Over a decade in the making, “A New Approach to Studying The Covenants of Our Fathers: A Harmony of Genesis, Moses and Abraham,” has been our labor of love. Starting in the 1980s when we developed and helped the Church publish the first searchable online edition of the scriptures, we realized the added power of the scriptures when viewed from different perspectives. The writers and participants of scriptural events were real people living real lives just like us. Their lives didn’t consist of chapters and verses but were made up of experiences. Upon realizing this perspective, we started the quest to arrange the text into events that the people experienced as well as identifying clearly who is speaking and where they were when they spoke.

We today are the children or descendants of the Old Testament prophets. While considering ways of making the covenants of “our fathers” as recorded in the books of Genesis, Moses and Abraham easier to understand, a comprehensive harmony structure and a distinguishing format was devised. It was determined to include all the Joseph Smith Translation (JST) changes. The text formatting has been enhanced by adding wider margins for notes, two type sizes, and spaces between textual subdivisions. These contextual enhancements are designed to help the reader visualize the context, speaker and doctrine of the scripture narrative.

This harmony, “The Covenants of Our Fathers,” divides the text of Genesis, Moses and Abraham into 186 events or episodes—all in chronological sequence. An event-based approach provides an alternate way to read the scripture text without the obvious intrusion of verse and chapter breaks which can obscure the narrative as it was originally written or even the continuity of doctrinal discourses. Short text headings in the margins indicate names of speakers, locational information and scriptural references. These marginal annotations allow the reader to quickly and consistently place the narrative within “space” and “time.”

Yes. And we express our gratitude to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for providing the rare permission to publish the full text of the 2013 edition of the LDS Scriptures. This volume, “A New Approach to Studying The Covenants of Our Fathers: A Harmony of Genesis, Moses and Abraham,” is not endorsed nor distributed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Yes. First and foremost, no textual content has been altered from the current 2013 edition of the Scriptures. We should note that over the years the original formatting of the Scriptures has been modified according to the printing standards of the day. We have relocated parts of the content of the books of Moses and Abraham to better fit the chronological sequence in the book of Genesis and have restructured the format of these three books into events or episodes. Also, the Joseph Smith Translations changes and additions have been incorporated within the text. These formatting alterations allow the reader to experience the Scriptures from a new perspective which is designed to provide new insights, perhaps missed in the traditional format.

No. There are no commentaries in “A New Approach to Studying The Covenants of Our Fathers: A Harmony of Genesis, Moses and Abraham.” The book contains the unaltered text of the 2013 edition but is reformatted to include events, speakers, dates and locational information. Although there are many commentaries on the scriptures, we feel the text should speak for itself. As noted, we have relocated parts of the content of the books of Moses and Abraham to better fit the chronological sequence in the book of Genesis and have restructured the format of these three books into events or episodes. Also, the Joseph Smith Translations changes and additions have been incorporated within the text. “A New Approach to Studying The Covenants of Our Fathers: A Harmony of Genesis, Moses and Abraham.” does include an introduction (Prologue) and a summary (Epilogue) to place the covenants of “the fathers” within the context of the restoration of the Gospel.

Relatable to My Life – By reformatting the text into logical events or episodes, the reader’s mind can now relate to each story, including the meaning, message and doctrinal focus. No longer does the reader think of the Scriptures as simply chapters and verses of content, but rather as real experiences that happened to real people who were faced with the challenges of life.

Teaching My Children – Many find it helpful for each family member to have their own copy of “A New Approach to Studying The Covenants of Our Fathers: A Harmony of Genesis, Moses and Abraham” so they can follow along and easily identify who is speaking in each verse as well as their location (town, river, country, etc). For some, scripture study has taken on a whole new dimension as each family member reads the part of a different person in an event. For example, if you had four people in your family, dad could be Abraham and read his part, mom could be Sarai, child one could be Issac and child two could be Ishmael. When children and adults read “A New Approach to Studying The Covenants of Our Fathers: A Harmony of Genesis, Moses and Abraham,” by event, the content is more easily recalled and most importantly the doctrine and principles are more readily internalized.

Missionary Preparation – Nothing prepares a missionary to testify of the Savior Jesus Christ, and the Prophet Joseph Smith, better than a full knowledge, understanding and testimony of the Scriptures. Studying this book by event solidifies the reality of the experiences shared in the Old Testament and therefore creates a stronger connection to the speakers, doctrines and gospel principles.