this is a draft - this resource page was produced after giving chatgpt-o3 a very specific set of instructions on how to summarize this topic. I then modified the output. I still need to verify all the particulars and touch up.

Synopsis

In a peer-reviewed essay published in Journal of the Bible and its Reception, Colby Townsend demonstrates that many of the textual deviations found in the Book of Mormon’s Isaiah material (especially Isaiah 2–14, 29, 48–54) correspond not to the King James Version (KJV) but to variant readings and explanatory glosses preserved in Adam Clarke’s multi-volume Commentary on the Holy Bible (1825–26). Townsend shows that Joseph Smith engaged Clarke’s scholarship “creatively,” weaving Clarke’s wording and critical notes into his dictation rather than copying slavishly, thereby “restoring” Isaiah through the lens of early-nineteenth-century Methodist exegesis.

Townsend identifies dozens of unique phrase-level matches (e.g., emendations to Isaiah 11:15; 49:24; 52:10) and argues that the pattern of dependence becomes unmistakable when read against Clarke’s commentary on those chapters. The article situates Smith’s borrowing within a broader reception-history story: non-elite Bible readers in the early United States had increasing access to—and made pragmatic use of—contemporary critical scholarship.

Townsend’s background & expertise

Colby Townsend is a dual PhD candidate in English and Religious Studies at Indiana University Bloomington, specializing in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century transatlantic religion and literature. He holds HBA degrees in Comparative Literature and Religious Studies (University of Utah) and an MA in History (Utah State University), and has published in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Journal of Mormon History, and related venues.

Primary academic publication

  • Townsend, Colby. “Early Nineteenth-Century Biblical Scholarship and the Production of The Book of Mormon.” Journal of the Bible and its Reception 12, no. 1 (2025): 57–84. DOI: 10.1515/jbr-2024-0001. 🔒 paywall

Podcast & streaming discussions

Historical corroboration

Townsend re-examines contemporary evidence (e.g., family reminiscences about a Clarke set in Emma Smith’s extended family) and earlier bibliographic work by Thomas Wayment and Haley Wilson-Lemmón, concluding that Joseph Smith had ample opportunity—through Methodist networks and personal borrowing—to consult Clarke well before 1828. These contextual findings dovetail with the textual parallels to strengthen the case for dependence.

Specific examples of usage in the Book of Mormon

Townsend’s article and podcast interviews highlight several illustrative cases (chapter/verse numbering follows the KJV / 1830 BofM alignment):

  1. Isaiah 11:15 / 2 Nephi 21:15 – Smith’s phrase “smite the tongue of the Egyptian sea” becomes “utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea,” echoing Clarke’s comment that God would “utterly destroy” that obstacle.
  2. Isaiah 29:19 / 2 Nephi 27:30 – Inserting “and the poor among men shall rejoice,” matching Clarke’s reading against the KJV omission.
  3. Isaiah 52:10 / Mosiah 12:24 – Adoption of Clarke’s expansion “the Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations,” including the explanatory connective absent in the KJV.

For a fuller catalogue, see the tables in Townsend’s appendix (pp. 77–83) or podcast visual aids.

Rebuttal & further debate

[as they accumulate]

  • Thomas A. Wayment & Haley Wilson-Lemmón, “A Recovered Resource: The Use of Adam Clarke’s Bible Commentary in Joseph Smith’s Bible Translation,” in Producing Ancient Scripture (2020)
  • Thomas A. Wayment, “Joseph Smith, Adam Clarke, and the Making of a Bible Revision,” Journal of Mormon History 46, no. 3 (2020): 1–22.