Joseph's Love of the Bible

We often focus on the quote by Joseph Smith that “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly.”  I think we sometimes emphasize the latter half of the statement, when the important message is really in the first half.  Joseph loved the Bible and you cannot separate his teachings from the words of the Bible—it seems that all of his sermons are full of references to the Bible.  I’m impressed by simply reading D&C 128, the letter that he wrote while in hiding. 

He managed to quote or paraphrase Revelation 20:12, Matthew 16:18-19, John 6:60, 1 Corinthians 15:46-48, Hebrews 11:40, 1 Corinthians 15:29, Malachi 4:5-6, Isaiah 52:7, Isaiah 20:10, and Malachi 3:2-3 in the epistle (and I’ve likely missed some).  He quotes the Bible directly but also uses the language as if it his own in a way that only those familiar with the Bible will notice.  One of the things that impresses me with this epistle is the way that he discusses Malachi 4:5-6.  After quoting the way it reads in the Old Testament, he says, “I might have rendered a plainer translation to this, but it is sufficiently plain to suit my purpose as it stands” (D&C 128:18).  These verses actually read differently in D&C 2 and here he suggests that an alternate translation might be appropriate.  That’s something that might bother us but I don’t think Joseph saw that as a problem at all.  Many of us will want to say, “Well which version is right?  Which version is exactly Malachi’s words?”  But Joseph wasn’t concerned with exact syntax or making sure that we had the perfect translation.  No, he wanted the message communicated in the best way possible so that readers could understand the meaning.  If that meant translating it a few different ways to help, then that’s what he did.  And apparently here he could have “rendered a plainer translation,” likely different than both versions we now have.  While we often get caught up in the precise details and worry about what is exactly correct in the Bible—looking for where it might not be translated correctly—Joseph was concerned about preaching the fulness of the gospel through the words and ideas of the Bible.  One of my favorite quotes of his related to the Bible is this: “He who reads it oftenest will like it best, and he who is acquainted with it, will know the hand [of the Lord] wherever he can see it” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 56; see here).  No, the Bible is not perfect—but if we focus on its imperfections we may miss the voice of the Lord that its pages contain, for it truly teaches the “principles of [Christ’s] gospel” (D&C 42:12).