Although Genesis contains just over six percent of the text of the Old Testament, the Latter-day Saint Come, Follow Me curriculum lingers on this book from January through nearly the end of March—almost a quarter of the Old Testament study year. Clearly, Genesis and the Restoration texts connected with it (Moses and Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price) are seen as especially worthy of our attention. To assist in our study, Kent Jackson’s Genesis: A New English Translation combines three resources: a modern English translation of Genesis, excerpts from Joseph Smith’s translation, and commentary written in the style of study Bible notes.
Jackson’s translation is based on the traditional Hebrew Masoretic Text, with occasional corrections based on readings from other ancient sources such as the Greek Septuagint and the Dead Sea Scrolls (xv). The English is modern without being colloquial. Sentences are grouped into paragraphs that show the narrative’s structural logic. Poems are presented in stanzas that signal to readers that they are reading poetry and help them scan the poetic lines.
In some ways, Jackson’s translation choices defer to the precedent set by the King James Version (KJV). This includes rendering the divine name Jehovah (pronounced Yahweh in Hebrew) by the euphemistic title “the Lord,” a choice that Jackson notes “is familiar and customary in English” (9). It could have been an interesting break with tradition to preserve Jehovah’s name (which appears over 150 times in Genesis) in order to help readers better see how this name was used anciently. Jackson also retains the syntax of the KJV in Genesis’s famous opening line: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty” (Gen. 1:1–2). Many biblical scholars, including Latter-day Saints, have argued that this approach to translation rests on an assumption of creation ex nihilo and that the Hebrew is instead describing what the pre-existing universe was like before God created (or organized) it, as reflected in the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition: “When God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was complete chaos.” The traditional translation is defensible, but it is interesting that Jackson did not incorporate this newer approach, which enjoys some overlap between biblical scholarship and Latter-day Saint theology.
In other ways, Jackson diverges from the KJV. Units of measurement are spelled out rather than translated (for example, “seahs” instead of KJV’s “measures”; “a beka” instead of “half a shekel weight”; or “qesitahs” instead of “pieces of money”), but the notes explain their value (see Gen. 18:6; 24:22; and 33:19 respectively in the Jackson translation and KJV). The Israelite name for the place where people go after death, Sheol, is spelled out and presented as a proper noun, rather than repeating the KJV’s misleading term “the grave” (see Gen. 37:35; 42:38; and 44:29, 31). In places where the KJV describes a man “going in unto” a woman—the literal translation of a Hebrew phrase describing sexual intercourse—Jackson employs the modern euphemism “sleep with” (see Gen. 16:2, 4; 29:21, 23, 30; 30:3–4; and 38:2, 8–9). Sometimes Jackson’s word choices avoid misunderstandings that might result from the KJV, such as when he writes that God “tested” Abraham rather than “tempt[ed]” him (Gen. 22:1). Similarly, rendering “in days to come” rather than “in the last days” (Gen. 49:1) avoids giving readers the impression that what follows are prophecies exclusively about the end times.
In sum, I believe Latter-day Saint readers will find this new translation of Genesis to be accurate and accessible. Elder Dale G. Renlund noted that while the KJV is “beautiful and powerful,” we can gain additional “insights from multiple translations [of the Bible].” Jackson’s translation is extremely insightful as an additional option to study alongside the KJV.
In addition to the translation itself, a major feature of this book is the inclusion of the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible (JST). Jackson is one of the foremost experts on the JST and has published numerous editions and commentaries that prepared him for this particular project. Lines from the JST, where they add to or differ from the traditional text of Genesis, appear as footnotes in a different typeface at the bottom of each page. Jackson clearly gave careful thought to the placement of each footnote to make the jump from Genesis, down the page, to the JST as smooth as possible. Because the record of Enoch found in the JST is so lengthy (some forty-five hundred words; compare Moses 6:26–7:69), it appears between Genesis 5:21 and 5:22 as a long series of footnotes spanning seven and a half pages. By contrast, the visions of Moses (compare Moses 1) are positioned before Genesis 1 and presented as a prologue. Because Jackson’s JST text is based on the edition published by BYU in 2022, and because that edition incorporates Joseph Smith’s latest revisions to the JST manuscripts, the wording sometimes differs from the text found in the Pearl of Great Price’s book of Moses, which is based on publications that did not always reflect Joseph’s final edits.
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Some may wonder why, in a Bible edition designed for Latter-day Saints, the JST is presented as footnotes rather than incorporated directly into the biblical text. However, while it does take some effort to compare the text with the footnotes, I believe this is exactly the right approach. In many instances, I have found, the inspiration and creativity manifested by the Prophet are only evident through comparison with the traditional text. We have to see what Joseph was looking at to fully understand what problem caught his attention and how his solution responds to it.
While I have often compared the Prophet’s rendering to the KJV, which he used as his base text, when I began reading Jackson’s book I did wonder how well the JST quotations would work when read alongside a new English translation. In the end, I was surprised at how smooth the back and forth was. While there are certainly sentences where the JST doesn’t perfectly fit into Jackson’s rendering since the syntax is so different, I almost never found it difficult to figure out how the JST was intended to build on or respond to the biblical text. Even the shifts between the older style of English in the JST (“thou art”) and the contemporary style of Jackson’s translation (“you are”) did not provoke the linguistic whiplash I had expected. This was encouraging to me because, among Latter-day Saints, one of the long-standing concerns over modern English Bibles is the fear that using them will sever our ability to read the Bible alongside the Joseph Smith Translation, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price, all of which quote from and adopt the language of the KJV. Jackson’s presentation of a modern English translation interacting almost seamlessly with the insights of the JST gave me hope that perhaps there are indeed ways to bridge the linguistic gap between our Restoration texts and modern Bibles.
The final major feature of Jackson’s book is the commentary, which appears at the end of each scriptural block in a different, smaller typeface. As is typical in a study Bible, these notes are organized by verse and aim to be concise rather than exhaustive. Jackson brings his considerable expertise to bear as he defines Hebrew names and terms, explains cultural background, points out literary features, and comments on alternate translations or textual variants. He includes perspectives from other books of scripture, as well as interpretive insights from the teachings of Joseph Smith. Maps of the ancient Near East (39), Canaan (43), and Egypt (99) are also helpful.
In the commentary, I appreciate Jackson’s efforts to educate his readers about the nature of the book of Genesis. While fully affirming its scriptural status and inspired origin, the notes make it clear that Genesis could not have been written entirely by Moses; in its current form, it was written centuries after the events it describes, with different traditions and source materials edited into the book. Many of Genesis’s more perplexing features can be more easily explained when readers are aware of this complex development.
I also appreciate that Jackson explained things that may run counter to expectations or may make some readers uncomfortable. The accounts of Creation “are not scientific but theological” (9). Hagar was not a servant but a slave (50). The characters in Genesis aren’t always good “role models” (89). Just as important, I’m grateful that he was willing to point out gaps in our present knowledge, giving non-explanations like “we do not know” (12), “we are missing something in our understanding” (42), and “for reasons that are not made clear” (75). Too many scripture study resources attempt to provide answers beyond what the data allow, and it’s healthy for readers to be reminded that there are some things we cannot explain.
Genesis: A New English Translation brings together some of the best insights from academic scholarship and the rich resources of the Restoration. I recommend it as a helpful way to “seek learning, even by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118).
