This edition of The Book of Mormon has been prepared with the intent of helping readers slow down, reflect, and record their thoughts as they study. During my own time as a missionary, I had the opportunity to teach from the Book of Mormon in multiple languages. I found that while some people could read many pages quickly, the deepest understanding often came when someone paused after just a few verses to consider, write, and apply what they had learned. My hope is that this journal edition will help you approach the text in that same spirit of reflection, focusing on comprehension rather than speed.

To support this purpose, the formatting of this edition is designed to give you space to interact directly with the words. The wide three inch outside margins allow ample room for notes, sketches, underlining, or questions. I encourage you to make this copy your own. Use the margins to record insights, mark connections, or write reflections that come to you. Feel free to use post it notes, tabs, or stickers, anything that makes the book a living tool for your personal study. At the end of the volume, a dedicated Reflections section provides additional blank pages where you can gather more extended thoughts, summaries, or patterns that you notice across your reading.

This text is based on the 1920 public domain edition of The Book of Mormon. That edition came just a few decades after the LDS Church officially ended the practice of polygamy with the Second Manifesto, and it represents a point in time when the Church was stabilizing its place in American society. Historically, it is the edition that Russell M. Nelson and many of his generation would have grown up reading. It preserves the chapter and verse structure familiar to readers today, making it easy to use alongside modern official editions.

Readers familiar with current editions may notice some differences in editorial choices. This reflects the gradual editorial refinement that shaped the text. In the earliest decades following its first publication in 1830, The Book of Mormon saw significant instability in formatting, punctuation, and phrasing as different editions introduced corrections and adjustments. By contrast, from the 1920 edition onward the core text has been relatively stable, with only limited changes over the past century.

The history of the text also explains some of these differences. The Book of Mormon was originally dictated by Joseph Smith Jr. as a continuous manuscript without punctuation or verse divisions. The first printer, working from that manuscript, added punctuation, standardized spelling, and divided the text into sentences and paragraphs. Later editors formalized the chapter and verse system we now take for granted. Because of this layered process, reading carefully, with pauses to think and write, is especially important. The formal and archaic style of the text is also best addressed through measured, deliberate study.

I have also included the testimonies of the witnesses, as found in the 1920 edition. They are an integral part of the text’s historical presentation. While this edition does not include the full narrative of the miraculous story traditionally told about the coming forth of The Book of Mormon, I felt it would be incomplete not to include the witness statements themselves. They have long been printed at the beginning of the book, and their inclusion here maintains continuity with how The Book of Mormon has been historically introduced to readers. Their presence reminds us that the text has always been framed both as a theological guide and as a history.

This journal edition is not meant to replace anyone’s existing scriptures. It is meant to provide a space where study and journaling come together. My desire is that you will find the margins and reflections section useful in digesting the text, whether you read a single verse or an entire chapter at a time. In doing so, I hope this book helps you slow down, consider carefully, and record insights that may otherwise be lost.

—Ken Simes