The Translation of the Book of Mormon
Joseph Smith Said, “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” (1)
David Whitmer writes, "I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated. Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man." (2)
Brigham H. Roberts quotes Martin Harris. “Martin Harris’ description of the manner of the translating while he was an amanuensis to the Prophet is as follows:
‘By aid of the Seer Stone, sentences would appear and were read by the Prophet and written by Martin, and when finished he would say ‘written;’ and if correctly written, the 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.’” (3)
"Joseph reflected on these words as Martin copied the revelation. He and Emma then listened as Martin read it back to check its accuracy." (4)
Below are the summary of the points being made from the above quotations.
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The Book of Mormon is the most correct book on earth.
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After each character and its interpretation was correctly written down and repeated, another character and interpretation would appear.
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The translation of “the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man."
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The sentences remained until they were correctly written down.
(1) History of the Church, 4:461, (2) David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ,1887, page 12, (3) Comprehensive History of the Church, By Brigham H. Roberts, Vol 1, 1965, Page 129, (4) Saints, 1815-1846, The Standard of Truth, 2018, Page 58