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Revelation, circa 7 March 1831 [D&C 45]

Source Note

Revelation, , OH, ca. 7 Mar. 1831. Featured version, titled “47 A prophecy March 7th. 1831,” copied [between ca. Mar. and June 1831] in Revelation Book 1, pp. 71–76; handwriting of ; CHL. Includes redactions. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation Book 1.

Historical Introduction

JS dictated this revelation, which Revelation Book 1 titles a “prophecy,” sometime around 7 March 1831, during a period when, according to JS’s history, “many false reports, lies, and fo[o]lish stories were published in the newspapers, and circulated in every direction, to prevent people from investigating the work, or embracing the faith.” JS’s history reported that the revelation was the “joy of the saints who had to struggle against every thing that prejudice and wickedness could invent.”
The revelation describes the and Christ’s second coming, both of which had been prophesied in JS’s of the Book of Mormon, his previous revelations, and his revision of the Old Testament. In particular, it connects the text of Matthew 24, in which Jesus prophesied concerning the last days and the Second Coming, with JS’s 9 February 1831 revelation about the New Jerusalem; as the revelation featured here states, “I will shew it plainly as I shewed it unto my Deciples as I stood before them in the flesh.” The revelation also uses Jesus’s New Testament prophecies to explain and reinforce the command to gather to : “Not many years hence ye Shall hear of wars in your own lands wherefore I the Lord have said gether ye out from the Eastern lands [and] assemble ye yourselves together.”
Parts of this text also found in Matthew 24 were among those included in JS’s later work of revising the New Testament, a project that began the day after JS dictated this revelation. Though JS’s inspired Bible revision had focused only on the Old Testament before this time, the revelation instructed him to shift his immediate efforts to the New Testament: “Now behold I say unto you it shall not be given unto you to know any farther then this until the New Testament be & in it all things shall be made known Wherefore I give unto you that ye may now Translate it that ye may be prepared for the things to come.”
Three early copies of this revelation are extant. The version in Revelation Book 1 (featured here) and a copy in ’s handwriting were created around the same time, likely in spring 1831, and there are no significant differences to indicate which is earlier. An additional copy created by later in 1831 largely corresponds with the other two versions. Differences between all three versions are noted in the footnotes.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    John Whitmer copied the text into Revelation Book 1, where it is designated “A prophecy March 7th. 1831.” Edward Partridge and William E. McLellin also made copies in 1831, but they assigned the date of 6 March 1831. The 1833 Book of Commandments dates this revelation to March 1831 and locates it at Kirtland, Ohio, while the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants specifies the date as 7 March but gives no location. (Revelations Collection, CHL; McLellin, Copies of Revelations, [1]–7; Book of Commandments 48; Doctrine and Covenants 15, 1835 ed.)

    Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.

    McLellin, William E. Copies of Revelations, early Nov. 1831. In “W. E. Mc.Lellan Jan— 1877,” 1877, William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 7.

  2. [2]

    JS History, vol. A-1, 104.

  3. [3]

    See, for example, Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 501 [3 Nephi 21:23–25]; and Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:9, 35, 62, 67]; see also Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 566 [Ether 13:3–5]. One revelation foretold the destruction to come and urged the gathering of “mine Elect” to a designated place of safety. Another indicated that the sacred city was to be built “among the Lamanites,” or the American Indians. Two months later, in December 1830, JS dictated a passage that described the founding of the city of Zion by the patriarch Enoch and prophesied that there would be another Zion. In that text, God declared that he would “gether out mine own elect from the four quarters of the earth unto a place which I shall prepare an holy City that my people may gird up their loins and be looking fourth for the time of my coming for there shall be my tabernicle and it shall be called Zion a New Jerusalem.” (Revelation, Sept. 1830–A [D&C 29:7]; Revelation, Sept. 1830–B [D&C 28:9]; Old Testament Revision 1, p. 19 [Moses 7:62].)

  4. [4]

    Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:8–9].

