By Lia McClanahan
Church Magazines
When the Book of Mormon prophet Alma entrusted the records of his people to his son Helaman, he instructed his son to remember that the Lord had "a wise purpose" for preserving the scriptures (Alma 37:4).
In 1827 Joseph Smith obtained those records and by 1829 had finished translating them into English by the gift and power of God. The book, published in 1830, was a powerful missionary tool for convincing readers of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. With an initial print run of 5,000 copies, however, sending the Book of Mormon to "every nation, kindred, tongue, and people" may have seemed a long way off.
Still, the Lord reaffirmed this prophecy to Joseph Smith in 1833, foretelling a day when "every man shall hear the fulness of the gospel in his own tongue, and in his own language" (D&C 20:9), is playing a key role in the fulfillment of this prophecy.
In the mid-1800s missionaries carried the gospel to Europe. The Book of Mormon was published in Danish in 1851, followed by editions in French, German, Italian, and Welsh in 1852. Today the full Book of Mormon is available in 82 languages, with selected chapters in another 25 languages. The prophecy that all people will hear the gospel in their own tongue is unfolding year by year as translation and missionary work move forward.