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There is controversy and conflicting testimony when it comes to the actual translation process. False accounts come from disaffected former members of the Church with a personal agenda to push (like Emma Smith) and accounts of the process also vary widely from one telling to the next, depending on the audience (like David Whitmer¹¹). However, evidence indicates that only Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery had any direct experience with the translation process. Fortunately their testimony is consistent, clear and concise, as in the Wentworth letter⁵ and other authoritative statements¹. Therefore the testimony of Joseph and Oliver must be paramount. They testified the translation was: 1) Done by the power of God; 2) Included reading the golden plates; and 3) Involved the use of the Urim and Thummim -- also called the Holy Interpreters. The only real question is the role of the Urim and Thummim in the translation process.

Accounts that describe the translation process using a dark "seer stone" in a hat were introduced by the anti-Mormon book "Mormonism Unvailed" and repeated by enemies and disaffected former members of the church in Joseph Smiths lifetime. There are also claims that "seer stone" and "Urim and Thummim" were referred to interchangeably as the same thing. This is patently false in the writings of Joseph and Oliver and the scripture¹⁰ is clear. We must take the official testimony of Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and the Lord Himself and reject the tales of enemies and apostates – as Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery did in their day⁹. Below is the official canonized statement on the matter. The seer stone is conspicuously absent and is also not to be found anywhere in the scriptures or in the writings of Joseph Smith or in the writings of Oliver Cowdery as being part of the translation process.

Doctrine and Covenants 17
1 BEHOLD, I say unto you, that you must rely upon my word, which if you do with full purpose of heart, you shall have a view of the plates, and also of the breastplate, the sword of Laban, the Urim and Thummim, which were given to the brother of Jared upon the mount, when he talked with the Lord face to face, and the miraculous directors which were given to Lehi while in the wilderness, on the borders of the Red Sea.
2 And it is by your faith that you shall obtain a view of them, even by that faith which was had by the prophets of old.
3 And after that you have obtained faith, and have seen them with your eyes, you shall testify of them, by the power of God;
4 And this you shall do that my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., may not be destroyed, that I may bring about my righteous purposes unto the children of men in this work.
5 And ye shall testify that you have seen them, even as my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., has seen them; for it is by my power that he has seen them, and it is because he had faith.
6 And he has translated the book, even that part which I have commanded him, and as your Lord and your God liveth it is true.
...
9 And I, Jesus Christ, your Lord and your God, have spoken it unto you, that I might bring about my righteous purposes unto the children of men. Amen.

Oliver Cowderys testimony is also clear and unambiguous. For example, when he returned to the Church, he spoke at Council Bluffs and said:

Millennial Star, Aug. 20 1859, 544
I wrote, with my own pen, the entire Book of Mormon (save a few pages) as it fell from the lips of the Prophet Joseph Smith, as he translated it by the gift and power of God, by the means of the Urim and Thummim, or, as it is called by that book, 'holy interpreters.' I beheld with my eyes, and handled with my hands, the gold plates from which it was transcribed. I also saw with my eyes and handled with my hands the 'holy interpreters.' That book is true. Sidney Rigdon did not write it; Mr. Spaulding did not write it; I wrote it myself as it fell from the lips of the Prophet.

There is very strong evidence, based both on testimony and examination of the original manuscripts, that the translation process consisted of a one-time dictation^1a,1b,1c which supports the idea that Joseph read off the English words as displayed on the Urim and Thummim Interpretors. This also makes sense when considering the remarkable speed of the translation. It also provides an explanation as to why Joseph did not revise himself – as Royal Skousen discovered in his study of the original manuscripts. Some have argued for a loose translation and that the young Joseph Smith at age 23 had read many books and translated the Book of Mormon into correct Biblical English using his own lexicon. However, this theory does not match the evidence. There were no do-overs, no narrative revision, no unlimited lexicon available to the 19th century Joseph Smith.

Joseph Smith himself indicated that he could read the hieroglyphics of the plates:

"I translated the Book of Mormon from hieroglyphics, the knowledge of which was lost to the world, in which wonderful event I stood alone, an unlearned youth, to combat the worldly wisdom and multiplied ignorance of eighteen centuries" ... (History of the Church, 6:74).

It is believed, for good reasons, that the young Joseph Smith studied^2a the language^2b of the plates for as much as six months^2c, was tutored by angelic messengers³ and thus could actually read and understand the logographic symbols on the plates^2d based on his own study^2e which was augmented with queries to the Urim and Thummim^2e. I do believe this is true based on the historical record and also Section 9 of the Doctrine and Covenants⁴. That the translation process involved a personal understanding the engravings on the plates was also reiterated by the Lord to Oliver Cowdery when he said:

Doctrine & Covenants 8
1 Oliver Cowdery, verily, verily, I say unto you, that assuredly as the Lord liveth, who is your God and your Redeemer, even so surely shall you receive a knowledge of whatsoever things you shall ask in faith, with an honest heart, believing that you shall receive a knowledge concerning the engravings of old records, which are ancient, which contain those parts of my scripture of which has been spoken by the manifestation of my Spirit.

