The Stick of Joseph in the Hand of Ephraim

[caspianrex]

I recently added another interesting edition of The Book of Mormon to my library: it's called The Stick of Joseph in the Hand of Ephraim, published by the Restoration Scriptures Foundation. Now, I know that there is some disagreement among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as to the validity of the organization, but as a non-LDS person, I am not exactly plugged into that argument.

I first encountered The Stick of Joseph a little while back, shortly after it was published. I purchased a hardcover edition and glanced through it a little bit. This recent copy I just got is a lovely goatskin leather edition that was quite reasonably priced. (One caveat: the job they did on the gilded edges causes a lot of the pages to stick together, which is not great. I spend almost an hour unsticking all the pages.) Anyway, my initial impression of the work was that it was essentially a Hebraized version of the BoM, using Hebraized versions of proper names and some other terms, e.g. "Ruach HaKodesh" instead of "Holy Spirit." When I got my goatskin edition recently, I began to pay closer attention, and have discovered that it's a more extensive adaptation of the BoM than I initially had thought.

Here's just a brief example...

This is 2 Nephi 29:6-7 in the 2013 Church edition:

Quote

 

6 Thou fool, that shall say: A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. Have ye obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews?

7 Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth?

 

Now, here's the same passage in The Stick of Joseph:

Quote

 

2 Nefi 12:9

You fool that shall say, A bible, we have got a bible and we need no more bible. Have you obtained a bible, except it were by the Y’hudim? Do you not know that there are more nations than one? Do you not know that I, YHWH your Elohim, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea? And that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath, and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yes, even upon all the nations of the earth?

 

Obviously, the numbering is closer to the RLDS edition of the BoM, but the English is also modernized. I've also noticed several places where terms have been replaced with synonyms, e.g. "suffer" becomes "allow," etc.

It's quite difficult to compare this edition to the official Church edition. The chapter/verse numbering system is somewhat similar to the RLDS system, but it's definitely not the same. They seem to have their own system. Considering the Hebraisms and modernized English, there must be literally hundreds (maybe thousands) of textual differences between this version and the official version.

It's an unusual publication, to be sure. I'd love to hear from anyone else who has seen this version, and what your thoughts might be.

(BTW, if you don't want to purchase a copy as I did (twice), it's also available to read online for free: https://read.stickofjoseph.info/text/)

Edited March 4, 2022 by caspianrex
forgot some italics

[JLHPROF]

My thoughts are unless he had the original text or direct revelation and calling then any retranslation can be dismissed.

Since we know that site creator doesn't likely possess the plates that renders his text a faith issue, not an academic one. 

Do I think God called a new prophet to correct Joseph's translation and make it more Jewish?  Not for a second.

[CA Steve]

Maybe the translator used the Church's copy of the stick of Joseph to produce the translation.

 

[Robert F. Smith]

4 hours ago, caspianrex said:

I recently added another interesting edition of The Book of Mormon to my library: it's called The Stick of Joseph in the Hand of Ephraim, published by the Restoration Scriptures Foundation. Now, I know that there is some disagreement among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as to the validity of the organization, but as a non-LDS person, I am not exactly plugged into that argument.

I first encountered The Stick of Joseph a little while back, shortly after it was published. I purchased a hardcover edition and glanced through it a little bit. This recent copy I just got is a lovely goatskin leather edition that was quite reasonably priced. (One caveat: the job they did on the gilded edges causes a lot of the pages to stick together, which is not great. I spend almost an hour unsticking all the pages.) Anyway, my initial impression of the work was that it was essentially a Hebraized version of the BoM, using Hebraized versions of proper names and some other terms, e.g. "Ruach HaKodesh" instead of "Holy Spirit." When I got my goatskin edition recently, I began to pay closer attention, and have discovered that it's a more extensive adaptation of the BoM than I initially had thought.

Here's just a brief example...

