Revelation, September 1830–A [D&C 29]
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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.
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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
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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].
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2
Isaiah 52:8; Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 488, 498, 501 [3 Nephi 16:18; 20:32; 21:22–24].
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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.
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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.
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5
JS History, vol. A-1, 54.
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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.)
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1
Document Transcript
Footnotes
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1
Oliver Cowdery later inserted the word “September” here.
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2
See Exodus 3:14; and Visions of Moses, June 1830 [Moses 1:3].
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3
See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 497 [3 Nephi 20:16–18].
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4
JS and his associates faced opposition as they preached in Colesville, New York, during the summer of 1830. In late August, JS wrote a letter from Harmony, Pennsylvania, to Newel Knight, in Colesville, in which he drew heavily on biblical passages in describing the apocalyptic justice that would come upon the wicked. (Letter to Newel Knight and the Church in Colesville, 28 Aug. 1830.)
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5
This phrase, beginning at “& all the proud,” is not found in Orson Hyde’s early copy of this revelation. (Hyde and Smith, Notebook, [31] [D&C 29:9].)
Hyde, Orson, and Samuel Smith. Notebook of Revelations and Missionary Memoranda, ca. Oct. 1831–ca. Jan. 1832. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583, box 1, fd. 2.
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6
See, for example, Malachi 4:1; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 505 [3 Nephi 25:1].
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7
Among the various contemporaneous ideas about the Millennium, JS’s early views paralleled the position known as “premillennialism” in that he affirmed an imminent, physical return of Christ to inaugurate a glorious earthly millennium. Though the second coming of Christ is proclaimed in a number of New Testament passages, the thousand years are specifically mentioned only in Revelation 20:2–7. (Underwood, Millenarian World of Early Mormonism, 3–9, 24–41.)
Underwood, Grant. The Millenarian World of Early Mormonism. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993.
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8
See Matthew 19:28.
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9
See 1 Corinthians 15:22–23; and 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17.
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10
See Joel 2:31. The angel Moroni quoted the prophecy of Joel in his first visit to JS. This prophecy was recapitulated in the New Testament and it reappears in JS’s revelations. (See JS History, vol. A-1, 6; Acts 2:20; Matthew 24:29; Revelation 6:12–13; Revelation, 4 Nov. 1830 [D&C 34:9]; and Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831 [D&C 45:42].)
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11
This phrase, beginning at “& there shall be weeping,” is not found in Orson Hyde’s early copy of this revelation. The omission is likely a scribal error. (Hyde and Smith, Notebook, [32] [D&C 29:15].)
Hyde, Orson, and Samuel Smith. Notebook of Revelations and Missionary Memoranda, ca. Oct. 1831–ca. Jan. 1832. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583, box 1, fd. 2.
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12
More than a year earlier, a revelation included a related declaration: “For behold, I God have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer, if they would repent, but if they would not repent, they must suffer even as I: Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, both body and spirit.” (Revelation, ca. Summer 1829 [D&C 19:17–18].)
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13
The foregoing prophecies about the fate of the wicked do not match any known text from Ezekiel.
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14
See Revelation 20:5.
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15
See Revelation 20:12–15; and Matthew 25:31–46.
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16
See Matthew 19:30.
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17
At about the time of this revelation, while working on his Bible revision, JS made the following revision to Genesis 2:5: “I the Lord God made . . . every plant of the field before it was in the Earth & every herb of the field before it grew for I the Lord God created all things of which I have spoken spiritually before they were naturally upon the face of the Earth for I the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the face of the earth & I the Lord God had created all the children of men & not yet a man to till the ground for in Heaven created I them & there was not yet flesh upon the Earth neither in the water neither in the air.” (Old Testament Revision 1, p. 5 [Moses 3:4–5].)
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18
See 1 Corinthians 15:44, 46.
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19
In Orson Hyde’s early copy of this revelation, the preceding passage reads, “neither adam your father whom I have created behold I gave unto him but no carnal commandments for my commandments are spiritual.” (Hyde and Smith, Notebook, [35] [D&C 29:34–35].)
Hyde, Orson, and Samuel Smith. Notebook of Revelations and Missionary Memoranda, ca. Oct. 1831–ca. Jan. 1832. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583, box 1, fd. 2.
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20
See Old Testament Revision 1, p. 6 [Moses 4:1–4].
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21
See Revelation 12:4, 7–9.
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22
The Book of Mormon articulated the need for “an opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter; wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man, that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself, save it should be that he were enticed by the one or the other.” (Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 64 [2 Nephi 2:15–16].)
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23
See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 338, 446 [Alma 42:9; Helaman 14:18–19].
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24
See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 65 [2 Nephi 2:21]. Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines probation as “Moral trial; the state of man in the present life, in which he has the opportunity of proving his character and being qualified for a happier state.” (“Probation,” in American Dictionary.)
An American Dictionary of the English Language: Intended to Exhibit, I. the Origin, Affinities and Primary Signification of English Words, as far as They Have Been Ascertained. . . . Edited by Noah Webster. New York: S. Converse, 1828.
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25
Orson Hyde’s early copy of this revelation does not include “on my name.” (Hyde and Smith, Notebook, [37] [D&C 29:43].)
Hyde, Orson, and Samuel Smith. Notebook of Revelations and Missionary Memoranda, ca. Oct. 1831–ca. Jan. 1832. Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583, box 1, fd. 2.
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26
The Book of Mormon also strongly condemned infant baptism, teaching that young children are incapable of committing sin and that Christ’s atonement redeems them all. (Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 581–582 [Moroni 8:9–12].)
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27
Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 582 [Moroni 8:22].