The LDS edition of the Bible is a version of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

published by

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

(LDS Church) in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. The text of the LDS Church's English-language Bible is the

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

, its Spanish-language Bible is a revised

Reina-Valera The Reina–Valera is a Spanish translation of the Bible originally published in 1602 untilAnon. ''¡Refrescante y más brillante que nunca!'' Sociedades Bíblicas Unidas (1995) p.9 United Bible Societies in 1909 revised the earlier translation pr ...

translation, and its Portuguese-language edition is based on the Almeida translation. The editions include footnoting, indexing, and summaries that are consistent with the doctrines of the LDS Church and that integrate the Bible with the church's other canonized Latter-day Saint scriptures. The LDS Church encourages its members to use the LDS Church edition of the Bible.

English-language King James Version edition

Standard Works Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The LDS Church published its first edition of the Bible in English in 1979. The text of the Bible is that of the Authorized King James Version. Both the Old and

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

s are included, but the

Apocrypha Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

is not. Each chapter includes a succinct heading, typically a descriptive summary, though some serve as commentaries. Cross-referencing footnotes to the Bible, the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude d ...

, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price are included, as is a 600-page topical index and the '' Bible Dictionary'', an adaptation of the ''Cambridge Bible Dictionary.'' Selected references to the

Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible The Joseph Smith Translation (JST), also called the Inspired Version of the Holy Scriptures (IV), is a revision of the Bible by Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, who said that the JST/IV was intended to restore what ...

are included in footnotes, with longer excerpts included in an appendix. Lastly, the edition contains bible maps and a

gazetteer A gazetteer is a geographical index or directory used in conjunction with a map or atlas.Aurousseau, 61. It typically contains information concerning the geographical makeup, social statistics and physical features of a country, region, or con ...

. In 1999, the church added color photographs from the Holy Land. The supplements in the edition do not claim doctrinal authority—the institutional church regards only the scriptural text of the King James Version (and its other standard works) as canonical—"though this fact is not particularly prominent in the minds of Church members" who have historically tended to consider the supplements normative.

Thomas S. Monson Thomas Spencer Monson (August 21, 1927 – January 2, 2018) was an American religious leader, author, and the 16th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). As president, he was considered by adherents of the re ...

, a church

apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...

at the time who later became church president, headed the Scriptures Publications Committee which oversaw the publication of the church's English-language edition of the Bible. The committee included

Bruce R. McConkie Bruce Redd McConkie (July 29, 1915 – April 19, 1985) was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1972 until his death. McConkie was a member of the First Council o ...

and

Boyd K. Packer Boyd Kenneth Packer (September 10, 1924 – July 3, 2015) was an American religious leader and educator who served as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church), president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jes ...

, also apostles, and briefly also included apostles

Howard W. Hunter Howard William Hunter (November 14, 1907 – March 3, 1995) was an American lawyer and the 14th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1994 to 1995. His nine-month presidential tenure is the shortest ...

and

Marvin J. Ashton Marvin Jeremy Ashton (May 6, 1915 – February 25, 1994) was a Utah politician and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1971 until his death in 1994. Ashton was born t ...

. For technical assistance, the committee called on outside assistance, including at one point "at least one hundred faculty and students at Brigham Young University" (BYU) as

Robert J. Matthews Robert James Matthews (12 September 1926 – 30 August 2009) was a Latter-day Saint religious educator and scholar, teaching in the departments of Ancient Scripture and Religious Education at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. Begin ...

, a former dean of Religious Education at BYU who was among the committee's assistants, reports. The English-language edition's supplements promulgates "strongly conservative" theological positions largely reflecting McConkie's views. McConkie wrote all the chapter headings, and he was an associate of Matthews, who was the chief compiler of the adapted ''Bible Dictionary''. In 1992, the church's

First Presidency Among many churches in the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency (also known as the Quorum of the Presidency of the Church) is the highest presiding or governing body. Present-day denominations of the movement led by a First Presidency ...

announced the King James Version was the church's official English Bible, stating, " ile other Bible versions may be easier to read than the King James Version, in doctrinal matters latter-day revelation supports the King James Version in preference to other English translations." In 2010, the church added this statement to its ''Handbook'', which directs official church policy and programs.

Spanish-language Reina-Valera edition

In 2009, the LDS Church published a

Spanish-language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

edition of the Bible. Entitled ''Santa Biblia: Reina-Valera 2009'', the text of the Bible is based on the 1909 version of the

translation.Scott Taylor
"LDS Church publishes new Spanish-language Bible"
''

Deseret News The ''Deseret News'' () is the oldest continuously operating publication in the American west. Its multi-platform products feature journalism and commentary across the fields of politics, culture, family life, faith, sports, and entertainment. Th ...

'', 13 September 2009. Changes to the text included modernization of grammar and vocabulary. Like the English-language edition, the Spanish-language edition includes LDS-oriented footnotes and chapter headings, as well as a topical index. The church's Spanish-language Bible project was supervised by general authorities Jay E. Jensen and Lynn A. Mickelsen.

Portuguese-language Almeida edition

In 2015, the LDS Church released a new Portuguese-language edition of the Bible, a revision of the edited and corrected 1914 edition of

João Ferreira de Almeida João Ferreira Annes d'Almeida (1628–1691) was a Portuguese people, Portuguese Protestantism, Protestant pastor and translator, best known for his Bible translations into Portuguese, translation of the Bible into Portuguese now known by his na ...

's translation. This version was initially released electronically, and it became available in print in March 2016.

Other languages

As of 2015, the LDS Church does not publish Bibles in any other languages besides English, Spanish and Portuguese. However, as stated in the ''General Handbook'', " many other non-English languages, the Church has approved a non–Latter-day Saint edition of the Bible for use in Church meetings and classes."

Notes

References

External links

;English-language edition
English-language LDS Church Bible
complete text in PDF, including footnotes and chapter headings. Does not include other supplemental material.
English-language Old Testament
complete text in HTML, including footnotes and chapter headings
English-language New Testament
complete text in HTML, including footnotes and chapter headings
English-language Study Helps
complete text in HTML of the topical index, bible dictionary, maps, and Joseph Smith Translation ;Spanish-language edition
Spanish-language LDS Church Bible
complete text in PDF, including footnotes and chapter headings.
Official webpage of Spanish-language editionSpanish-language Old Testament
complete text in HTML, including footnotes and chapter headings
Spanish-language New Testament
complete text in HTML, including footnotes and chapter headings ;Portuguese-language edition
Portuguese-language LDS Church Bible
complete text in PDF, including footnotes and chapter headings.
Official webpage of Portuguese-language editionPortuguese-language Old Testament
complete text in HTML, including footnotes and chapter headings
Portuguese-language New Testament
complete text in HTML, including footnotes and chapter headings ;Other media *
That Promised Day: The Coming Forth of the LDS Scriptures
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BYUtv BYU TV (stylized as BYUtv) is a television channel, founded in 2000, which is owned and operated as a part of Brigham Young University (BYU). The channel, available through cable and satellite distributors in the United States, produces a number ...

documentary describing the production of the modern (1979+) English editions of the

Standard Works The standard works of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church, the largest in the Latter Day Saint movement) are the four books that currently constitute its open scriptural canon. The four books of the standard works are: * T ...

, starting with the LDS edition of the Bible. {{Latter-day Saints 1979 books 2009 non-fiction books King James Version editions Bible versions and translations Standard works Study Bibles

2009 in Christianity 1979 in Christianity Bible translations into Spanish Bible translations into Portuguese Bible translations into English 2015 books 2015 in Christianity Mormonism and the Bible