Taking Note:
Marking the Footnotes in the New LDS Edition of the Bible

by Daniel H., Luene L., and Michelle Ludlow

One of the major features of the new LDS edition of the Bible is the inclusion of extensive footnotes, providing valuable information for all readers of this sacred scripture. These footnote entries might be divided into three major groupings as follows:

1. Footnote entries headed by or containing the following capitalized letters:

   1. “GR”—Indicating alternate translations from the Greek language. Inasmuch as the New Testament comes to us primarily from the Greek, these alternate translations add significantly to a better understanding of the New Testament.

   2. “HEB”—Indicating alternate translations from the Hebrew. The Old Testament comes to us primarily from the Hebrew language or languages closely associated with Hebrew. Thus, the numerous alternate translations from Hebrew add greatly to a better understanding of the Old Testament.

   3. “IE”—Indicating explanations of idioms and difficult constructions. Every language contains idioms or idiomatic expressions that, by definition, indicate the meaning is peculiar to a particular group. Webster’s unabridged dictionary defines an idiom as “having a meaning that cannot be derived as a whole from the conjoined meaning of its elements.” The Bible contains hundreds of idioms, and an understanding of their real meaning is critical to a better understanding of that holy scripture. Many of these explanations are included in the footnotes in the new LDS edition.

   4. “JST”—Indicating excerpts from the Joseph Smith Translation. Latter-day Saints are extremely interested in materials from the Joseph Smith Translation, also known by such designations as the Inspired Translation, Inspired Version, Inspired Revision, and the New Translation. Hundreds of short excerpts from the JST have been included in the footnotes to help explain difficult or ambiguous biblical passages. Longer excerpts from the JST are included in a special section of the Appendix.

   5. “TG”—Indicating references to the Topical Guide section of the Appendix. An important feature of the new LDS edition of the Bible is the inclusion of the “Topical Guide with Selected Concordance and Index” to the scriptures of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This 598-page section includes over 2,800 separate alphabetical entries of subjects of interest to Latter-day Saints, including pertinent references from all the standard works. Thousands of footnote entries refer the reader of the Bible to the appropriate entry in the Topical Guide.

   6. “OR”—Indicating a clarification of archaic English expressions. Many English words have changed meanings since the King James Version was first printed in 1611. Footnote entries with the capitalized word OR help to clarify in modern English what was meant by a particular English word when it was used originally.

2. Footnote entries containing cross-references to other scriptures.

   This new edition of the Bible contains, for the first time, cross references to the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. These references, together with the references included under the Topical Guide entries, provide both students and scholars of the Bible with an excellent cross-referencing system.

3. Footnote entries containing editorial notes.

   Teachings of modern prophets and research of current scholars are included in many footnotes to help clarify some of the more difficult passages in the Bible.

As helpful as the footnotes are in their present form, they could become even more helpful if they were meaningfully marked so they could be readily identified. A simple and inexpensive marking system would be to use a distinctive color to identify all footnote entries of a particular type. An important principle of color marking to keep in mind is that the colors should be meaningful to you so you can quickly remember which color is used to mark which type of footnote. Then as you use your Bible, you will easily and quickly identify all of the footnotes by the colors used to mark them.

For example, let’s assume you are wondering what color to use in marking GR footnotes (alternate translation from the Greek). Let’s assume further that when you think of a color in regard to GR—Greek, you automatically think of GReen. You might then decide to mark all GR (Greek) footnote entries in green.

Using similar thought patterns, you might also decide to mark the TG footnotes in tan or brown (TG—“tan ground”) and the OR footnotes in orange.

Possibilities for marking the other footnote entries headed by capitalized letters would be:

1. Use blue for the HEB footnotes (alternate translations from the Hebrew).

   The rationale might be that the Hebrews were a chosen people of God, and a blue ribbon stands for first place. Or, you might associate Israelites with Hebrews and then remember the blue Star of David on the flag of Israel.