This is 2 Nephi 29:6-7 in the 2013 Church edition:

Now, here's the same passage in The Stick of Joseph:

Obviously, the numbering is closer to the RLDS edition of the BoM, but the English is also modernized. I've also noticed several places where terms have been replaced with synonyms, e.g. "suffer" becomes "allow," etc.

It's quite difficult to compare this edition to the official Church edition. The chapter/verse numbering system is somewhat similar to the RLDS system, but it's definitely not the same. They seem to have their own system. Considering the Hebraisms and modernized English, there must be literally hundreds (maybe thousands) of textual differences between this version and the official version.

It's an unusual publication, to be sure. I'd love to hear from anyone else who has seen this version, and what your thoughts might be.

(BTW, if you don't want to purchase a copy as I did (twice), it's also available to read online for free: https://read.stickofjoseph.info/text/)

Thanks for the info.  Hadn't seen this before.  The chapters follow the 1830 edition, and the paragraphs appear to be numbered more or less along the lines of the 1830 paragraphs, although I did find one difference in a quick look through.

The group has a come unto Christ program, will baptize or rebaptize, and they do have one church in Provo, Utah, and many elsewhere:

Followers of Christ Fellowship Provo
Contact: Leonard Hofheins
Phone: 801-373-4161
255 S 700 E
Provo, Utah

Edited March 4, 2022 by Robert F. Smith

[Rajah Manchou]

14 hours ago, Robert F. Smith said:

Thanks for the info.  Hadn't seen this before.  The chapters follow the 1830 edition, and the paragraphs appear to be numbered more or less along the lines of the 1830 paragraphs, although I did find one difference in a quick look through.

I was really curious about this when it came out because their spelling of Mormon as M'raman. 

Would that be an accurate hebrew-ified transliteration of Mormon?

[Robert F. Smith]

7 hours ago, Rajah Manchou said:

I was really curious about this when it came out because their spelling of Mormon as M'raman. 

Looks like something out of the Upanishads.

7 hours ago, Rajah Manchou said:

Would that be an accurate hebrew-ified transliteration of Mormon?

No.  Many of their versions of BofM names are just plain silly.  They are not scholars.  For a look at the best scholarship on what BofM names might look like in their original language, see https://onoma.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Main_Page   .   

[rpn]

The Restoration Foundation is the Denver Snuffer offshoot that claims that everything after Joseph Smith was not of God.   Hence use of the 1830 book of mormon (though I don't know whether that is word for word either).

 

 

[caspianrex]

3 hours ago, rpn said:

The Restoration Foundation is the Denver Snuffer offshoot that claims that everything after Joseph Smith was not of God.   Hence use of the 1830 book of mormon (though I don't know whether that is word for word either).

 

 

As you can see in the passages I quoted in my original post, The Stick of Joseph definitely does NOT follow the 1830 BoM word-for-word. The Early Modern English of the original BoM is heavily updated. At a casual glance, it looks like the number of adjustments to the original text may be in the thousands. For example, all occurrences of "ye" are changed to "you," "suffer" is changed to "allow," the unusual BoM spelling of "wo" is changed to "woe," and hundreds of other changes can be seen.

[JLHPROF]

1 hour ago, caspianrex said:

As you can see in the passages I quoted in my original post, The Stick of Joseph definitely does NOT follow the 1830 BoM word-for-word. The Early Modern English of the original BoM is heavily updated. At a casual glance, it looks like the number of adjustments to the original text may be in the thousands. For example, all occurrences of "ye" are changed to "you," "suffer" is changed to "allow," the unusual BoM spelling of "wo" is changed to "woe," and hundreds of other changes can be seen.

It's a rework by a group of Snufferites.  Not scholars and not prophets.  In this case a panel run by a Boise chiropractor named Adrian Larsen.

The scripture website put out by Snuffer and Larsen removes half the D&C sections and adds in Snuffer's own revelations.

They are no different than any other break off sect.  Sagebrush prophets.