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Revelation, September 1830–A [D&C 29]

Source Note

Revelation, , Seneca Co., NY, Sept. 1830. Featured version, titled “29th Commandment AD September 1830,” copied [ca. Mar. 1831] in Revelation Book 1, pp. 36–40; handwriting of ; CHL. Includes redactions. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation Book 1.

Historical Introduction

This revelation addressed the interest of some early church members in a Book of Mormon prophecy that described the physical gathering of God’s chosen people in America. The Book of Mormon explained that during Christ’s ministry in the Americas he prophesied that his chosen people would establish a sacred city, the . According to the prophecies, “the remnant of Jacob,” which early church members identified as the American Indians, “and also, as many of the house of Israel as shall come” were to build this sacred city and gather to it, assisted by Gentiles who embraced the book’s message. Christ further prophesied that when the progeny of the people described in the Book of Mormon were taught “this Gospel” again, would be established among them.
According to the heading gave this text in Revelation Book 1, the setting for this revelation was a gathering of “Six of the Church & three members” who “understood from Holy Writ that the time had come that the People of God should see eye to eye.” The book of Isaiah declared that God’s people would “see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion”; the Book of Mormon expressed the same sentiment and located Zion in the Americas. The heading seems to indicate, then, that this small group, believing that the Book of Mormon prophecy about Zion would soon be fulfilled, therefore “enquired of the Lord & thus came the word of the Lord through Joseph the seer.”
The revelation affirmed the imminent advent of the Millennium and declared that members of the were called to help gather God’s people before the great event. It then turned to the creation of the world and the nature of Adam’s fall, subjects JS had recently taken up in his Bible revision. According to the heading, the small group had differing views about “the death of Adam (that is his transgression).” Near the end of the text, the revelation addressed the question of whether God’s commandment to Adam to not partake of the forbidden fruit was spiritual or temporal by declaring, “All things unto me are Spiritual & not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal neither any man nor the childern of men Neither Adam your father whom I created.” Thus Adam’s “temporal” act of eating the forbidden fruit rendered him “spiritually dead.”
This revelation called for the gathering of God’s people at the same time that a significant controversy had emerged among the membership of the Church of Christ. In September 1830, JS was attempting to address the problems arising from announcing his own revelations, the authenticity of which was accepted by a number of prominent church members, including and the Whitmer family. Page’s revelations, which concerned “the upbuilding of Zion, the order of the Church &c &c,” and this revelation’s call to gather God’s chosen people prompted another September revelation that clarified JS’s prophetic role as the sole revelator for the church, required Cowdery to correct Hiram Page, and called Cowdery to preach to American Indians in the West.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 501, 566 [3 Nephi 21:23–26]; see also Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 496–502 [3 Nephi 20:10–22:17].

  2. [2]

    Isaiah 52:8; Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 488, 498, 501 [3 Nephi 16:18; 20:32; 21:22–24].

  3. [3]

    See Faulring et al., Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible, 63.

    Faulring, Scott H., Kent P. Jackson, and Robert J. Matthews, eds. Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible: Original Manuscripts. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2004.

  4. [4]

    Newel Knight wrote that Page “had quite a roll of papers full of these revelations.” (Knight, History, 146; see Historical Introduction to Revelation, Sept. 1830–B [D&C 28] for more information on Page’s revelations.)

    Knight, Newel. History. Private possession. Copy in CHL. MS 19156.

  5. [5]

    JS History, vol. A-1, 54.

  6. [6]

    Revelation, Sept. 1830–B [D&C 28:2, 8–9, 11]. JS’s history suggests that both revelations were received before the 26 September 1830 conference of the church. (See JS History, vol. A-1, 54–58.)

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Revelation, September 1830–A [D&C 29] Revelation Book 1 Revelation, September 1830–A, as Recorded in Hyde and Smith, Notebook [D&C 29] 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] History, circa 1841, draft [Draft 3] History, circa 1841, fair copy “History of Joseph Smith” Doctrine and Covenants, 1844

Page 38

fall from off their Bones & their eyes from their sockets & it shall come to pass that their the Beasts of the forest & the fowls of the air shall devour them up & that great & abominable Church which is the whore of all the Earth shall be cast down by devouring fire according as it was spoken by the mouth of Ezekiel the Prophet which spoke of these things which have not come to pass as yet but shurely must as I live for abominations shall not reign & again Verily Verily I say unto you that when the thousand years are ended & men again begin to deny their god then will I spare the Earth but for a little Season & then the end shall come & the Heaven & the Earth shall be consumed & pass away & there shall be a New Heaven & a New Earth for all old things shall pass away & all things shall become New even the Heaven & the Earth & all the fulness thereof both men & beasts the fowls of the air & the fishes of the Sea & not one hair neither moat [mote] shall be lost for it is the workmanship of mine hand But Verily I say unto you before the Earth shall pass away Michael mine Archangel shall sound his trump & then shall all the dead awake for their graves shall be opened & they shall come forth yea even all & the righteous shall be gethered on my right hand unto eternal life & the wicked on my left hand will I be ashamed to own before the father Wherefore I will say unto them depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil & his Angels & now Behold I say unto you never at any time have I declared from mine own mouth that they should return for where I am they cannot come for they have no power but remember that all my Judgements are not given unto men & as the words have gone forth out of my mouth even so shall they be fulfilled that the first shall be last & that the last shall be first in all things Whatsoever I have created by the word of my Power which is the Power of my spirit for by the Power of my Spirit created I them yea all things both [p. 38]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Revelation, September 1830–A [D&C 29]
ID #
6484
Total Pages
5
Print Volume Location
JSP, D1:177–182
Handwriting on This Page
  • John Whitmer

Footnotes

  1. [13]

    The foregoing prophecies about the fate of the wicked do not match any known text from Ezekiel.

  2. [14]

    See Revelation 20:5.

  3. [15]

    See Revelation 20:12–15; and Matthew 25:31–46.

  4. [16]

    See Matthew 19:30.

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