2. Use yellow for IE footnotes (clarification or explanation of idioms and difficult constructions).

   Your thinking might be, yellow represents “new light or better understanding.”

3. Use red for JST footnote entries (excerpts from the Joseph Smith Translation).

   Your rationale might be that you want to mark these important references in a bright, distinctive color, and red comes immediately to mind.

If you should decide to use these particular colors to mark the footnote entries containing capitalized letters or words, a page containing such footnotes might be marked as follows:

Now, what about marking systems for the other two major types of footnotes: cross-references to other scriptures, and editorial notes?

Most of the footnote entries include cross-references to other scriptures. Thus, any marking system involving the coloring of such references should be limited; otherwise the footnote sections would have so many colored entries that some of the basic principles of effective marking (quick location and identification) would be lost. Perhaps such references should be marked or colored only to accomplish special purposes, such as indicating scriptural references essential to the full understanding of the passage, or identifying references from certain of the modern scriptures.

Footnote entries containing editorial notes might be quickly identified once they are blocked in a distinctive color. If that color were pink, such a footnote entry would appear as follows:

The following list provides you with the pages containing editorial notes in footnote entries; the number in parentheses indicates more than one such entry on that particular page. This list should save you a great deal of time in locating such footnotes in case you decide to mark them:

8	346	597	882	1192
9	350	605	886	1193
21	356	1198	890	1197
23	366	650 (3)	892 (2)	1198
26	380	651	917	1216
29	383	652	941	1227
44	384	653	1028	1241
46 (2)	402	658	1051	1269
52	418	744	1055	1272
56	422	819	1066	1328
73	427	839	1068 (2)	1331
75 (2)	432	858	1080	1332
76	440	864	1101	1342
84	461	865	1102	1378
86	462	869	1104 (2)	1416
93	465	872	1109 (2)	1460
177	471	873	1112	1564
190	479	874	1161	1576 (2)
199	486	875 (3)	1166 (2)
286	487	877 (2)	1187
316	491	878 (3)	1189
322	552 (2)	880

A next question might be, what is the best procedure to follow in marking or coloring footnote entries? One effective way would be to read the Bible completely through from beginning to end, and then mark the footnotes as they apply. This method would take considerable time, however, and might even detract from the effectiveness of reading the scriptures inasmuch as you would be trying to accomplish several things at the same time.

Another method of marking the footnotes would be to go through the footnote sections only, page by page, without paying any attention to the text. This would be a speedy method but would not be the best learning procedure.

A third method, and the one recommended here, would be to read through the footnote sections, page by page, but at the same time to read the verse in the text leading to that particular footnote. Then you could mark or color the following elements pertaining to each footnote:

1. The superscript (small superscribed or raised letter) in the text leading to the footnote entry.

2. The corresponding letter in the footnote which will always be listed after the corresponding verse number.

3. The capitalized letters or word, or other pertinent material in the footnote.

The following lists are provided to help you locate quickly all the footnote entries beginning with or containing the capitalized letters or words GR, HEB, IE, JST and OR. These lists should be of great assistance in locating and marking all such footnotes. No corresponding list has been prepared for the TG (Topical Guide) entries because they are so numerous they are found on virtually every page. Thus you might decide not to mark the TG entries at all, or simply to underline the capitalized letters TG in tan or brown.

Location of GR Footnotes

Inasmuch as the King James text of the New Testament is taken primarily from Greek texts, the GR footnote entries (alternate translations from the Greek) are very important to an understanding of the New Testament. The first list below indicates the number of GR footnote entries in each of the 27 books of the New Testament (there are no GR footnotes in the Old Testament).

