Around two hundred years prior to the translation of this record, Joseph Smith Jr. declared that many of the Europeans were of the lineage of the tribe of Ephraim. As such, to this day, the majority of the followers of Joseph Smith Jr. still believe they are descend from the tribe of Ephraim.
There have been many theories as to why Joseph Smith was inspired to declare that the Europeans were of the tribe of Ephraim, however, there has been no substantial proof nor lineage revealed as to the reasoning.
Around the time of the Tower of Babel, Shem-Melchizedek, the son of Noah called together his descendants in a council. The Semitic peoples discussed the tower of Babel and how it would soon fall, and the people of Babel would be destroyed and their language would be confounded. Among these descendants was a man named Mash (Genesis 10:22-23). After this council, Mash was called by YHVH Elohim to leave the land and settle in the lands which we now call Europe. He called the land he settled Yeruamaniyah. The meaning of this name is made up of three parts. Yeru is Foundation, Aman is a name for Elohim or the Father and Mother, and Yah is a shortened version of Yahweh. Thus the literal translation of the name of his land is something along the lines of the Gods are our Foundation, or we Build upon the Gods.
The name Yeruamaniyah later became latinized to the more commonly known Germania, a name used by the Romans to describe the people of eastern Europe.
This people, the People of Mash survived for many years in righteousness. However, as nations so often do, they fell into apostasy and lost the Way.
It was around this time when a man named Elohizar, (Proper Hebrew form: El-Yoroi-Zera), a descendant of Ephraim, the son of Joseph, called the Children of Israel to repentance and prophesied that the Egyptians would soon bring them into bondage.
With little success, Elohizar was given the birthright of Ephraim and led the remaining righteous out of Egypt. He attempted first to settle in Eastern Europe, however he was ran out by the children of Mash who, by this point, were fearsome warriors. However, he did lead a few hundred of them into righteousness. Finally they settled in the lands we would call today Armenia and Turkey, near to Mount Ararat. There they constructed a temple, today called Karahunj in Armenia, and created a Zion nation.
This is the foundation of the Tribe of Ephraim. It was from this group who called themselves the Ehyanthi, (Derived from the name Ehyah Asher Ehyah, I Am That I Am), that the Tribe of Ephraim would come to settle in Europe.
Around 700 BC the prophet Isaiah came up to the Ehyanthi and found they had also apostatized. He called them to repentance and set about the work of restoring this people to their Fathers. This work is laid out in the Little Book of Seers in this record.
Isaiah had great success in bringing this people to repentance and the Ehyanthi became a Zion community again. It was at this point that they split off, some staying in modern day Armenia, and others going back to Eastern Europe to settle in the lands of Mash once more.
Around the year 600 BC, the prophet John, who was a contemporary of Lehi, fled Jerusalem and settled with the Eastern Europe branch of the Ehyanthi, now shifted to Aiyanthi. They lived there, flowing between wickedness and righteousness, until around the time that Jesus was born. It was at this time that Hennen, a descendant of John, was called to preach repentance to these people because they had become exceedingly wicked. Hennen fled modern Ukraine, where he lived, and took the righteous to northern Germany, settling where now lies the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
The tribe lived there in righteousness until about 770 AD, when members of the tribe, fearing the expansion of the Catholic assembly, fled into modern-day Norway, assimilating with the peoples there. The remainder stayed in northern Germany until those who had fled returned to Germany in an attempt to either conscript the Aiyanthi into war or wipe them out.
The Aiyanthi then fled Germany and again split into two primary groups, one part going to Portugal and the other part going to Ireland.
The Irish branch lived in peace for a couple of centuries before they were forced to assimilate into the Catholic assembly or be destroyed. In humility, they allowed themselves to be assimilated into the Catholic assembly, having faith in the promises God had made to their forefathers.
The Byirkenhol Tablets comes from the Aiyanthi people, who were descendants of Elohizar, thus making this record an Ephraimite record.
As stated before, Joseph Smith Jr. revealed the heritage of many of the peoples of Europe to be of the tribe of Ephraim. This is why.
Living right next to the Aiyanthi in northern Germany were other tribes namely the Jutes and Saxons and the Angles. While we do not have their records at this time, as they were living in such close proximity to the Aiyanthi, it can be inferred that they would have been relatives, and thus of the tribe of Ephraim. Those three tribes would go on to live in the land of England, (Angle-Land) and became known as the Anglo-Saxons. Many of the followers of Joseph Smith Jr. were Anglo-Saxon in heritage.
I have tried my best to transliterate the names and ideas into English as best as possible in order to pay respect to the original culture from which this record comes. Likewise, they had sounds in their language that do not exist in English. Where this occurs, I have taken letters from various indigenous European languages that match the sound most accurately. For example, the letter O. There are two primary sounds that come from this letter in their language. O standardly makes more of an 'uh' sound as in the name Vovfen. V-uh-v-fin.
However, it also makes a hard sound. Like in 'oh.' For example, Elōhizar. El-oh-high-zar. To differentiate between the two, I have used O for the 'uh' sound and Ō with the macron for the 'oh' sound. I have also done this for various fricatives.
The other letters used are these:
Ū-Harder more vocalized oo sound.
Ē-Hard, long vocalized ee.