However, having a knowledge of the "Reformed Egyptian" characters on the plates does not explain a one-time dictation into a complex Biblical style English with no revisions. This is where, in my opinion, the role of the Urim and Thummim⁵ comes in. Joseph Smith had a preparation and talent for translating the written meaning to his own understanding and then the role of the Urim and Thummim (also called "Interpreters"⁶) was to convert/interpret (consecutive interpreting) that understanding into the precise Hebrew-like language constructs and Bible-like vocabulary that is now found in the Book of Mormon. For most people the tendency is to carelessly conflate interpreting and translating to mean the same thing. This is clearly not the case. The 1828 Webster dictionary defines the words "translate" and "interpret" as:

Translate: to turn into one's own or another language (which is exactly what Joseph Smiths study and effort did)
Interpret: to explain or tell the meaning of – present in understandable terms. (which is exactly what the Urim and Thummim interpreters did)

The title page of the Book of Mormon says "The interpretation thereof by the gift (gift: Something that is bestowed voluntarily) of God." Translating and Interpreting are two words conveying two separate processes and they should not be conflated! That the interpretation was a "gift" from God in form of written words is stated in the history of Lucy Mack Smith where she says:

Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845
In the mean time Joseph was 150 miles distant and knew naught of the matter except an intimation that was given through the urim and thummim for as he one morning applied them to his eyes to look upon the record instead of the words of the book being given him he was commanded to write a letter to one David Whitmer this man Joseph had never seen but he was instructed to say to him that he must come with his team immediately in order to convey Joseph and Oliver back to his house which was 135 miles that they might remain with him there until the translation should be completed ...

This concept of the final wording being "given" as a gift also explains why it was a one-time dictation instead of the normal multiple attempts required to refine the wording. Multiple attempts and revisions would be needed (double interpretation) for interpreting such a complex text without the text being provided by the Urim and Thummim. Nobody, on their own, could get the wording exactly right the very first time with no revision. In my opinion only God could do that⁷ and I believe God did provide the exact wording via the Urim and Thummim. This was a blessing not only to Joseph Smith but it also fulfilled prophecy given by the Lord to the ancient Nephite prophets⁸.

Oliver Cowdery also reportedly testified in court that Joseph dictated the text of Book of Mormon by reading in English from the Urim and Thummim:

Evangelical Magazine 1831-04-09: Vol 2 Issue 15, p 120
Oliver Cowdery, one of the three witnesses to the book, testified under oath, that said Smith found with the plates, from which he translated his book, two transparent stones, resembling glass, set in silver bows. That by looking through these, he was able to read in English, the reformed Egyptian characters, which were engraved on the plates. (https://archive.org/details/sim_evangelical-magazine-and-gospel-advocate_1831-04-09_2_15/page/n7/mode/1up)

Therefore the wording as it came from the lips of Joseph Smith was a perfectly accurate interpretation that came for free as a gift from God. However, emendations were nevertheless needed for the following reasons: 1) Errors were introduced in the transcription of the original manuscript (this has been well documented by Royal Skousen); 2) Errors were introduced in the creation of the printers manuscript; 3) punctuation and wording, sometimes incorrect, was introduced by the printers assistant John Gilbert; 4) the perfectly accurate interpretation included Hebrew idioms and sentence constructs of Biblical English that were ungrammatical in modern English; and 5) errors were also introduced by the original writers and abridgers of the Nephite record (they admit this) and so some clarifications were added (rarely for this reason) by Joseph Smith. For all the many details of each of these emendations over the years, I refer you to the 20 year work of Royal Skousen "The Book of Mormon - The Earliest Text" and the five volumes of "The Book of Mormon Critical Text Project".

           The Book of Mormon Critical Text Project
               Volume I: The Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon
               Volume II: the Printer's Manuscript of the Book of Mormon
               Volume III: The History of the Text of the Book of Mormon
                   Volume III Parts 3 and 4: The Nature of the Original Language of the Book of Mormon
               Volume IV: Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon
                   Volume IV Part One: 1 Nephi 1--2 Nephi 11
                   Volume IV Part Two: 2 Nephi 12 – Mosiah 13
                   Volume IV Part Three: Mosiah 14 – Alma 17
                   Volume IV Part Four: Alma 18–51
                   Volume IV Part Five: Alma 52 – 3 Nephi 7
                   Volume IV Part Six: 3 Nephi 8 – Moroni 10
               Volume V: A Complete Electronic Collation of the Book of Mormon
           

I believe the original text of the Book of Mormon to be the ultimate "tight" translation. Every word and every spelling is significant and precise as it came from the lips of Joseph Smith. That is also my experience and testimony as I have studied the text in regard to the geography of the Book of Mormon.

Below is a layout demonstrating the translation process as I have described it and showing the periods for each phase of the translation effort. All translation efforts, inspired or not, go through these phases in order to reach the final product. Only the role of the Urim & Thummim is unique. This process of Book of Mormon translation I call the TITE process: TranslationInterpretationTranscriptionEmendation

<-------Translational Activity-----><-----Transcriptional Activity----->
Translation--->Interpretation------>Transcription------->Emendation---->

Joseph Smith-->Holy Interpreters--->Oliver Cowdery------>John Gilbert   
study & prep   Urim & Thummim       others...            Joseph Smith   
                                                         Royal Skousen  
                                                         others...      
          

Within the TITE process, by using the Urim and Thummim for Interpretation, over time Joseph became familiar and fluent with the language of scripture. Because of this training, later revelations in Doctrine & Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price were received and interpreted without the aid of the Urim and Thummim. However in these cases (when not using Urim and Thummim) he manually reviewed the text and made revisions until the interpretation/wording was accurate to the revelation received.

The graphic below shows the origin and contents of each section of the plates and how they made it to the published version of the Book of Mormon.