Matt., 190	Eph., 4	Heb., 53
Mark, 47	Philip., 23	James, 25
Luke, 109	Col., 9	1 Pet., 30
John, 28	1 Thes., 24	2 Pet., 15
Acts, 52	2 Thes., 13	1 Jn., 16
Rom., 131	1 Tim., 54	2 Jn., 1
1 Cor., 123	2 Tim., 28	3 Jn., 1
2 Cor., 20	Titus, 24	Jude, 2
Gal., 29	Philem., 5	Rev., 19

The next list identifies pages of the Bible containing GR footnote entries (alternate translations from the Greek). Each of the following pages has at least one GR footnote entry; some of the pages have as many as 11 entries (see, for example, p. 1518). This list should be of assistance in marking GR footnotes.

1187–1215	1310–28	1379	1483–85
1217–46	1330	1381–83	1488–1526
1248–52	1332–34	1386	1528–35
1254–58	1337	1390	1537–42
1260	1339	1393	1544–48
1267–68	1342	1395–96	1550–65
1270–78	1345–47	1398	1568–71
1280–87	1349	1400–1403	1574
1289–90	1351–56	1407–64	1577
1292	1360	1466–68	1579
1294–95	1363	1470–71	1581–83
1297–1306	1366–69	1473–79	1588
1308	1371–76	1481

Location of HEB Footnotes

Since the Old Testament text in the King James version is taken primarily from earlier Hebrew texts, the HEB footnote entries (alternate translations from the Hebrew) in the Bible are very important to an understanding of the Old Testament text.

The first list below indicates the number of HEB footnotes in each of the 39 books of the Old Testament (only two books of the New Testament—Romans and Hebrews—have HEB footnotes, and they have only one footnote each).

Gen., 70	1 Kgs., 33	Eccl., 5	Obad., 0
Ex., 111	2 Kgs., 7	Song., 0	Jonah, 2
Lev., 102	1 Chr., 2	Isa., 143	Micah, 4
Num., 86	2 Chr., 29	Jer., 78	Nahum, 5
Deut., 165	Ezra, 6	Lam., 0	Hab., 4
Josh., 28	Neh., 2	Ezek., 90	Zeph., 3
Judg., 46	Esth., 2	Dan., 13	Hag., 1
Ruth, 2	Job, 33	Hosea, 13	Zech., 13
1 Sam., 13	Ps., 74	Joel, 6	Mal., 1
2 Sam., 17	Prov., 10	Amos, 5

The next list identifies pages of the Bible containing HEB footnotes. Each of the following pages has at least one HEB footnote entry; some of them have as many as eight entries (see, for example, p. 175). This list should be of assistance in marking HEB footnotes.

Old Testament
1–7	240	495	733	955–57
10	242–43	498–99	735	960–65
12–17	246–49	501–2	737–38	969
19–20	251–58	505–6	742	971
22–23	260–63	509	744	974
26–27	265–99	512	751	981–82
31	301–14	521	754	984–85
33–35	316–17	524	756	989–91
37	319–21	527	761	993–94
39–42	328–29	546	763	996–99
45–49	331–32	559	765–78	1001–2
54	334–35	561	782–87	1004
56–58	344	587–88	792–93	1006–12
73	346–54	591	796–97	1014
75	356–65	593–96	801–2	1016–17
79–81	370–71	600–602	805	1019
83–86	373	604	808–11	1027–29
88	375	608–9	819	1031
90–95	377–78	616–18	825	1035–36
97–103	383–84	623–33	829	1039–40
105–6	390	627–28	832	1042–47
108–12	393	630	836	1049–51
114	396	632–33	838	1055–56
116–19	401	636	843	1058
121–29	407	638	846	1060–61
131–36	413–15	643	848	1064–71
138–40	418	645	851	1073
142–46	432	647–48	856	1075–85
148	433–34	654	861–67	1088
151	436–39	672	869–74	1097
153–59	441	675	876–90	1099–1101
161–67	445	680–83	892–93	1113–14
169–70	448–49	685–89	895–910	1117–20
174–88	451	692–95	913–14	1123–29
195–201	453	698–700	918–19	1132–36
203	457–58	702–3	923–25	1140–42
205–6	463–64	705	927–28	1144–45
208–11	468	708	930–31	1149–53
213–14	471–72	710–12	933–36	1157–61
216–17	477–78	714–16	938–39	1163–66
220–22	482–84	718–19	941–42	1169–70
224–29	487	721	944–46	1172
231–34	491	723–26	948	1174–75
237–38	493	731	952–53	1179–81
New Testament
1429	1522

