Press and Deseret Book, 2005], 123–28).
Joseph Smith probably possessed more than one seer stone; he appears to have found one of the stones while digging for a well around 1822. (Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism [Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984], 69–70.)
According to Martin Harris, an angel commanded Joseph Smith to stop these activities, which he did by 1826. (See Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism, 64–76; and Richard Lloyd Anderson, “The Mature Joseph Smith and Treasure Searching,” BYU Studies 24, no. 4 [Fall 1984]: 489–560.) Joseph did not hide his well-known early involvement in treasure seeking. In 1838, he published responses to questions frequently asked of him. “Was not Jo Smith a money digger,” one question read. “Yes,” Joseph answered, “but it was never a very profitable job to him, as he only got fourteen dollars a month for it.” (Selections from Elders’ Journal, July 1838, 43, available at josephsmithpapers.org.) For the broader cultural context, see Alan Taylor, “The Early Republic’s Supernatural Economy: Treasure Seeking in the American Northeast, 1780–1830,” American Quarterly 38, no. 1 (Spring 1986): 6–33.
Mark Ashurst-McGee, “A Pathway to Prophethood: Joseph Smith Junior as Rodsman, Village Seer, and Judeo-Christian Prophet” (Master’s Thesis, Utah State University, 2000).
For example, when Joseph Smith showed a seer stone to Wilford Woodruff in late 1841, Woodruff recorded in his journal: “I had the privilege of seeing for the first time in my day the URIM & THUMMIM” (Wilford Woodruff journal, Dec. 27, 1841, Church History Library, Salt Lake City). See also Doctrine and Covenants 130:10.
Cornelius Van Dam, The Urim and Thummim: A Means of Revelation in Ancient Israel (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1997), 9–26.
Preface to the Book of Mormon, 1830 edition.
Minutes, Church conference, Orange, OH, Oct. 25–26, 1831, in Minute Book 2, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, available at josephsmithpapers.org; Welch, “Miraculous Translation,” 121–9.
Virtually all of the accounts of the translation process are reproduced in Welch, “Miraculous Translation.” Two accounts of the translation process, including the use of a seer stone, have been written by members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and published in Church magazines. Historians have also written about the seer stone in Church publications, both in the Ensign and in The Joseph Smith Papers. (See Neal A. Maxwell, “‘By the Gift and Power of God,’” Ensign, Jan. 1997, 36–41; Russell M. Nelson, “A Treasured Testament,” Ensign, July 1993, 61–63; Richard Lloyd Anderson, “‘By the Gift and Power of God,’” Ensign, Sept. 1977, 78–85; and Documents, Volume 1: July 1828–June 1831, xxix–xxxii.)
“Last Testimony of Sister Emma,” Saints’ Herald 26 (Oct. 1, 1879), 289–90. Some outside reports describe the spectacles being placed in the hat during the translation process. A Palmyra newspaper published the earliest known account of the translation in August 1829: Jonathan Hadley, a Palmyra printer who may have spoken with Joseph Smith about translation, claimed that the plates were found with a “huge pair of Spectacles,” and that “by placing the Spectacles in a hat, and looking into it, Smith could (he said so, at least,) interpret these characters.” (“Golden Bible,” Palmyra Freeman, Aug. 11, 1829, [2].) In the winter of 1831, a Shaker in Union Village, Ohio, spoke of “two transparent stones in the form of spectacles” through which the translator “looked on the engraving & afterwards put his face into a hat & the interpretation then flowed into his mind.” (Christian Goodwillie, “Shaker Richard McNemar: The Earliest Book of Mormon Reviewer,” Journal of Mormon History 37, no. 2 [Spring 2011]: 143.)
“Last Testimony of Sister Emma,” 289–90.
“One of the Three Witnesses,” Deseret Evening News, Dec. 13, 1881, 4. Here Martin Harris uses the term “Urim and Thummim” to refer to the interpreters found with the plates.
A. W. B., “Mormonites,” Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate 2 (Apr. 19, 1831): 120.
Goodwillie, “Shaker Richard McNemar,” 143. For additional accounts of translation by one of the Three Witnesses, see David Whitmer Interviews: A Restoration Witness, ed. Lyndon W. Cook (Orem, UT: Grandin Book, 1991).
Joseph Smith History, ca. Summer 1832, 1, in Histories, Volume 1, 1832–1844, 10; available at josephsmithpapers.org. Spelling modernized.
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