Changes in the Book of Mormon Part Two, a better question The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has published a list of a few of the changes made to the Book of Mormon. Part of the explanation is the following:  “Soon after the first printing of the Book of Mormon, in 1830, readers began finding typographical, spelling, and other mistakes. The Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery made over 1,000 corrections for the second edition (1837).” When Joseph Smith referred to the Book of Mormon as “the most correct of any book on earth,” he was not referring to spelling or grammar; he referred to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Since some critics have emphasized the greatness of the number of changes, one mentioning “4,000+” and another mentioning “3913,” let us begin with the many common changes, the ones not hidden but easy to see and easy to understand. Some samples include (from a page on lds.org): "Transcription (Alma 41:1): 1830 Edition 'Some have arrested the scriptures.' 1837 Edition 'Some have wrested the scriptures.' Oliver Cowdery wrote what he heard, which resulted in some transcription errors."  "Spelling (1 Nephi 13:23) Manuscript 'plaits' --- 1830 Edition 'plates' --- Spelling was not as standardized in 1828 as it is today. Revisions helped make the manuscript more understandable." None of these kinds of changes in Book of Mormon text have any relevance to the question: “Is this a record of ancient peoples of the Western Hemisphere?” They also have no relevance to the question: “Is this record of Divine origin?” Some critics of the Divine origin of the Book of Mormon seem to have assumed that God would do only one of two things regarding the possibility of new scripture in a modern world: Not give any new revelation through any new scripture or cause a perfect record to come forth, without even a trace of any human error. But those who appreciate the Divine messages in the Bible should not be offended at human errors in any book of scripture, including the Bible and the Book of Mormon. God performs much of His work through imperfect humans. In addition, some critics seem to insinuate that the many changes made to the Book of Mormon were to cover up a non-Divine origin. Carefully comparing the early editions with modern versions, however, reveals something far different. See a random sampling on the left. This site is neither created by nor sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Copyright 2011, 2012 Jonathan Whitcomb Random Sampling of Differences Between the 1830 and Recent Edition of the Book of Mormon 1830 version: AND now it came to pass in the twenty and ninth year of the Judges, that Ammoron sent unto Moroni, desiring that he would exchange prisoners. And it came to pass that Moroni felt to rejoice exceedingly at this request, for he desired the provisions which was imparted for the support of the Lamanite prisoners, for the support of his own people; 1981 version of that passage (Alma 54:1 and most of verse 2): And now it came to pass in the commencement of the twenty and ninth year of the judges, that Ammoron sent unto Moroni desiring that he would exchange prisoners. And it came to pass that Moroni felt to rejoice exceedingly at this request, for he desired the provisions which were imparted for the support of the Lamanite prisoners for the support of his own people;   [chapter and verse numbering left out for ease of comparison] The above text was chosen at random. Notice the differences between the 1830 and 1981 versions. Setting aside capitalization differences and the subtraction of two commas (which do not change any meanings), the 1981 version of the above sentences has two changes: added words, corrected grammar.  But of those two, only the added words have potential significance. Three new words were added: “the commencement of.” It seems to be a refinement in giving the time when an event happened in the military history of the Nephites and Lamanites. It gives more detail but does not suggest any cover-up as would be expected of a false document that needed changing. There is no impropriety here, but for those interested in this detail, LDS historians may be consulted. Changes in the Book of Mormon - Introduction More Changes in the Book of Mormon The Coming of Christ into the World