A Timeline of the Book of Mormon Translation
I looked a bit at the timeline of the translation of the
Book of Mormon to help me organize in my thoughts some of the main events
related to the translation. Here’s how I
would lay out what happened from the time Joseph got the plates to the
publication:
·
September 22, 1827: Joseph received the plates
from the angel Moroni near Palmyra
·
December 1827: Joseph and Emma arrived in
Harmony at her parents’ house, escaping the persecution of those who sought to
steal the plates in New York. Joseph hid
the plates in a nearby hill because of objections from Emma’s father.
·
February 1828: Joseph and Emma moved into a
small home near the Hale’s, allowing Joseph to begin translating in
earnest. Emma served as his scribe to
begin with. She commented
that Joseph “could neither write nor dictate a coherent and well-worded letter;
let alone dictat[e] a book like the Book of Mormon.” Martin Harris also took some of the
translation with the ancient characters to three professional linguists,
including Charles Anthon.
·
April – June 1828: Martin Harris served as
scribe to Joseph and they finished the 116 pages
·
June 1828: Martin took the pages back to show is
family and were subsequently lost
·
June 1828 – March 1829: The plates were taken
from Joseph and he lost the ability to translate for a time; the gift was
restored and he received the plates again.
Joseph started translating again but the work was slow
·
April 7, 1829 – June 30, 1829: The large
majority of the translation was done with Oliver Cowdery as scribe working
nearly full time. On June 11th
Joseph filed for the copyright. The translation
finished at Fayette, New York in the Whitmer home.
·
June 1829 – Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, and
David Whitmer are shown the plates and become the three witnesses of the Book
of Mormon
·
August 1829 – E. B. Grandin agreed to print 5000
copies of the Book of Mormon
·
March 26, 1830 – The first copies of the Book of
Mormon became available for sale
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