Location of IE Footnotes

The following list identifies the pages containing at least one IE footnote entry (an explanation of idioms and difficult constructions). This list should be helpful in marking the IE footnote entries.

Old Testament
4	267	590–91	944–45
9	271	594	948–49
14–15	276–83	596–98	952
21–23	286	600–601	958–59
27	288–91	603–6	962
30–33	293	610–11	965
36	298	613	969
38–41	305	615–16	972
43–45	308–9	620	975
49	311–12	622–23	984
51–52	314–16	625	988
54–56	318	627	991
72	329	631	1001
77–78	332–33	634	1004
80–81	342	638–39	1011
87	350	641	1013
89	354	643	1016
95–96	356	645	1019
98–99	359	649–51	1027
101–2	362	655	1030–32
105–6	365–67	683	1036–37
108–11	369–70	685	1040–41
113	373	691–92	1044
115	375	726	1053–56
118	377–79	729	1059–60
120	382	731	1064
127–28	384–85	733	1067
135–37	388	740	1069
139	391	751	1071
141–42	393–95	755–56	1074
148	398–401	769–70	1084
150–51	403	781	1090
153	405	783–84	1093
155	409	787	1097
163	416	793	1100–1101
165	418	795	1105
170	420	803	1107
174–77	422–23	806	1110
179–81	425	816	1112
187–88	428	818	1114–15
193	434–36	825–26	1117–18
195	439	828–29	1120
198	455	832–33	1122–27
201–2	463	835–36	1129
207	470	839–40	1131–33
212	472–73	842	1139–42
214	475	844–45	1148–49
220	479	853–54	1151–52
222	481–82	856–57	1154–55
224	491–92	862–77	1158
226–28	502	879–89	1163–64
232–33	506	892–906	1167–68
236	515	909–21	1170
248–49	523	923–24	1176
255–57	542–43	929–33	1180–81
259–62	547	935–37
264	588	939–40
New Testament
1188–89	1217	1319	1429–30
1192–93	1219	1322	1436
1195	1226	1355	1443
1205	1231	1377	1456
1209	1239	1386	1458
1212	1280	1413	1572
1215	1301	1416

Location of JST Excerpts

The following list indicates the number of JST excerpts found in the LDS edition of the Bible:

Old Testament
Gen., 28	1 Kgs., 8	Eccl., 0	Obad., 0
Ex., 29	2 Kgs., 0	Song., 0	Jonah, 2
Lev., 0	1 Chr., 1	Isa., 6	Micah, 0
Num., 1	2 Chr., 2	Jer., 5	Nahum, 0
Deut., 3	Ezra, 0	Lam., 0	Hab., 0
Josh., 0	Neh., 2	Ezek., 2	Zeph., 0
Judg., 0	Esth., 0	Dan., 1	Hag., 0
Ruth, 0	Job, 2	Hosea, 1	Zech., 2
1 Sam., 6	Ps., 12	Joel, 2	Mal., 0
2 Sam., 1	Prov., 1	Amos, 4
New Testament
Matt., 81	2 Cor., 6	1 Tim., 5	2 Pet., 4
Mark, 38	Gal., 2	2 Tim., 2	1 Jn., 11
Luke, 65	Eph., 1	Titus, 2	2 Jn., 0
John, 38	Philip., 4	Philem., 0	3 Jn., 0
Acts, 13	Col., 3	Heb., 22	Jude, 2
Rom., 24	1 Thes., 4	James, 7	Rev., 20
1 Cor., 25	2 Thes., 4	1 Pet., 8

The following list identifies the pages of the Bible containing at least one JST footnote entry. This list should be helpful in marking those footnote entries.