  5. [5]

    Compare Matthew 24:6.

  6. [6]

    Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831, in Revelations Collection, CHL.

    Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.

  7. [7]

    McLellin, Copies of Revelations, [1]–7.

    McLellin, William E. Copies of Revelations, early Nov. 1831. In “W. E. Mc.Lellan Jan— 1877,” 1877, William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 7.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Revelation, circa 7 March 1831 [D&C 45] Revelation Book 1 Revelation, circa 7 March 1831, Edward Partridge Copy [D&C 45] Revelation, circa 7 March 1831, as Recorded in McLellin, Copies of Revelations [D&C 45] Revelations printed in The Evening and the Morning Star, June 1832–June 1833 Book of Commandments, 1833 Revelations printed in Evening and Morning Star, January 1835–June 1836 Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834] Doctrine and Covenants, 1844 “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 74

is now nigh at hand even so it shall be in that day when they shall see all these things then shall they know that the hour is nigh & it shall come to pass that he that feareth me shall be looking for the great day of the lord to come even for the signs of the coming of the son of man & they shall see signs & wonders for they shall be shewn forth in the heavens above & in the Earth beneath & they shall behold blood & fires & vapors of smoke & before the day of the lord come the sun shall be darkened & the moon be turned into blood & some stars shall fall from Heaven & the remnant shall be gethered unto this place & then they shall look for me & Behold I will come & they shall see me in the clouds of heaven clothed with power & great glory with all the holy Angels & he that watches not for me shall be cut off But before the arm of the Lord shall fall & the Angel shall sound his Trump & the saints that have slept shall come forth to meet me in the cloud wherefore if ye have slept in peace blessed are you for as you now Behold me & know that I am even so shall ye come unto me & your souls shall live And your redemption shall be perfected And the saints shall come forth from the four quarters of the Earth then shall the arm of the Lord fall upon the Nations & then shall the lord set his foot upon this mount & it shall cleave in twain & the Earth shall tremble & reel to & fro & the Heavens also shall shake & the Lord shall utter his voice & all the ends of the Earth shall hear it & the Nations of the Earth shall mourn & they that have laughed shall see their folly & calamity shall cease the mocker & the scorner shall be consumed & they that have watched for iniquity shall be cut off hewn down & cast into the fire & then shall the Jews look upon me & say what are these wounds in thine hands & in thy feet then shall they know that I am the Lord for I will say unto them these wounds are the wounds [p. 74]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Revelation, circa 7 March 1831 [D&C 45]
ID #
6504
Total Pages
6
Print Volume Location
JSP, D1:274–280
Handwriting on This Page
  • John Whitmer

Footnotes

  1. [25]

    An earlier JS revelation also referenced this parable of the fig tree found in Matthew 24. (Revelation, 7 Dec. 1830 [D&C 35:16]; Matthew 24:32–33.)

  2. [26]

    See Joel 2:31; and Acts 2:20.

  3. [27]

    See Matthew 24:29; and Mark 13:25.

  4. [28]

    See Matthew 25:31.

  5. [29]

    Several previous revelations similarly proclaimed the premillennial resurrection of the righteous. (See Revelation, Sept. 1830–A [D&C 29:13]; and Revelation, Feb. 1831–A [D&C 43:18].)

  6. [30]

    While the phrase “four quarters of the earth” appears only once in the Bible, the Book of Mormon uses it several times. (Revelation 20:8; Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 52, 59, 464–465, 487 [1 Nephi 19:16; 22:25; 3 Nephi 5:24–26; 16:5].)

  7. [31]

    See Zechariah 14:4.

  8. [32]

    The Partridge and McLellin copies have “calamity shall cover the mockers.” (Revelations Collection, CHL; McLellin, Copies of Revelations, 5 [D&C 45:50].)

    Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.

    McLellin, William E. Copies of Revelations, early Nov. 1831. In “W. E. Mc.Lellan Jan— 1877,” 1877, William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 7.

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