Book of Mormon Evidence: No Notes or Reference Materials

During the early stages of the Book of Mormon’s translation, Emma Smith participated as Joseph Smith’s scribe. The following interview records questions asked of Emma by her son in 1879, followed by her answers: 

Question: What of the truth of Mormonism?

Answer: I know Mormonism to be the truth; and believe the Church to have been established by divine direction. I have complete faith in it. In writing for your father I frequently wrote day after day, often sitting at the table close by him, he sitting with his face buried in his hat, with the stone in it, and dictating hour after hour with nothing between us.

Question: Had he not a book or manuscript from which he read, or dictated to you?       

Answer: He had neither manuscript nor book to read from.       

Question: Could he not have had, and you not know it?

Answer: If he had had anything of the kind he could not have concealed it from me.

During the same interview, Emma gave a similar remark: “when acting as his scribe, your father would dictate to me hour after hour; and when returning after meals, or after interruptions, he would at once begin where he had left off, without either seeing the manuscript or having any portion of it read to him. This was a usual thing for him to do.”¹ 

While Emma’s comments emphasize her personal experience acting as Joseph Smith’s scribe, it should be remembered that she observed the translation of the Book of Mormon at all stages of its production.² As described by Amy Easton-Flake and Rachel Cope, “Emma Smith was arguably more intimately involved in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon than any individual besides Joseph.”³ 

A comment from David Whitmer during his interview with the Chicago Times in 1881 helps corroborate Emma’s claim, and even indicates that Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery asserted the same thing:

Mr. [David] Whitmer emphatically asserts as did [Martin] Harris and [Oliver] Cowdery, that while Smith was dictating the translation he had no manuscript notes or other means of knowledge save the seer stone and the characters as shown on the plates, he being present and cognizant how it was done.⁴

In a different interview, Whitmer gave a similar statement: 

We asked him the question: Had Joseph Smith any manuscripts of any kind by him at the time of translating the Book of Mormon that he could read from?

His answer was: “No Sir. We did not know anything about the Spaulding manuscript at that time.”⁵ 

The point was reaffirmed in an interview by the St. Louis Republican:

Father Whitmer, who was present very frequently during the writing of this manuscript affirms that Joseph Smith had no book or manuscript, before him from which he could have read as is asserted by some that he did, he (Whitmer) having every opportunity to know.⁶

Did Joseph Smith Use a Copy of the Bible During the Translation?

It should be remembered that the Book of Mormon quotes extensively from the Bible, including numerous chapters from Isaiah, the Sermon on the Mount, and other Old and New Testament texts.⁷ To account for this data, we are seemingly left with three options: (1) Joseph Smith received these parts of the translation as raw ideas and then produced the quotations using his own linguistic ability and memory, (2) he simply pulled out a physical copy of the King James Bible and dictated its contents to his scribe or perhaps a scribe transcribed it straight into the Nephite record, or (3) the quotations were revealed to Joseph Smith, word for word, through his translation instruments.

For most readers, the first option is simply out of the question. There are too many lengthy quotations, especially the twelve chapters dictated back-to-back in 2 Nephi 12–24, to imagine that Joseph Smith was likely producing all of this biblical content from memory. The translation process was rapid enough that he wouldn’t have had time to commit long sequences of biblical text to memory before each translation session. And while Joseph Smith certainly wasn’t unintelligent, there is no historical data (outside of the revelations themselves) indicating that he had anything like an eidetic or photographic memory.⁸

With the first option discounted, some commentators (both among those who believe and disbelieve in the Book of Mormon’s authenticity) have opted for the idea that Joseph Smith was indeed using a physical copy of the King James Bible during the translation. This second option runs into multiple problems though.

Most significant is that it is directly contradicted by multiple reported statements from the witnesses, as previously mentioned. Second, it is doubtful that Joseph Smith even owned a Bible at the time, since he asked Oliver to purchase one for him in October 1829 (several months after the translation was completed).⁹ Third, the system of chapter breaks found in the Book of Mormon (when multiple biblical chapters are quoted in sequential order) is different from the chapter breaks found in several biblical books, including Isaiah, Matthew, and Micah.¹⁰ Fourth, the amount of minor textual variations between the Book of Mormon content and the quoted biblical chapters seems too excessive to easily suppose Joseph was reading these passages off to a scribe.¹¹ And fifth, it would seem like this detail about the translation (Joseph reading off words from a physical Bible) would have been both noticed and commented upon if it indeed transpired that way. This is especially so considering how many chapters or portions of chapters involve verbatim or nearly verbatim biblical quotations of considerable length.

Thus, not only is there a noticeable lack of historical evidence in favor of Joseph using a Bible during the translation, there is both direct and circumstantial evidence pushing against that assumption. Although many questions still remain about the nature and process of the translation, option three (the biblical quotations being revealed to Joseph Smith through the translation device), seems better able to account for the available historical data on this issue.

These reports indicate that the individuals closest to Joseph Smith during the translation—Emma Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, and David Whitmer—affirmed that Joseph didn’t use any notes, manuscripts, books, or other reference materials to aid him in his translation. Moreover, there is no indication from the more than 200 historical documents pertaining to the translation that Joseph did use such materials. This would be an unexpected omission if such supplemental aids were being utilized.¹²

This evidence plays an important role in assessing the plausibility of Joseph Smith creating the Book of Mormon using his own intellect. The Book of Mormon is a lengthy, complex text,¹³ and many authors, when creating such documents, rely extensively on notes and outlines to help them keep track of names, locations, dates, narrative events, and other details. The fact that Joseph didn’t need such writing aids is remarkable,¹⁴ especially when considering his limited education¹⁵ and the rapid pace of the Book of Mormon’s production.¹⁶

When looked at together, these circumstances support Joseph Smith’s claim that he produced the Book of Mormon through miraculous means. As Emma Smith once remarked, “though I was an active participant in the scenes that transpired, and was present during the translation of the plates, and had cognizance of things as they transpired, it is marvelous to me, ‘a marvel and a wonder,’ as much so as to any one else.”¹⁷