Does the Book of Moses Restore the “Original” Version of Genesis?
LDS teachings and scripture clearly imply that Moses learned of the Creation and the Fall in vision and was told to write it. Moreover, there are revelatory passages in the book of Moses that have remarkable congruences with ancient texts. However, I think it is fruitless to rely on JST Genesis as a means for uncovering a Moses Urtext. Even if certain revelatory passages in the book of Moses were found to be direct translations of ancient documents—as was, apparently, D&C 7—it is impossible to establish whether or not they once existed as an actual part of some sort of “original” manuscript of Genesis. Moreover, exactly matching the text of scripture given in a previous dispensation is not generally the prime intent of modern revelation. Prophetic translations that seem to be unwarranted departures from the original textual sources of the Bible become less a source of concern when we remember the wise observation of Hyrum M. Smith and Janne M. Sjodahl, which applies no less to translat
