1840 Book of Mormon Modern English Edition

A careful analysis of Joseph Smith’s changes to the 1840 Book of Mormon and his 1844 changes to the Doctrine & Covenants demonstrates that the prophet was trying to make modern scriptures easier to read. Apart from revising many difficult passages and clarifying hundreds more, Joseph Smith went so far as to delete dozens of instances of the enigmatic phrase “and it came to pass.”

As a father of several children and a youth leader for many years, I’ve heard much discussion about the need for scriptures that are easier to read for children and for those unfamiliar with the many antiquated expressions found in Old English translations. As time passes, this challenge grows more difficult for each generation and serves as a stumbling block for many thousands of modern saints.

This modern English 1840 Book of Mormon has been carefully produced to address this need. It is not, however, an “easy to read” rewrite of the Book of Mormon. This edition is founded upon the 1840 JSV edition of the Book of Mormon, which was an extensive attempt to produce a text as close to what Joseph Smith approved as possible. Most every trace of Old English has been modernized in this long-awaited edition.