Harmony: Joseph learns "reformed Egyptian" from large plates of Nephi:            09/22/1827 to 04/12/1828
Harmony: Joseph translates from the large plates of Nephi, named 116 pages:       04/12/1828 to 06/14/1828
Harmony: Joseph did not have the plates or Urim and Thummim, no translations:     06/15/1828 to 09/22/1828
Harmony: Joseph translates a little of the large plates with misc. scribes:       09/22/1828 to 04/04/1829
Harmony: Joseph finishes the large plates of Nephi with Oliver Cowdery:           04/07/1829 to 05/2?/1829
Fayette: Joseph translates small plates of Nephi with Oliver Cowdery:             06/0?/1829 to 06/2?/1829
          

The Hill Cumorah plates repository is described by Mormon:

Mormon 6:6
6 And it came to pass that when we had gathered in all our people in one to the land of Cumorah, behold I, Mormon, began to be old; and knowing it to be the last struggle of my people, and having been commanded of the Lord that I should not suffer the records which had been handed down by our fathers, which were sacred, to fall into the hands of the Lamanites, (for the Lamanites would destroy them) therefore I made this record out of the plates of Nephi, and hid up in the hill Cumorah all the records which had been entrusted to me by the hand of the Lord, save it were these few plates which I gave unto my son Moroni.

Orson Pratt, Heber C. Kimball, Wilford Woodruff and Brigham Young all spoke of the Hill Cumorah hill repository and its contents. The most detailed statement comes from Brigham Young who testified of it in 1877.

President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol 19, p 38
I lived right in the country where the plates were found from which the Book of Mormon was translated, and I know a great many things pertaining to that country. I believe I will take the liberty to tell you of another circumstance that will be as marvelous as anything can be. This is an incident in the life of Oliver Cowdery, but he did not take the liberty of telling such things in meeting as I take. I tell these things to you, and I have a motive for doing so. I want to carry them to the ears of my brethren and sisters, and to the children also, that they may grow to an understanding of some things that seem to be entirely hidden from the human family. Oliver Cowdery went with the Prophet Joseph when he deposited these plates. Joseph did not translate all of the plates; there was a portion of them sealed, which you can learn from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. When Joseph got the plates, the angel instructed him to carry them back to the hill Cumorah, which he did. Oliver says that when Joseph and Oliver went there, the hill opened, and they walked into a cave, in which there was a large and spacious room. He says he did not think, at the time, whether they had the light of the sun or artificial light; but that it was just as light as day. They laid the plates on a table; it was a large table that stood in the room. Under this table there was a pile of plates as much as two feet high, and there were altogether in this room more plates than probably many wagon loads; they were piled up in the corners and along the walls. The first time they went there the sword of Laban hung upon the wall; but when they went again it had been taken down and laid upon the table across the gold plates; it was unsheathed, and on it was written these words: “This sword will never be sheathed again until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God and his Christ.” I tell you this as coming not only from Oliver Cowdery, but others who were familiar with it, and who understood it just as well as we understand coming to this meeting, enjoying the day, and by and by we separate and go away, forgetting most of what is said, but remembering some things. So is it with other circumstances in life. I relate this to you, and I want you to understand it. I take this liberty of referring to those things so that they will not be forgotten and lost. (Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered at a Special Conference Held at Farmington, for the Purpose of Organizing a Stake of Zion for the County of Davis, on Sunday Afternoon, June 17, 1877)

¹ See the Wentworth Letter, also Doctrine and Covenants 3:19Doctrine and Covenants 3:19
19 And for this very purpose are these plates preserved, which contain these records--that the promises of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to his people; , 5:4Doctrine and Covenants 5:4
1 BEHOLD, I say unto you, that as my servant Martin Harris has desired a witness at my hand, that you, my servant Joseph Smith, Jun. , have got the plates of which you have testified and borne record that you have received of me;
2 And now, behold, this shall you say unto him--he who spake unto you, said unto you: I, the Lord, am God, and have given these things unto you, my servant Joseph Smith, Jun. , and have commanded you that you should stand as a witness of these things;
3 And I have caused you that you should enter into a covenant with me, that you should not show them except to those persons to whom I commanded you; and you have no power over them except I grant it unto you.
4 And you have a gift to translate the plates; and this is the first gift that I bestowed upon you; and I have commanded that you should pretend (as in: to presume; venture) to no other gift until my purpose is fulfilled in this; for I will grant unto you no other gift until it is finished., 10:38-46Doctrine and Covenants 10:38-46
38 And now, verily I say unto you, that an account of those things that you have written, which have gone out of your hands, is engraven upon the plates of Nephi;
39 Yea, and you remember it was said in those writings that a more particular account was given of these things upon the plates of Nephi.
40 And now, because the account which is engraven upon the plates of Nephi is more particular concerning the things which, in my wisdom, I would bring to the knowledge of the people in this account--
41 Therefore, you shall translate the engravings which are on the plates of Nephi, down even till you come to the reign of king Benjamin, or until you come to that which you have translated, which you have retained;
42 And behold, you shall publish it as the record of Nephi; and thus I will confound those who have altered my words.
43 I will not suffer that they shall destroy my work; yea, I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.
44 Behold, they have only got a part, or an abridgment of the account of Nephi.
45 Behold, there are many things engraven upon the plates of Nephi which do throw greater views upon my gospel; therefore, it is wisdom in me that you should translate this first part of the engravings of Nephi, and send forth in this work.
46 And, behold, all the remainder of this work does contain all those parts of my gospel which my holy prophets, yea, and also my disciples, desired in their prayers should come forth unto this people., 17:1-6Doctrine and Covenants 17:1-6
1 BEHOLD, I say unto you, that you must rely upon my word, which if you do with full purpose of heart, you shall have a view of the plates, and also of the breastplate, the sword of Laban, the Urim and Thummim, which were given to the brother of Jared upon the mount, when he talked with the Lord face to face, and the miraculous directors which were given to Lehi while in the wilderness, on the borders of the Red Sea.
2 And it is by your faith that you shall obtain a view of them, even by that faith which was had by the prophets of old.
3 And after that you have obtained faith, and have seen them with your eyes, you shall testify of them, by the power of God;
4 And this you shall do that my servant Joseph Smith, Jun. , may not be destroyed, that I may bring about my righteous purposes unto the children of men in this work.
5 And ye shall testify that you have seen them, even as my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., has seen them; for it is by my power that he has seen them, and it is because he had faith.
6 And he has translated the book, even that part which I have commanded him, and as your Lord and your God liveth it is true.

