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Revelation, Spring 1829 [D&C 10]

Source Note

Revelation,
Harmony Township

Located in northeastern Pennsylvania. Area settled, by 1787. Organized 1809. Population in 1830 about 340. Population in 1840 about 520. Contained Harmony village (no longer in existence). Josiah Stowell hired JS to help look for treasure in area, Oct. 1825...

More Info
, Susquehanna Co., PA, [ca. Apr. 1829; though parts may date as early as summer 1828]. Featured version, titled “Chapter IX,” typeset [between 1 Nov. and 31 Dec. 1832] for Book of Commandments, 22–27.
John Whitmer

27 Aug. 1802–11 July 1878. Farmer, stock raiser, newspaper editor. Born in Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Whitmer Sr. and Mary Musselman. Member of German Reformed Church, Fayette, Seneca Co., New York. Baptized by Oliver Cowdery, June 1829, most likely in Seneca...

View Full Bio
copied this revelation [ca. Mar. 1831] into Revelation Book 1, but the pages on which the first part of the revelation was copied were removed at some point from that volume and are no longer extant.
1

See Revelation Book 1, pp. 11–12, [207].


The version found in the Book of Commandments and featured below is the earliest complete, extant version. For more complete source information, see the source note for the Book of Commandments.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Revelation Book 1, pp. 11–12, [207].

Historical Introduction

Early in 1828, JS, then living in
Harmony

Located in northeastern Pennsylvania. Area settled, by 1787. Organized 1809. Population in 1830 about 340. Population in 1840 about 520. Contained Harmony village (no longer in existence). Josiah Stowell hired JS to help look for treasure in area, Oct. 1825...

More Info
, Pennsylvania, began
translating

To produce a text from one written in another language; in JS’s usage, most often through divine means. JS considered the ability to translate to be a gift of the spirit, like the gift of interpreting tongues. He recounted that he translated “reformed Egyptian...

View Glossary
the
gold plates

A record engraved on gold plates, which JS translated and published as the Book of Mormon. The text explained that the plates were an abridgment of other ancient records and were written by an American prophet named Mormon and his son Moroni. The plates were...

View Glossary
with the assistance of various scribes, principally
Martin Harris

18 May 1783–10 July 1875. Farmer. Born at Easton, Albany Co., New York. Son of Nathan Harris and Rhoda Lapham. Moved with parents to area of Swift’s landing (later in Palmyra), Ontario Co., New York, 1793. Married first his first cousin Lucy Harris, 27 Mar...

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. Working from mid-April to mid-June, JS and Harris prepared a manuscript, which JS referred to as “the Book of Lehi.”
1

See Preface to Book of Mormon, ca. Aug. 1829.


At Harris’s insistent pleading, JS allowed him to take the manuscript to show to selected family members in
Palmyra

Known as Swift’s Landing and Tolland before being renamed Palmyra, 1796. Incorporated, Mar. 1827, two years after completion of adjacent Erie Canal. Population in 1820 about 3,700. Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith family lived in village briefly, beginning ...

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, New York. After Harris displayed the manuscript, however, it was taken from its hiding place and never found. JS’s history recounted that an
angel

Being who acts as a minister and messenger between heaven and earth. JS taught that angels were individuals who “belonged to this earth”; those who had already lived on earth were often resurrected beings. In addition to giving instruction, direction, and...

View Glossary
took the plates in consequence and that JS lost his gift to translate, but after a season of repentance, he once again obtained the plates.
2

See Historical Introduction to Revelation, July 1828 [D&C 3] for details on the translation and loss of this manuscript.


By March 1829, JS had resumed the translation, which proceeded quickly after
Oliver Cowdery

3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...

View Full Bio
arrived on 5 April to serve as a scribe.
3

See Revelation, Mar. 1829 [D&C 5:30]; and JS History, vol. A-1, 13.


JS and
Cowdery

3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...

View Full Bio
apparently picked up the translation where JS and
Harris

18 May 1783–10 July 1875. Farmer. Born at Easton, Albany Co., New York. Son of Nathan Harris and Rhoda Lapham. Moved with parents to area of Swift’s landing (later in Palmyra), Ontario Co., New York, 1793. Married first his first cousin Lucy Harris, 27 Mar...