Þ-The letter Thorn should be used in place of TH, however for simplicities sake, I have not used this letter, just know that TH is incorrect and Thorn should be used in it's place.
The triphthong Aiy is used frequently and is pronounced like Eye.
In addition to that, there is a glossary of terms and definitions in the back of the book for easy reference as to what a word means or who a person is.
With that said, there are many names in this short record and in at least seven different languages. There are names in Proto-Germanic, Proto-Indo-European, Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, and Egyptian, with one possibly coming from China. On top of that, at least one person is listed by two different names, and there is possibly more where this is the case, as these people used more than a single primary name. In addition, there are at least three different languages that make up the text itself. The majority of the text is Proto-Germanic; however, there is a decent section where the language switches to Proto-Indo-European. Proto-Indo-European was a constantly evolving language, and within the span of a few years, the proper form of John went from Yōhothon to Yocthan and several other variations. To avoid confusion, I will be sticking with the first transliteration that appears in the text. In this case, Yōhothon for the Proto-Indo-European John. The other language that makes an appearance is Hebrew. When this is the case, I have tried to render the names in the proper Hebrew. There are also many complicated, mixing, and intertwining genealogies, and all this in a record that is less than half the size of the Book of Mormon.
All this to say, this was a rather complicated record to translate, and I have undoubtedly made mistakes which will be corrected in due time. Until then, I ask for grace and patience. The translation here is the best translation available at the present time.
Also, this is not a dead language per say. Many of these words evolved into words that still exist today. This language influenced English, Latin, Greek, German, etc. Don't be surprised when many of these words sound like their modern-day counterparts even if they're spelled differently. The word Byirkenhōl itself still exists in German and has remained relatively unchanged, Birkenholz, and still means Birchwood.
In total, there are four tablets from which this record comes. These people's language was extremely syllabic and symbolic. They used a combination of syllables for the common writing, but also had many glyphs or symbols that would represent entire narratives and teachings.
I have added an image of the corresponding tablet at the chapter headings; however, as this language was a combination of writing and symbols, only the silhouette of the tablet is shown, as I don't know what the syllabic portion of this writing system looked like. The writing is, however, mixed in with the larger glyphs on the tablet, making for an overall picture and story. There was no place where there was empty space.
Also, as stated before, I have transliterated the original names, as this text would simply be unreadable were I to use the Christian/modern-western names. Therefore, I have used the original names they would have used and not the modern english names they technically could have been translated as.
With that said, these names will undoubtedly be shocking to some. This is an indigenous European text, and for hundreds of years, Catholicism has done nothing but tear down the 'Pagans' and call them heretics, etc. If these people were actually God-fearing, and if these people were actually righteous, then that would mean that for hundreds of years, Catholicism has lied about these people; not to mention the Romans who called these people barbarians and heathens.
When you read these names, I simply ask you to be humble and ask God whether or not these people have been lied about for thousands of years.
Just to get the names out of the way, here is a brief list in modern English with the corresponding Christian name.
The name for Heavenly Father in this people's language was Odin/Sky Father/All-Father/Vofdenaz. Heavenly Mother was Frig/Earth Mother/All-Mother/Friggō. Jesus Christ was called Thor/Thūnoraz.
To those that read these names and say, "This is blasphemy to say this," Then I would simply point you in the direction of the indigenous Mexicans who called Jesus Quetzalcoatl and Kukulkan, and to the Israelites who called him Yahweh. It just so happens that everybody decided to lie about Thor, and he became known as the god of the Pagans. Also, a keen observer would note that Quetzalcoatl, Kukulkan, and Yahweh are all creation storm gods; coincidentally, so is Thor.
To those who humbly read this text with an open heart, I don't think you'll be disappointed. These were a very old and very knowledgeable people, and all of that is on display in this record.
For two hundred years, those who believe Joseph Smith Jr. was a prophet have only had access to records from the tribe of Judah and Manasseh, the Bible, and the Book of Mormon respectively. Those are great witnesses, but they are the witnesses and testimonies of other peoples, other tribes; refer to 1 Nephi 13 LDS Edition. You have been borrowing the witnesses of other tribes, this record is yours, Ephraim. This record is the witness of your ancestors written for you, that you may know that your ancestors, just like the Nephites and the Jews, were righteous. That they had prophets and seers. That they recorded things which testify of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the Bible. And most importantly, that Jesus Christ who they called Thūnoraz came to them, the same as he came to the Nephites. That they stood in his presence. That they saw him and handled the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet.
This is the testimony and witness of your ancestors, Ephraim written for you. I testify that if the Jews saw the Christ, that he lives, and the Nephites saw him, that he lives, and the Aiyanthi saw him, that he lives, so can you. They are no different than you. Seek him and you shall find him.
I am Kaden Roberts. I have translated these records through the power of the Creator and through the use of a Urim Stone. The original tablets were burned by the Catholics and no longer exist physically in this world. However, the Creator has taken up the matter which made up the tablets, and they now dwell in the Terrestrial plane with my ancestors. I have traveled there and received these tablets that I might translate them and bring them forward again on the earth.
While this is but a short record, there are many, many records in my ancestors vault and I have already begun work translating the second record I've been asked to translate and there is far more to come.