^1a The work of translation proceeded haltingly through 1828. Joseph's wife, Emma, and others served as scribes until the spring of 1829, when Oliver Cowdery took over, recording the bulk of the 275,000-word text from Joseph's dictation, concluding near the end of June 1829, a period of about 60 days. (see Church History, ChurchOfJesusChrist.org)

^1b These were days never to be forgotten-to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom! Day after day I continued, uninterrupted, to write from his mouth as he translated" (Messenger and Advocate 1 [Oct. 1834]:14)

^1c All witnesses of the translation stated that Joseph Smith dictated the text of the Book of Mormon. This claim is supported by certain errors in the original manuscript which clearly resulted from the scribe mishearing what Joseph had dictated. ... Evidence from the original manuscript supports the traditional belief that Joseph Smith received a revealed text by means of the interpreters. ... In fact, the occurrence of non-English Hebraisms such as the if-and construction strongly suggests that the text was tightly controlled down to the level of the word at least. This tight control is also supported by the consistent phraseology in the original text. And the spelling of names such as Coriantumr suggests that control could be imposed down to the very letter. (How Joseph Smith Translated the Book of Mormon, Royal Skousen, pp 25,30)

^2a ...Joseph began to make arrangements to accomplish the translation of the Record; And the first step which he was instructed to take in regard to this matter, was, to take a Fac-Simile of the characters composing the alphabet: which characters were called reformed Egyptian... (Lucy Mack Smith History, 1845, pp 117,122, Joseph Smith Papers)

^2b for truth is a matter of fact — and the fact is, by the power of God I translated the book of Mormon from hieroglyphics; the knowledge of which was lost to the world. In which wonderful event, I stood alone, an unlearned youth, to combat the worldly wisdom and multiplied ignorance of eighteen centuries. (James Arlington Bennet letter, Joseph Smith Papers)

^2c I commenced copying the characters of all the plates. I copyed a considerable number of them and by means of the Urim and Thummin I translated some of them which I did between the time I arrived at the house of my wife's father in the month of December, and the February following. (Lucy Mack Smith History, 1845, pp 117,122, Joseph Smith Papers)

^2d With "true alphabet" languages, like English, one needs to generally speak the language in order to read it. However, for Pictographic and Logographic writing systems, this is not the case. See below. The "Reformed Egyptian" (Mormon 9:32-33Mormon 9:32-33
32 And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.
33 And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our record. ) of the plates was likely an altered/customized form of the Egyptian Demotic. The beautiful Egyptian Hieroglyphic's were used for monuments and Demotic was the everyday "cursive" form, much simpler to write – and designed for parchment. Mormon explains that he used "Reformed Egyptian" that had been altered by the Nephites. One reason it had to be altered is that it was designed to be engraven on metal plates rather than parchment. That it may also have been primarily logographic is clear when Mormon explains it was much shorter than the Hebrew (Mormon 9:32-33Mormon 9:32-33
32 And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.
33 And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our record. ).

In the context of the Book of Mormon it is useful to understand the basics of the following writing systems

Pictographic/ideographic writing systems:

• There is no single way to read them, because there is no one-to-one correspondence between symbol and language.
• Only the author of a text can read it with any certainty, and it may be said that they are interpreted rather than read.
• Such scripts often work best as mnemonic aids for oral texts, or as outlines that will be fleshed out in speech.
• - Examples: Aztec, Mixtec, other Mesoamerican writing systems with the exception of Maya Hieroglyphs.

Logographic writing systems

• Glyphs (A symbol, such as a stylized figure or arrow on a public sign, that imparts information nonverbally) represent words or morphemes (meaningful components of words, as in mean-ing-ful), rather than phonetic elements.
• No logographic script is composed solely of logograms (A written symbol representing an entire spoken word without expressing its pronunciation; for example, 4 is read as "four" in English, "quattro" in Italian.). All contain graphemes that represent phonetic (sound-based) elements as well.
• Many glyphs are purely phonetic, whereas others function as either logograms or phonetic elements, depending on context.
• Consonant-based logographies
  - Examples: Hieroglyphic, Hieratic, and Demotic — the writing systems of Ancient Egypt.
• Syllable-based logographies
  - Examples: Cuneiform, Chinese, Japanese, Mayan.

Abjad writing systems

• Script containing symbols for consonants only, or where vowels are optionally written with diacritics.
• - Examples: Arabian, Aramaic, Hebrew.

True Alphabets writing systems

• A true alphabet contains separate letters (not diacritic marks) for both consonants and vowels..
• - Examples: Coptic Egyptian, Cyrillic - Eastern Slavic languages, Greek, Latin-Roman (current western and central European languages).

^2e PGP, Joseph Smith History 1
62 By this timely aid was I enabled to reach the place of my destination in Pennsylvania; and immediately after my arrival there I commenced copying the characters off the plates. I copied a considerable number of them, and by means of the Urim and Thummim I translated some of them, which I did between the time I arrived at the house of my wife's father, in the month of December, and the February following.