View Full Bio
had left off—in the book of Mosiah.
4

During the months of February and March 1829, Samuel Smith, Martin Harris, and Emma Smith all may have served briefly as scribes as JS translated small portions of the Book of Mormon. No extant record, however, indicates what portions were translated. (JS History, ca. Summer 1832, [6]; Edward Stevenson, Sandusky, OH, to Franklin D. Richards, 10 Jan. 1887, in Stevenson, Journal, Oct. 1886–Mar. 1887, pp. 106–113; Joseph Smith III, “Last Testimony of Sister Emma,” Saints’ Herald, 1 Oct. 1879, 289–290.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Stevenson, Edward. Journals, 1852–1896. Edward Stevenson, Collection, 1849–1922. CHL. MS 4806, boxes 1–4.

Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.

As JS and Cowdery approached what would become the end of the Book of Mormon, they grew concerned about whether to go back and retranslate the lost portion. The revelation featured below stated that wicked men had changed the lost manuscript to discredit JS and commanded him not to retranslate the lost pages but to substitute another record in their place. This substitute record, described as being “engraven upon the plates of Nephi,” covered the same period as the lost manuscript.
5

Preface to Book of Mormon, ca. Aug. 1829. Nephi and his father, Lehi, are important prophets in the Book of Mormon.


Assigning a date to this revelation is problematic, both because the earliest extant versions of the text are dated inconsistently and because the content fits multiple historical contexts. In Revelation Book 1, which contains the earliest extant copy of this revelation, the page or pages containing the revelation heading are missing, so the date presumably listed by
John Whitmer

27 Aug. 1802–11 July 1878. Farmer, stock raiser, newspaper editor. Born in Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Whitmer Sr. and Mary Musselman. Member of German Reformed Church, Fayette, Seneca Co., New York. Baptized by Oliver Cowdery, June 1829, most likely in Seneca...

View Full Bio
has been lost. The index to the revelation book locates this text between two April 1829 revelations, suggesting that Whitmer assigned an April date,
6

The index to Revelation Book 1 places this revelation between Revelation, Apr. 1829–A [D&C 6], and Revelation, Apr. 1829–B [D&C 8]. (Revelation Book 1, p. [207].)


but the editors of the 1833 Book of Commandments gave it a date of May 1829, a date retained in later publications.
7

See, for example, Doctrine and Covenants 36, 1835 ed.


JS and
James Mulholland

1804–3 Nov. 1839. Born in Ireland. Baptized into Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Married Sarah Scott, 8 Feb. 1838/1839, at Far West, Caldwell Co., Missouri. Engaged in clerical work for JS, 1838, at Far West. Ordained a seventy, 28 Dec. 1838....

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, the clerk assisting him with his history in 1839, created additional confusion by dating this revelation to “a few days” after the July 1828 revelation.
8

JS History, vol. A-1, 11; Revelation, July 1828 [D&C 3].


Yet Mulholland also preserved the heading (with its May 1829 date) from the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants when he copied it into JS’s history.
Certain parts of the text seem to fit an 1828 setting, others 1829, and some both. The beginning of the featured text, for example, reprimands JS, saying, “You delivered up so many writings, which you had power to translate, into the hands of a wicked man”—language strikingly similar to the July 1828 admonition to JS that “thou deliveredst up . . . that which God had given thee right to Translate . . . into the hands of a wicked man.”
9

Revelation, July 1828 [D&C 3:12]. A revelation dictated in March 1829, by contrast, takes a much softer tone toward Harris and calls him “my servant.” (Revelation, Mar. 1829 [D&C 5:1].)


At the same time, another verse from the first part of the featured text instructs JS not to “translate again those words which have gone forth out of your hands [the lost manuscript],” a
commandment

Generally, a divine mandate that church members were expected to obey; more specifically, a text dictated by JS in the first-person voice of Deity that served to communicate knowledge and instruction to JS and his followers. Occasionally, other inspired texts...

View Glossary
that applied to both JS and
Harris

18 May 1783–10 July 1875. Farmer. Born at Easton, Albany Co., New York. Son of Nathan Harris and Rhoda Lapham. Moved with parents to area of Swift’s landing (later in Palmyra), Ontario Co., New York, 1793. Married first his first cousin Lucy Harris, 27 Mar...

View Full Bio
in 1828 and to JS and
Cowdery

3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...

View Full Bio
in 1829. Several phrases in the featured text are common to 1829 documents. For example, the text alludes to an earlier manifestation to JS: “And for this cause have I said, if this generation harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them.” The only identifiable antecedents to this statement appear in a March 1829 revelation—“if the People of this Generation harden not their hearts . . . I will establish my Church”—and in a Book of Mormon passage likely dictated in May 1829—“if they will repent and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them.”
10

Revelation, Mar. 1829 [D&C 5:18]; Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 501 [3 Nephi 21:22].


