Maxwell Institute Podcast

On February 16, 1832, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were working on the Prophet’s “translation” of the Bible. This wasn’t a translation in a linguistic sense, where someone takes a text from one language and presents it in another. No, this was a project about seeking out meanings and insights that had been lost over hundreds of years of Christian thought and practice. Smith sought to expand upon what he had learned as an American Christian by increasing his spiritual knowledge through a concentrated reading of the Bible, clarifying and expanding the Old and New Testaments from 1830-1833. Part of the Prophet’s translation process included asking questions—what does this verse mean? What else did the Lord have to tell him about figures like Melchizedek and Abraham? On February 16, 1832, Smith and Rigdon sought clarification on the text of John 5:29, where Jesus Christ speaks on the resurrection saying that those who “have done good” would receive the resurrection of life,” and those who had done evil, woul