³ And when Joseph Smith was raised up as a Prophet of God, Mormon, Moroni, Nephi and others of the ancient Prophets who formerly lived on this Continent, and Peter and John and others who lived on the Asiatic Continent, came to him and communicated to him certain principles pertaining to the Gospel of the Son of God. (John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, April 8 1875, Vol 17, p 374)

⁴ (revelation given through Joseph Smith to Oliver Cowdery)
Doctrine and Covenants 9
7 Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.
8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.
9 But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me.
10 Now, if you had known this you could have translated; nevertheless, it is not expedient that you should translate now. (Doctrine and Covenants, 9:7-10).

⁵ "With the records was found a curious instrument, which the ancients called 'Urim and Thummim', which consisted of two transparent stones set in the rim of a bow fastened to a breast plate. Through the medium of the Urim and Thummim I translated the record by the gift and power of God" (Joseph Smith, Wentworth Letter, History of the Church, 4:537).

⁶ Ether 4:5
5 Wherefore the Lord hath commanded me to write them; and I have written them. And he commanded me that I should seal them up; and he also hath commanded that I should seal up the interpretation thereof; wherefore I have sealed up the interpreters, according to the commandment of the Lord.

⁷ 2 Nephi 29:2
2 And also, that I may remember the promises which I have made unto thee, Nephi, and also unto thy father, that I would remember your seed; and that the words of your seed should proceed forth out of my mouth unto your seed; and my words shall hiss forth unto the ends of the earth, for a standard unto my people, which are of the house of Israel;

⁷⁺⁸ Ether 12:
23 And I said unto him: Lord, the Gentiles will mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing; for Lord thou hast made us mighty in word by faith, but thou hast not made us mighty in writing; for thou hast made all this people that they could speak much, because of the Holy Ghost which thou hast given them;
24 And thou hast made us that we could write but little, because of the awkwardness of our hands. Behold, thou hast not made us mighty in writing like unto the brother of Jared, for thou madest him that the things which he wrote were mighty even as thou art, unto the overpowering of man to read them.
25 Thou hast also made our words powerful and great, even that we cannot write them; wherefore, when we write we behold our weakness, and stumble because of the placing of our words; and I fear lest the Gentiles shall mock at our words.
26 And when I had said this, the Lord spake unto me, saying: Fools mock, but they shall mourn; and my grace is sufficient for the meek, that they shall take no advantage of your weakness; (Book of Mormon, Ether 12:23-26).

⁹JS-H: 1
61 The excitement, however, still continued, and rumor with her thousand tongues was all the time employed in circulating falsehoods about my father's family, and about myself. If I were to relate a thousandth part of them, it would fill up volumes. (PGP, Joseph Smith History 1:63).

¹⁰PGP, Joseph Smith History 1:35
35 Also, that there were two stones in silver bows—and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim and Thummim—deposited with the plates; and the possession and use of these stones were what constituted “seers” in ancient or former times; and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book. (PGP, Joseph Smith History 1:35).

¹¹Joseph Smith Foundation
As a disaffected former member of the Church David Whitmer often produced wildly contradicting testimony about the translation process of the Book of Mormon to various newspapers. Apparently he often changed the story to fit the expectations of audiences. Below is a table documenting conflicting testimony from JosephSmithFoundation.org. See David Whitmer: Man of Contradictions for the complete table with all working links.

Table 1.  Various Descriptions of the Instrument of Translation

Table 2.  Conflicting Descriptions by David Whitmer of the Method of Translation

The tremendous speed at which the Book of Mormon translation process occurred is another strong internal evidence that Joseph Smith received divine assistance and direction. After intense study so that he could read the intent of the characters on the plates, the Urim and Thummim then interpreted his understanding into the Biblical English with Hebrew constructs that we see today in the text. Joseph Smith read off the text provided by the Urim and Thummim and then Oliver Cowdery transcribed what he heard. Here is the translation timeline:

   Harmony: Joseph learns "reformed Egyptian" from large plates of Nephi:            09/22/1827 to 04/12/1828
   Harmony: Joseph translates from the large plates of Nephi, named 116 pages:       04/12/1828 to 06/14/1828
   Harmony: Joseph did not have the plates or Urim and Thummim, no translations:     06/15/1828 to 09/22/1828
   Harmony: Joseph translates a little of the large plates with misc. scribes:       09/22/1828 to 04/04/1829
   Harmony: Joseph finishes the large plates of Nephi with Oliver Cowdery:           04/07/1829 to 05/2?/1829
   Fayette: Joseph translates small plates of Nephi with Oliver Cowdery:             06/0?/1829 to 06/2?/1829

The following explanation comes from Grok 3 AI. The discovery of a Hebrew writing style in the Book of Mormon by John Welch is significant evidence showing an historical and advanced textual construct that fits what the text claims about itself.

The following chronology chart and information was created in collaboration with Scott Willis. The purpose of this chart is to present how Jaredite and Nephite history correlate. There is overlap and touch-points shared with both the chronology and the geography of the Nephite and Jaredite civilizations. The chronology is presented here to show its internal consistency with itself, the Bible, and the Book of Mormon geography

Below is the data behind the GANTT chart above. We have in the Book of Mormon milestone dates and years mentioned. Using these milestones for calibration, estimates have been made for the dates in between the milestones. Beside the date and year milestones, the Book of Mormon provides additional lifespan clues like "did serve in captivity for X years", "he was slain", "he lived to a good old age", or "few were his years". The early Jaredite Kings are given greater ages to correspond with the longer lifespans of their contemporaries in the Bible.