Moreover, a series of close textual parallels between the featured text and Christ’s teachings in the Book of Mormon also support a spring 1829 date. These texts share lengthy phrases, including some not found in the Bible, and suggest a relationship between this revelation and the third book of Nephi in the Book of Mormon, likely dictated in May 1829.
11

See Oliver Cowdery, Norton, OH, to William W. Phelps, 7 Sept. 1834, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1834, 1:15–16; and JS History, vol. A-1, 17. For example, two phrases uniquely shared by the revelation and Jesus’s teachings to the Nephites are “I will establish my church among them” and “concerning the points of my doctrine.” (Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 478, 501 [3 Nephi 11:28; 21:22].)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

A potential solution to these complexities is to consider the featured text a composite of two revelations, one from 1828 and the other 1829.
12

See Parkin, “Preliminary Analysis of the Dating of Section 10,” 82–83.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Parkin, Max H. “A Preliminary Analysis of the Dating of Section 10.” In The Seventh Annual Sidney B.Sperry Symposium: The Doctrine and Covenants, 68–84. Provo, UT: Religious Instruction, Brigham Young University, Church Educational System, 1979.

The stylistic features of this revelation, however, strongly suggest that although JS may have received the first portion of the revelation in the summer of 1828, it was not actually written down until April or May 1829, along with the rest of the text. This revelation, written in the first-person voice of Jesus Christ, more closely resembles JS’s April 1829 texts, which include such proclamations as “behold I am God,” than it does the July 1828 revelation, which speaks of God in the second person. The text featured below also lacks the typical signs of a composite revelation, such as an amen marking the end of a particular revelation within a larger text.
13

See Revelation, Apr. 1829–A [D&C 6:2]; Revelation, July 1828 [D&C 3]; and Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:10, 69].


Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Preface to Book of Mormon, ca. Aug. 1829.

  2. [2]

    See Historical Introduction to Revelation, July 1828 [D&C 3] for details on the translation and loss of this manuscript.

  3. [3]

    See Revelation, Mar. 1829 [D&C 5:30]; and JS History, vol. A-1, 13.

  4. [4]

    During the months of February and March 1829, Samuel Smith, Martin Harris, and Emma Smith all may have served briefly as scribes as JS translated small portions of the Book of Mormon. No extant record, however, indicates what portions were translated. (JS History, ca. Summer 1832, [6]; Edward Stevenson, Sandusky, OH, to Franklin D. Richards, 10 Jan. 1887, in Stevenson, Journal, Oct. 1886–Mar. 1887, pp. 106–113; Joseph Smith III, “Last Testimony of Sister Emma,” Saints’ Herald, 1 Oct. 1879, 289–290.)

    Stevenson, Edward. Journals, 1852–1896. Edward Stevenson, Collection, 1849–1922. CHL. MS 4806, boxes 1–4.

    Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.

  5. [5]

    Preface to Book of Mormon, ca. Aug. 1829. Nephi and his father, Lehi, are important prophets in the Book of Mormon.

  6. [6]

    The index to Revelation Book 1 places this revelation between Revelation, Apr. 1829–A [D&C 6], and Revelation, Apr. 1829–B [D&C 8]. (Revelation Book 1, p. [207].)

  7. [7]

    See, for example, Doctrine and Covenants 36, 1835 ed.

  8. [8]

    JS History, vol. A-1, 11; Revelation, July 1828 [D&C 3].

  9. [9]

    Revelation, July 1828 [D&C 3:12]. A revelation dictated in March 1829, by contrast, takes a much softer tone toward Harris and calls him “my servant.” (Revelation, Mar. 1829 [D&C 5:1].)

  10. [10]

    Revelation, Mar. 1829 [D&C 5:18]; Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 501 [3 Nephi 21:22].

  11. [11]

    See Oliver Cowdery, Norton, OH, to William W. Phelps, 7 Sept. 1834, LDS Messenger and Advocate, Oct. 1834, 1:15–16; and JS History, vol. A-1, 17. For example, two phrases uniquely shared by the revelation and Jesus’s teachings to the Nephites are “I will establish my church among them” and “concerning the points of my doctrine.” (Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 478, 501 [3 Nephi 11:28; 21:22].)

    Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

  12. [12]

    See Parkin, “Preliminary Analysis of the Dating of Section 10,” 82–83.

    Parkin, Max H. “A Preliminary Analysis of the Dating of Section 10.” In The Seventh Annual Sidney B.Sperry Symposium: The Doctrine and Covenants, 68–84. Provo, UT: Religious Instruction, Brigham Young University, Church Educational System, 1979.