Old Testament
10	99–100	484	746	1058–59
12–14	106	486	787	1109
19–26	113–114	489	805–06	1130
30	130	492	830	1134–35
33–34	133–34	575	895	1139
60–61	219	607	901	1143
74	270	662	912	1149
78	277	679–80	925	1173–74
81	402	719–21	934
84	404–5	725	937
86–88	408	728	978
91–94	441	731–32	983
New Testament
1187–99	1303–5	1406–7	1503–4
1201	1307–10	1416	1507–8
1204–11	1312	1419–21	1510
1216–18	1314	1423–24	1512
1220–21	1316–18	1426–28	1515–16
1223–29	1321–22	1433	1518
1232	1324	1435	1521
1235	1326–31	1437	1524–28
1237	1334–39	1439–43	1530–32
1239–42	1342–44	1445–47	1534
1245–48	1346–47	1450	1538–40
1251	1349	1452	1544
1253	1351	1454	1547–49
1255–59	1354	1456	1552
1261	1356	1458	1554–56
1263	1361–63	1460	1558–59
1266–68	1366	1464–65	1561
1270–72	1368	1471	1563–66
1275	1370	1473–74	1568
1277–82	1373–74	1476	1570–72
1284	1378	1485	1575
1288–89	1381	1489	1577–78
1291–92	1390	1491–95	1585–86
1294	1397	1498
1296–1300	1401	1501

Location of OR Footnotes

The following list identifies pages in the new LDS edition of the Bible containing at least one footnote entry marked OR (alternate words clarifying the meaning of archaic English expressions). This list should be helpful in marking OR footnote entries:

Old Testament
3–5	363	635–36	921
7	366–68	638	923–26
11–15	371–74	640	931–34
18–20	378–82	642–46	936–37
24	384	648–59	939
28	387–93	661–63	942–48
30–31	395	665–68	950–51
38	398–400	682–86	954–55
43	403	688	957
46–47	406	691–92	959
50–52	409	694	961
74–75	413–19	698	963–64
78–86	423	700–702	966–70
88–105	428	704	973–75
107–145	430–31	709–10	979–87
147	433	712–13	990–91
149–50	450	716	993–96
161–62	452	720–23	998
170	456	728–32	1000–1001
172–73	458–59	738–41	1006
176	463	744	1009–20
178	467–72	746	1029–31
182	476	748–55	1034
184	478	763	1036–38
186–87	487–88	765	1040–41
190	490	767	1045
193–97	492	769–71	1047–48
200–203	495–96	774	1051–52
211	498	779	1054–56
213	500–501	781	1060
217	504	786–87	1062–63
220	510	795	1067–68
222–25	513	799–800	1076
227–30	515	802	1079
232–34	517	805	1081
236	525–26	808	1084–98
238–41	529	810–16	1100–1101
243–51	535	818–21	1104–8
257	539	827	1110–11
259–61	541	830	1113–15
264–74	563	832–41	1119–21
277–83	565	845–54	1124–28
285–94	587–94	856–57	1130–31
296–302	596–97	859	1133
304–8	600–601	861–62	1135–37
310	603	865–68	1140
312–14	605	870–81	1142–43
317–31	608–13	884	1150–51
333	615	886–92	1155
337	617	895–96	1158–66
343	619	898–902	1176–78
347–51	622	904–5	1180–81
353	625–29	907	1183–84
357	631–33	909–18
New Testament
1243	1280–82	1370	1395
1246	1292	1373	1397–1400
1248–53	1304	1376–77	1402
1274	1322–24	1379	1406–7
1276–78	1330	1386–87	1549

Photos by Eldon K. Linschoten