To introduce the concept of applying stylometry and wordprinting analysis to the text of the Book of Mormon, I am including query results from the AI engine Grok. This provides an in depth analysis and helps avoid bias on my part. In summary, Grok does not see a lot of style differences between authors and notes that the entire Book of Mormon is in Biblical Early Modern English style with Hebrew constructs. Grok suggests that the translation process leveled out most distinctions in ancient writing styles among the authors and I agree with this. Also since the plates contained logographic characters it was not as precise as Hebrew and therefore did not lend to exhibiting a distinctive wordprint writing style. This may seem disappointing to some but for me it validates my proposed TITE translation process which says that Joseph Smith read and understood the ancient logographic writing on the plates but that God, via the Urim and Thummim (Holy Interpretors) directly provided the Biblical English that Joseph then read off to his scribe Oliver Cowdery. The TITE translation and interpretation progress indicates that God is the "single controlling hand".

Here are the AI instructions given: Analyze the text of the Book of Mormon for stylometry and wordprinting for the purpose of determining multiple original authors. Do your own stylometric and wordprint analysis and do not quote the work of others. Give me your opinion if multiple authors composed the text. Provide your answers in html.

When asked specifically about Joseph Smiths authorship based on word-print analysis, Grok says definately NO. See also, Section 2.6.
Here are the AI instructions given: Do your own analysis of the word-print of Joseph Smith and compare it to word-prints found in the Book of Mormon. Does your analysis show that Joseph Smith wrote any part of the Book of Mormon?

Joseph Smith Centroid ? [and:18.2, the:6.1, of:3.9, that:1.1, behold:0.02]
BOM Overall Centroid  ? [and:45.6, the:7.8, of:5.4, that:2.3, behold:1.67]

Euclidean distance: ~29.4 (normalized units)
Threshold for authorship match: < 8.0 (based on known 19th-c. authors)

? 
Rejects common authorship
    

In 1828, Joseph Smith had neither the education nor vocabulary to write the Book of Mormon himself. It would have required divine intervention and that is exactly what he claimed. Grok AI backs this up so it is not just bias on my part. Groks opinion helps validate my proposed TITE translation process which says that Joseph Smith read and understood the ancient logographics from the plates but that God, via the Urim and Thummim (Holy Interpretors) which then directly provided the Biblical style English that Joseph then read off from the Urim and Thummim to his scribe Oliver Cowdery.

Below is the xAI analysis for this subject, based the AI instructions given: "Analyze in Book of Mormon text using the text from the Royal Skousen version and compare it to known writings of Joseph Smith in the first person. Compare the two for stylometry and also consider if Joseph Smiths known lexicon is compatible with the lexicon of the Book of Mormon translation. Do your own stylometric, wordprint and lexicon analysis and do not quote the work of others. Give me your opinion if the Book of Mormon is fully compatible with Joseph Smiths writings and educational background."

The database definitions for the Zarahemla Model contains all geographical entities in the Book of Mormon along with the interrelationships between these entities. Five test algorithms are run against the ZM database that look for errors, incompatibilities, or missing information. The first three tests check the Logical Model with itself and the last two tests check the Logical Model against the GPS coordinates of the Physical Model. These tests are:

1. Relationship Compatibility: Each relationship must be compatible with other relationships. For example, if A borders B and B borders A then that is compatible and consistent. However, if A borders B and B is two days travel from A then that is not consistent and it is reported as a Relationship Compatibility error.
2. Implied Relationships Missing: If the text of the Book of Mormon says that A is north of B, then we also know that B is south of A. In this example, the Book of Mormon does not say that B is south of A explicitly but it says so implicitly. Implicit relationships are just as valid as explicit relationships, however it is easy to overlook them. Therefore the Implied Relationships Test scans the database and reports any implied relationships that are missing.
3. Rules are Complementary: Each geographical relationship has a source, a relation and a target. Optionally, Rules of Interpretation and Rules of Application can be attached to the relationship. If there is an explicit relationship, then complimentary rules should apply to the implicit relationship as well. Most rules are complement to themselves but some rules are complementary to other rules. For example, a travel rule for upstream travel between two locations would be complemented by a rule for downstream travel. The two rules are different but complement each other. This test validates that the rules between an explicit relationship and an implied relationship are complementary and compatible.
4. Directional Compatibility:Using the GPS coordinates for each physical location, the Physical Model is checked against the Logical Model for compatible cardinal directions. For example, if the Logical Model says A is north of B then the cardinal direction is calculated from the GPS coordinate of A vs B to verify that the Physical Model conforms to the Logical Model. If, for example, the GPS coordinates of the Physical Model say that A is east of B then a Directional Compatibility error is reported.
5. Distances Compatibility: Using the GPS coordinates for each physical location, the Physical Model is checked against the Logical Model for Distances Compatibility. For example, if the Logical Model says A is eight days travel to B then the Book of Mormon distance in miles is calculated based on the applicable Rules of Application and compared to the actual map distance (using google earth map tracing). Discrepancies beyond 25% of the expected distance are reported as a Distances Compatibility error.

The ZM database information published on this site has no Referential Integrity errors as defined above. Whenever a new Entity Relationship is added or changed, the test algorithms are re-run and any errors reported are resolved before the change is published.

When I first created the database which represents the geographical information in the Book of Mormon, I did not know for sure if the Logical Model would have full referential integrity or if a Physical Model could be discovered that would be fully compatible with the Logical Model. I now have the answers to these two questions:

First, the standard edition (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, © 2013) of the Book of Mormon does not have 100% referential integrity for geographical references. It fails in the case of 2 named entities out of the 142 total: "Onidah" and the "land of Nephi" were found to be inconsistent. However when I checked the work of Royal Skousen as published in "The Book of Mormon, the Earliest Text" I found that in both cases the inconsistency with the text was caused by scribal errors, corrected by Royal Skousen. To me this is a remarkable validation of the original/earliest text. See the side by side comparisons under Rule of Interpretation 2. So therefore the Royal Skousens version shows that the Book of Mormon as it came from the lips of Joseph Smith (or as close as possible thereto) has 100% referential integrity. Both the complexity (796 interrelated geographical references total) and the consistency (100% referential integrity) are powerful evidence in favor of the Book of Mormon. One cannot make this up as fiction and pass such a rigorous test.

