The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the King James Bible
This Bible is a copy from the same edition that Joseph Smith revised and corrected between 1830 and 1833. Oliver Cowdery purchased Joseph's copy at E. B. Grandin's shop in Palmyra, New York, in October 1829, during the time Grandin was printing the first edition of the Book of Mormon.
Similar to other 19th-century Americans, early LDS Church members used the King James Bible for worship and study. The Prophet Joseph Smith used a King James Version, an 1828 edition published by H. and E. Phinney in Cooperstown, New York, while laboring at his own Bible translation.
The LDS Church still uses the King James Bible today. Although numerous Bible translations have appeared during the Church's history, Church leaders have found fault with modern versions that contradict or obscure the doctrines of the restored gospel. For example, Elder J. Reuben Clark felt that some translations "weaken, if not destroy the Messiahship of Jesus."
The current LDS edition of the King James Bible was first issued in 1979. The text of the King James Bible is accompanied by material specific to LDS usage, including cross-references to all of the standard works of LDS scripture, a Bible dictionary and Topical Guide sensitive to LDS doctrine, and quotations from the Joseph Smith Translation.