How the Hebrew Bible Originally Began

[Bryan LJ]

What I wish to lay out Joseph Smith has already laid out in his King Follet Discourse which he gave just a few months before he was killed. I wish to show this along with the actual characters in the Hebrew. Keep in mind that Hebrew reads from right to left, the opposite as English does.

"I shall comment on the very first Hebrew word in the Bible; I will make a comment on the very first sentence of the history of creation in the Bible—Berosheit. בראשית I want to analyze the word. Baith ב —in, by, through, and everything else. Rosh ראש —the head, Sheit שית —grammatical termination. Thus the word Berosheit בראשית , "At (the) head" translates to "In the beginning."When the inspired man wrote it, he did not put the baith there. An old Jew without any authority added the word; he thought it too bad to begin to talk about the head! It read first, “The head one of the Gods brought forth the Gods.” רצשית ברא אלהים - (Rosh)eit = Head, Baurau = created, organized, brought forth, etc. Elohim = gods (Keep in mind Hebrew has less fluff than other languages. Imagine how Native Americans used English or at least how they used to use it in the movies, lol.) That is the true meaning of the words. Baurau signifies to bring forth. If you do not believe it, you do not believe the learned man of God. Learned men can teach you no more than what I have told you. Thus the head God brought forth the Gods in the grand council." In black = Joseph Smith In red = Me

Think about this? One funny looking symbol ב changes a whole sentence that much! It changes it from "The Head brought forth the gods" to "In the beginning God created." Maybe this is why JS stated in our Articles of Faith: "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly;"

This also moves me to realize how very important following the spirit is and not relying on the arm of flesh. People tend to change and corrupt things that don't tend to fit their paradigms. Thank our Father in Heaven for the Book of Mormon. I am grateful to have a Book translated by a prophet. I do see value in understanding the Hebrew language and other languages to better understand ancient texts but I see greater value in seeking God personally to better understand.

Joseph Smith also said, "Could you gaze into heaven five minutes, you would know more than you would by reading all that ever was written on the subject"

And said in the same speech concerning the Bible, " I thank God that I have got this old book; but I thank him more for the gift of the Holy Ghost. I have got the oldest book in the world; but I have got the oldest book in my heart, even the gift of the Holy Ghost."