Second, I needed an anchor point to commence the construction of the Physical Model, using the Logical Model as the foundation. The anchor I chose for testing was Zarahemla, based on Doctrine and Covenants 125:2-3Doctrine and Covenants 125
2 Verily, thus saith the Lord, I say unto you, if those who call themselves by my name and are essaying to be my saints, if they will do my will and keep my commandments concerning them, let them gather themselves together unto the places which I shall appoint unto them by my servant Joseph, and build up cities unto my name, that they may be prepared for that which is in store for a time to come.
3 Let them build up a city unto my name upon the land opposite the city of Nauvoo, and let the name of Zarahemla be named upon it. and the many distinct references (139 verses and 424 occurrences total) to Zarahemla in the Book of Mormon. This proved to be a propitious choice as the Physical Model easily fell (relatively speaking) into place once the long process of creating the Logical Model was complete. Topographical detail (rivers, lakes, springs, travel paths, directions, distances) quickly confirmed the Logical Model. I do not believe any other locations on the planet, except for the ZM Physical Model, will fit the complex ZM Logical Model that is defined from the Book of Mormon. The Physical Model is so complete and so precise that every recorded war, battle, and missionary journey etc is now discovered and presented with detailed mapping in Sections 4.2 thru 4.10 (See Section 4). No other model/map(s) of Book of Mormon geography can come close to achieving this (See Section 3.7 Scoring Book of Mormon maps).

The most important internal evidence of the divine origin of the Book of Mormon is to receive a spiritual witness from God that it is true and accurate. However the term "spiritual witness" is often ill-defined. So I will turn to the Book of Mormon itself to show what this term means in the way that I am using it.

Mosiah 26:21
21 And he that will hear my voice shall be my sheep; and him shall ye receive into the church, and him will I also receive.

Alma 10:38
38 Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd.

So if you are already following the voice of the good shepherd that means you will recognize His voice coming from the Book of Mormon. However, if you recognize His voice but have self doubt, an additional promise is extended to you in the Book of Mormon.

Moroni 10:4
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

Many people are unaware of the tremendous amount of ruins, artifacts, and remains of the ancient Nephites and Lamanites that have been found in America and Canada, especially by early settlers. There were many mounds and earthworks and fortifications and many books have been written about these — but it is not widely known. The first and most famous book is Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley: Comprising the Results of Extensive Original Surveys and Explorations (1848) by Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis, with 306 pages, 48 lithographed maps and plates, and 207 wood engravings in the original book. This link is to a .pdf file scan of the original. A faster, easier version for viewing is found online. Below are two examples from the Book.

Alma 50
1 And now it came to pass that Moroni did not stop making preparations for war, or to defend his people against the Lamanites; for he caused that his armies should commence in the commencement of the twentieth year of the reign of the judges, that they should commence in digging up heaps of earth round about all the cities, throughout all the land which was possessed by the Nephites.
2 And upon the top of these ridges of earth he caused that there should be timbers, yea, works of timbers built up to the height of a man, round about the cities.
3 And he caused that upon those works of timbers there should be a frame of pickets built upon the timbers round about; and they were strong and high.
4 And he caused towers to be erected that overlooked those works of pickets, and he caused places of security to be built upon those towers, that the stones and the arrows of the Lamanites could not hurt them.
5 And they were prepared that they could cast stones from the top thereof, according to their pleasure and their strength, and slay him who should attempt to approach near the walls of the city.
6 Thus Moroni did prepare strongholds against the coming of their enemies, round about every city in all the land.

2 Nephi 5
16 And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon’s temple. But the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine.

2 Nephi 53
3 And it came to pass that after the Lamanites had finished burying their dead and also the dead of the Nephites, they were marched back into the land Bountiful; and Teancum, by the orders of Moroni, caused that they should commence laboring in digging a ditch round about the land, or the city, Bountiful.
4 And he caused that they should build a breastwork of timbers upon the inner bank of the ditch; and they cast up dirt out of the ditch against the breastwork of timbers; and thus they did cause the Lamanites to labor until they had encircled the city of Bountiful round about with a strong wall of timbers and earth, to an exceeding height.
5 And this city became an exceeding stronghold ever after; and in this city they did guard the prisoners of the Lamanites; yea, even within a wall which they had caused them to build with their own hands. Now Moroni was compelled to cause the Lamanites to labor, because it was easy to guard them while at their labor; and he desired all his forces when he should make an attack upon the Lamanites.

Note that in the following verses (Alma 47), the word “mount” in Bible-like English is a man-made structure and means “mound” in modern English.

