Joseph Smith Translation of The Bible - Publication and Use By The Community of Christ

Publication and Use By The Community of Christ

Smith was killed prior to the publication of the translation. At the death of Joseph Smith Jr. the manuscripts and documents pertaining to the translation were retained by his widow, Emma Smith, who would not give them to the Quorum of the Twelve although Willard Richards, apparently acting on behalf of Brigham Young, requested the new translation from her. Consequently, when Young's followers moved to the Salt Lake Valley, they did so without the new translation of the Bible.

Following Joseph Smith's death, John Milton Bernhisel asked permission of Emma Smith to copy the notes that were made into his own Bible. He spent much of the spring of 1845 working on this project. The LDS Church has this in its offices in Salt Lake City, but it contains less than half of the corrections and is not suitable for publication. For many years the Bernhisel Bible was the only source for LDS Church members living in the Salt Lake Valley.

In 1866, Emma Smith gave the manuscripts into the custody of the CoC church (then the RLDS), of which she was a member, and her son Joseph Smith III the prophet-president. In 1867 the CoC published the first edition of the translation and obtained a copyright for it. The CoC Church still retains the original manuscripts and publishes the Inspired Version through its publishing arm, Herald House Publishing. The copyright has expired on the 1867 edition and a bound photo reproduction of that edition is published by a private concern. In 1944, the CoC Church brought out a carefully prepared “new corrected edition.”