The Book Of Mormon: 1830 Edition Vs. The Present Edition
As was pointed out in a previous article, the present edition of the Book of Mormon has thousands of changes from the original. Yet the claim made for the 1830 edition was that the exact English words of the translation were given by God, which would preclude even the most minute chance, and barring a few typographical errors the present edition should be exactly the same as the original. Yet there are multiplied divergences that cannot be explained away as typographical errors.
The atrocious grammatical errors found in the original make the book ludicrous. The Mormons recognized this and changed many of the more outstanding. Thus, by their own action they have admitted that they did not believe their claim for the Book of Mormon.
In 1958 a reproduction of the original edition was published under the title, Joseph Smith Begins His Work, and now anyone, for the price of $5.95, can examine the original and compare it with the present edition. This is quite reasonable in view of the fact that only 5,000 copies of the original came from the press of E. B. Grandin, publisher of the Wayne Sentinel at Palmyra, N. Y., and would cost $75 to $150 per copy today, depending upon the condition of the book.
Now for the convenience of those who have a copy of Joseph Smith Begins His Work and wish to mark the changes for future use, we present the following. (The original had no verse divisions and different chapter divisions from the present. We present the 1830 edition page number in parentheses.)
1. The "a" has been removed from the "a preaching" (284) Alma 21:11; "a begging" (309) Alma 30:58; "a pointing" (319) Alma 34:14; "a preparing" (358) Alma 48:7; "a marching" (389) Alma 57:31; "a coming" (403) Alma 62:31; "a shedding blood" (568) Ether 13:31.
2. The devil was said to be the "founder" of the great and abominable church (28), but this was changed to "foundation," 1 Nephi 13:6.
3. The devil was the "preperator" of hell (38). Changed to "foundation," 1 Nephi 15:35.
4. "Awful state of blindness" (1 Nephi 13:32) is the revision of the original "state of awful woundedness" (31).
5. "Which was subsequent to man" (353) changed to "to which men were subject," Alma 46:40.
6. Alma 5:48 in the original taught that Jesus was "the Son of the only begotten of the Father" (236), but this was changed to "the Son, the Only Begotten of the Father."
7. 2 Nephi 12:9 was changed to teach the exact opposite by the addition of the word "not." The 1830 edition said "the mean man boweth down" (87), but now reads "the mean man boweth not down."
8. 1 Nephi 11:18 stated that a certain virgin seen in a vision was the "mother of God, after the manner of the flesh" (25), but this was changed to the "mother of the Son of God."
9. 1 Nephi 11:21 taught that Jesus was the Eternal Father: "behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the eternal Father (25), but this has been changed to "even the Son of the Eternal Father." Incidentally, just above this sentence we find one of the few typographical mistakes, where "child" is spelled "chid."
10. Again in 1 Nephi 11:32 Jesus is said to be "the Everlasting God" (26). This has been changed by adding "the son of."
11. 1 Nephi 13:40 stated that the "Lamb of God is the Eternal Father (32), but this has been changed by adding "the son of."
12. Among the complete deletions from the original we have the following statements which have been completely taken from the text: "and the land which was between the land of Zarahemla" (459) 3 Nephi 3:23; "according to the crime which he hath committed" (218) Mosiah 29:15; "and after I had followed him" (19) 1 Nephi 8:7; "even as with the power and authority of God (269) Alma 17:3; and "and because that none other people knoweth our language', (538) Mormon 9:34.
13. In Mosiah 13:25 an incomplete sentence "For to keep these commandments?" (184) was added on to the preceding sentence.
14. The ridiculous statement of Alma 46:19 has been doctored and yet it is not much better. "He went forth among the people, waving the rent of his garment in the air, that all might see the writing which he had wrote upon the rent" (351) has been changed to read, "he went forth among the people, waving the rent part of his garment in the air, that all might see the writing which he had written upon the rent part."
15. "Because of the numerority of their forces having slain (382) was changed to "because their forces had slain," Alma 56:10.
16. Several times King's names are changed: King Benjamin (200) changed to King Mosiah, Mosiah 2128. Likewise in Ether 4:1 (546).
Conclusion. These are just a few of the multiplied numbers of changes made but these should suffice to make the point clear to anyone. The Book of Mormon is beneath the dignity of the inspired Word of God, and is its own witness against the integrity and authenticity of the Book of Mormon and the Mormon religion.