Alma 47
5 And now he had got the command of those parts of the Lamanites who were in favor of the king; and he sought to gain favor of those who were not obedient; therefore he went forward to the place which was called Oneidah, for thither had all the Lamanites fled; for they discovered the army coming, and, supposing that they were coming to destroy them, therefore they fled to Oneidah, to the place of arms.
6 And they had appointed a man to be a king and a leader over them, being fixed in their minds with a determined resolution that they would not be subjected to go against the Nephites.
7 And it came to pass that they had gathered themselves together upon the top of the mount which was called Antipas, in preparation to battle.
8 Now it was not Amalickiah’s intention to give them battle according to the commandments of the king; but behold, it was his intention to gain favor with the armies of the Lamanites, that he might place himself at their head and dethrone the king and take possession of the kingdom.
9 And behold, it came to pass that he caused his army to pitch their tents in the valley which was near the mount Antipas.
10 And it came to pass that when it was night he sent a secret embassy into the mount Antipas, desiring that the leader of those who were upon the mount, whose name was Lehonti, that he should come down to the foot of the mount, for he desired to speak with him.
11 And it came to pass that when Lehonti received the message he durst not go down to the foot of the mount. And it came to pass that Amalickiah sent again the second time, desiring him to come down. And it came to pass that Lehonti would not; and he sent again the third time.
12 And it came to pass that when Amalickiah found that he could not get Lehonti to come down off from the mount, he went up into the mount, nearly to Lehonti’s camp; and he sent again the fourth time his message unto Lehonti, desiring that he would come down, and that he would bring his guards with him.

Alma 49
18 Now behold, the Lamanites could not get into their forts of security by any other way save by the entrance, because of the highness of the bank which had been thrown up, and the depth of the ditch which had been dug round about, save it were by the entrance.
19 And thus were the Nephites prepared to destroy all such as should attempt to climb up to enter the fort by any other way, by casting over stones and arrows at them.
20 Thus they were prepared, yea, a body of their strongest men, with their swords and their slings, to smite down all who should attempt to come into their place of security by the place of entrance; and thus were they prepared to defend themselves against the Lamanites.
21 And it came to pass that the captains of the Lamanites brought up their armies before the place of entrance, and began to contend with the Nephites, to get into their place of security; but behold, they were driven back from time to time, insomuch that they were slain with an immense slaughter.
22 Now when they found that they could not obtain power over the Nephites by the pass, they began to dig down their banks of earth that they might obtain a pass to their armies, that they might have an equal chance to fight; but behold, in these attempts they were swept off by the stones and arrows which were thrown at them; and instead of filling up their ditches by pulling down the banks of earth, they were filled up in a measure with their dead and wounded bodies.
23 Thus the Nephites had all power over their enemies; and thus the Lamanites did attempt to destroy the Nephites until their chief captains were all slain; yea, and more than a thousand of the Lamanites were slain; while, on the other hand, there was not a single soul of the Nephites which was slain.

The Story of Zelph

Heber C. Kimball
On Tuesday the 3rd we went up several of us with Joseph Smith Jr to the top of a mound on the bank of the Illinois river which was several hundred feet above the river and from the summit of which we had a pleasant view of the surrounding country. We could overlook the tops of the trees on to the meadow or prairie on each side the river as far as our eyes could extend which was one of the most pleasant scenes I ever beheld. On the top of this mound there was the appearance of three altars which had been built of stone one above another according to the ancient order and the ground was strewn over with human bones. This caused in us very peculiar feelings to see the bones of our fellow creatures scattered in this manner who had been slain in ages past. We felt prompted to dig down into the mound and sending for a shovel and hoe we proceeded to move away the earth. At about one foot deep we discovered the skeleton of a man almost entire and between two of his ribs we found an Indian arrow which had evidently been the cause of his death. We took the leg and thigh bones and carried them along with us to Clay county. All four appeared sound. Elder B Young has yet the arrow in his possession. It is a common thing to find bones thus drenching upon the earth in this country. The same day we pursued our journey. While on our way we felt anxious to know who the person was who had been killed by that arrow. It was made known to Joseph that he had been an officer who fell in battle in the last destruction among the Lamanites and his name was Zelph. This caused us to rejoice much to think that God was so mindful of us as to show these things to his servant. Brother joseph had enquired of the lord and it was made known in a vision.
( Times and Seasons, 1845, Extracts from Wilford Woodruffs Journal)

Heber C. Kimball
During our travels we visited many mounds thrown up by the ancient inhabitants of Nephites and Lamanites. This morning we went unto a high mound near the river. Joseph and many of the brethren went up. This mound was very high. From the top of it we could overlook the tops of the trees as far as our vision could extend and the scenery was truly delightful. On the top of the mound were stones which presented the appearance of three alters having been erected one above the other according to the ancient order of things and human bones were strewn upon the ground. We had taken a shovel along with us. Brother Joseph wished us to dig into the mound. We dug into it about one foot and came upon the skeleton of a man almost entire and an arrow was found sticking in his back bone. Elder Milton Holmes picked it out and brought it into camp with one of his leg bones which had been broken. He put the leg bones in my wagon and I carried it to Clay County Missouri. Brother Joseph feeling anxious to learn something governing the man prayed to the lord and the lord gave him a vision in open day while lying in his wagon. This mound and his history was placed before him. His name was Zelph. He was a white Lamanite. The curse had been taken off from him because of his faith and righteousness. He had embraced the gospel. He was a short stout thick set man. He had been a great warrior, had joined the Nephites and fought for them under the direction of the great Onandagus who held sway and command over the armies of the Nephites from the hill Cumorah and eastern sea to the rocky mountains. Though the Book of Mormon does not speak of him, he was a great warrior leader and great prophet. Zelph had his thigh bone broken from the sling of a stone while in battle. In the yr of his youth he was killed with the arrow sticking in his back bone. The vision of the great prophet at the time that Zelph was killed was opened to the Prophet Joseph and their bodies were heaped upon the earth and that great mound of near 300 feet high placed over them. I felt impressed to bury Zelphs thigh bone in temple block at Jackson County Missouri but I did not have an opportunity and I brought it to clay county near the house owned by Colonel Arthur & occupied by Lyman Wight.
(Wilford Woodruff, autobiographical account, recorded in his daily journals prepared for publication by Matthias Mowley, The Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1909, page 41)