  13. [13]

    See Revelation, Apr. 1829–A [D&C 6:2]; Revelation, July 1828 [D&C 3]; and Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:10, 69].

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Revelation Book 1
*Revelation, Spring 1829 [D&C 10]
Book of Commandments, 1833 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 22

CHAPTER IX.
1 A Revelation given to Joseph, in
Harmony

Located in northeastern Pennsylvania. Area settled, by 1787. Organized 1809. Population in 1830 about 340. Population in 1840 about 520. Contained Harmony village (no longer in existence). Josiah Stowell hired JS to help look for treasure in area, Oct. 1825...

More Info
, Pennsylvania, May, 1829
1

The revelation may have originated in April; see the source note and historical introduction to this document. Because the page or pages in Revelation Book 1 that included the first part of this revelation are missing, it is unknown whether this heading was included in Revelation Book 1 or was added by the editors of the Book of Commandments.


informing him of the alteration of the Manuscript of the fore part of the book of Mormon.
NOW, behold I say unto you, that because you delivered up so many writings, which you had power to translate, into the hands of a wicked man, you have lost them, and you also lost your gift
2

That is, JS’s ability to translate.


at the same time, nevertheless it has been restored unto you again: therefore, see that you are faithful and go on unto the finishing of the remainder of the work as you have begun. Do not run faster than you have strength and means provided to
translate

To produce a text from one written in another language; in JS’s usage, most often through divine means. JS considered the ability to translate to be a gift of the spirit, like the gift of interpreting tongues. He recounted that he translated “reformed Egyptian...

View Glossary
,
3

Joseph Knight Sr., JS’s close associate and former employer, recalled the dire economic straits in which JS found himself at this time and how Knight provided the needed “means” to finish the translation of the Book of Mormon: “Joseph and Oliver Came up to see me if I Could help him to some provisons having no way to Buy any . . . and I went again and I Bought a Barral of Mackrel and some Lined paper for writing and . . . some nine or ten Bushels of grain and five or six Bushels taters and a pound of tea and I went Down to see him and they ware in want Joseph and Oliver ware gone to see if they Could find a place to work for provisions But found none they returned home and found me there with provisions and they ware glad for they ware out.” Knight added that his gift gave them “provisions enough to Last till the translation was Done.” (Knight, Reminiscences, 6.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.

but be diligent unto the end, that you may come off conquerer;
4

See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 165 [Mosiah 4:27].


yea, that you may conquer satan, and those that do uphold his work.
2 Behold they have sought to destroy you; yea, even the man in whom you have trusted, and for this cause I said, that he is a wicked man, for he has sought to take away the things wherewith you have been intrusted; and he has also sought to destroy your gift, and because you have delivered the writings into his hands, behold they have taken them from you: therefore, you have delivered them up; yea, that which was sacred unto wickedness. And behold, satan has put it into their hearts to alter the words which you have caused to be written, or which you have translated, which have gone out of your hands; and behold I say unto you, that because they have altered the words, they read contrary from that which you translated and caused to be written; and on this wise the devil has sought to lay a cunning [p. 22]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Revelation, Spring 1829 [D&C 10]
ID #
4680
Total Pages
6
Print Volume Location
JSP, D1:37–44
Handwriting on This Page
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Footnotes

  1. [1]

    The revelation may have originated in April; see the source note and historical introduction to this document. Because the page or pages in Revelation Book 1 that included the first part of this revelation are missing, it is unknown whether this heading was included in Revelation Book 1 or was added by the editors of the Book of Commandments.

  2. [2]

    That is, JS’s ability to translate.

  3. [3]

    Joseph Knight Sr., JS’s close associate and former employer, recalled the dire economic straits in which JS found himself at this time and how Knight provided the needed “means” to finish the translation of the Book of Mormon: “Joseph and Oliver Came up to see me if I Could help him to some provisons having no way to Buy any . . . and I went again and I Bought a Barral of Mackrel and some Lined paper for writing and . . . some nine or ten Bushels of grain and five or six Bushels taters and a pound of tea and I went Down to see him and they ware in want Joseph and Oliver ware gone to see if they Could find a place to work for provisions But found none they returned home and found me there with provisions and they ware glad for they ware out.” Knight added that his gift gave them “provisions enough to Last till the translation was Done.” (Knight, Reminiscences, 6.)

    Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.

  4. [4]

    See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 165 [Mosiah 4:27].

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