We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
Reading through all of the standard works this year has been helpful for this, but so is going through old issues of the Ensign.
Currently I am reading through 1982, and there is a series, "How the Bible came to be."
Sometimes I will remember old articles, but this came out when I was ten and I am pretty sure I didn't read it. I am somewhat familiar with some stages from the Reformation onward, but there are a lot of things I did not know here, even if parts of it are familiar.
So that's what the Septuagint is!
For an Ensign article that made a huge impression on me at the time, see "The Bible -- Only 4263 Languages to Go" by Joe Stringham, from the January 1990 Ensign:
It is about translating into different languages. One example it gives is Isaiah 52:15.
In the King James Version it is translated as "So shall He sprinkle many nations." That would probably sound like a reference to the sprinkling in various sacrifices so relating to sanctification and purification, though I imagine for religions that baptize by sprinkling, it could also represent bringing these nations into the fold.
However, in other translations it translates as scattering (which is a thing that happened), astonishing or causing to recoil (also plausible), and grammatically it can also switch the subject and object.
It could make one feel hopeless about ever getting anything out of the scriptures, except that it happens all the time anyway. Sometimes it can mean different things.
There is another phrase that repeats in Isaiah, "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." (Isaiah 9:12, 21 and 10:4)
The first few times I read it, I thought of the hand as a punishing one, because of the anger. More recently I have read it as that even with the anger, it is still stretched out as a welcome, and plea for return.
Even though the book does not change, we do change and there is room for all manner of experience in it.
That is one of the things that I keep seeing more, and taking more hope from.
As imperfect as we all are, and flawed and with so much to learn, there is room for that.
There is room for us.
One issue that came up for some translators and compilers was how much was figurative and how much was literal.
I think that's a reasonable question, and that there is not always an easy answer, but I think that might also be the wrong question.
It seems completely possible to me that there could be times when the original author was writing something to the best of their understanding, but their understanding was limited if not actually wrong.
Sometimes this could be personal flaws, like maybe Paul was a chauvinist, but it was something that is society supported and there were nonetheless things that he did understand well, making his writings still valuable.
Actually, I will tell you one place where I thought it.
In Exodus, the King James Version refers to the Lord hardening Pharoah's heart. The Joseph Smith Translation says that Pharoah hardened his heart, meaning that the Lord was not causing Pharoah to keep breaking his promise, plague after plague.
There are definitely people who believe in predestination and that there isn't really free will, meaning you can only be saved if God lets you. While that phrasing doesn't disrupt the narrative flow, you could argue that there is doctrinal significance.
There can also be things that would be impossible to understand. For example, I have seen it suggested that the scorpions referenced in Revelation could be tanks, like the tail coming over the head could look like the barrel of the gun coming out of the turret. Maybe. From someone writing in Biblical times, looking at today would be very hard to describe.
Then, there might just be things we don't know enough to understand.
I firmly believe the story of the creation fits in here. Even if we could comprehend it, it's certainly not something we have responsibility for doing, or the ability to do. Therefore, I think it's weird to focus on being a Young Earther rather than studying and working on increasing in humility and charity.
We all have our hangups.
There's a lot in there, and a lot that can be found.
I have only started getting more out of the Chronicles on my last two times through.
I am starting to really hate the poetry. I have always found the Psalms cloying, Job too long, and I am starting to be really irritated with Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.
In the past I have considered skipping The Song of Solomon, but then I don't because I feel guilty.
It can be a struggle, but I find value in the struggle.
And some of those issues are all the more reason that the 9th article is so important.
