he never completed the work

Dear Sir: I am directed by President Wilford Woodruff to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of June 18 and to say, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints does not use the revision of the Scriptures made by the Prophet Joseph Smith, for the reason that he never completed the work. It was his intention to have gone through the Bible again and make further corrections, but he did not have the opportunity of doing so. Consequently it is deemed an injustice both to the dead prophet and to the reader to place his unfinished work in the hands of the public. Though we may rest assured that the changes that he has made are correct, we have no assurance that he would not have made many other corrections in his second revision.

Yours respectfully,

George Reynolds, Secretary.


Letter written in 1898 by George Reynolds, secretary to President Wilford Woodruff to Mr. C.J. Hunt, a member of the RLDS Church in Iowa. A.H. Parsons, Parsons’ Text Book (Lamoni, Iowa: Herald Publishing House, 1902), p.315, as quoted in "A Plainer Translation": Joseph Smith's Translation of the Bible, a History and commentary, by Robert J. Matthews. Brigham Young University Press. 1975. p.209.