Revelation, 3 January 1833 [D&C 88:127–137]

in all your doings, in the house of the Lord, that it may become a sanctury, a tabernacle, of the holy spirit to your, edefication Amen

Given by Joseph the seer

The Book of Mormon identified a seer as a “revelator, and a prophet also,” specifying, however, that a seer was “greater than a prophet.” A seer could “know of things which has past, and also of things which is to come.” The work of a seer included translation...

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, and writen by Frederick [G. Williams]

28 Oct. 1787–10 Oct. 1842. Ship’s pilot, teacher, physician, justice of the peace. Born at Suffield, Hartford Co., Connecticut. Son of William Wheeler Williams and Ruth Granger. Moved to Newburg, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, 1799. Practiced Thomsonian botanical system...

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assistant scribe and councellor—— [p. 48]

According to the index in Revelation Book 2, the subject of this 3 January 1833 revelation is “instructions [on] how to regulate the Elders school.”1

Revelation Book 2, Index, [1], in JSP, MRB:413.

On 27–28 December 1832, JS dictated a revelation directing the elders of the church to establish a school so that they could be taught in both “the doctrines, of the kingdom” and in temporal matters before proclaiming the gospel to the world “for the last time.” It also instructed the Saints in Kirtland

Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...

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, Ohio, to build a “house of God” that, among other things, would serve as a “house of Learning.”2

Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832, p. XXX herein [D&C 88:77–80, 84, 119, 122].

This 3 January revelation provided information on how the school was to be conducted in the House of the Lord

JS revelation of Jan. 1831 directed Latter-day Saints to migrate to Ohio, where they would “be endowed with power from on high.” JS Revelation of Dec. 1832 directed Saints to “establish . . . an house of God.” JS Revelation of 1 June 1833 chastened Saints...

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, including how members of the school were to act when entering it. Little is known about the circumstances of the 3 January revelation, other than that it was dictated in Kirtland, probably in Newel K. Whitney

3/5 Feb. 1795–23 Sept. 1850. Trader, merchant. Born at Marlborough, Windham Co., Vermont. Son of Samuel Whitney and Susanna Kimball. Moved to Fairfield, Herkimer Co., New York, 1803. Merchant at Plattsburg, Clinton Co., New York, 1814. Mercantile clerk for...

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’s white store, where JS and his family were staying.

Frederick G. Williams

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wrote the revelation as JS dictated it, but the original manuscript is not extant. Williams later copied the revelation into Revelation Book 2, probably between late January and late February 1833.3

See XXXnXXX herein.

On 11 January 1833, JS sent a copy of the 27–28 December 1832 revelation to William W. Phelps

17 Feb. 1792–7 Mar. 1872. Writer, teacher, printer, newspaper editor, publisher, postmaster, lawyer. Born at Hanover, Morris Co., New Jersey. Son of Enon Phelps and Mehitabel Goldsmith. Moved to Homer, Cortland Co., New York, 1800. Married Sally Waterman,...

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and other leaders in Jackson County

Settled at Fort Osage, 1808. County created, 16 Feb. 1825; organized 1826. Named after U.S. President Andrew Jackson. Featured fertile lands along Missouri River and was Santa Fe Trail departure point, which attracted immigrants to area. Area of county reduced...

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, Missouri.4

Letter to William W. Phelps, 11 Jan. 1833, p. XXX herein.

It is unclear whether JS also included this revelation in that transmission, but Phelps published the revelation in the March 1833 issue of The Evening and the Morning Star, titling it “Revelation Given Kirtland, Ohio, January 3, 1833.”5

“Revelation Given Kirtland, Ohio, January 3, 1833,” The Evening and the Morning Star, Mar. 1833, [6].
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The Evening and the Morning Star. Independence, MO, June 1832–July 1833; Kirtland, OH, Dec. 1833–Sept. 1834.

Though it was presented in early manuscript sources and in The Evening and the Morning Star as separate from the 27–28 December 1832 revelation, the 3 January 1833 revelation was combined with that earlier revelation into one text in the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, probably because the 3 January revelation included instructions for implementing the school required by the 27–28 December revelation.6

In either late 1833 or early 1834, the 27–28 December revelation was published as a broadside, but it did not include the 3 January 1833 revelation. Publications thereafter included both revelations as a single text, as well as additional verses at the end of the revelation that were first added in the 1835 edition. (See Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, who have assembled yourselves together, [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834], copy at BYU [D&C 88–89]; Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832 and 3 Jan. 1833, in Doctrine and Covenants 7, 1835 ed. [D&C 88]; Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832 and 3 Jan. 1833, in Doctrine and Covenants 7, 1844 ed. [D&C 88]; “History of Joseph Smith,” Times and Seasons, 1 Nov. 1844, 5:688–691; and “History of Joseph Smith,” Times and Seasons, 15 Nov. 1844, 5:704–705; see also Crawley, Descriptive Bibliography, 1:43–44.)
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Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, who have assembled yourselves together [D&C 88–89]. [Kirtland, OH: ca. Jan. 1834]. Copy at BYU.

Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835. Also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God. Compiled by Joseph Smith. 2nd ed. Nauvoo, IL: John Taylor, 1844. Selections also available in Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley Jr., Riley M. Lorimer, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations. Vol. 2 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011).

Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Crawley, Peter. A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church. 2 vols. Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997, 2005.

The two became so closely associated that when the 3 January revelation was reprinted in Evening and Morning Star (an 1835–1836 reprint of The Evening and the Morning Star), it was dated 27 December 1832.7

“Revelation, Given December 27, 1832,” Evening and Morning Star, Mar. 1833 (May 1836), 156–157.
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Evening and Morning Star. Edited reprint of The Evening and the Morning Star. Kirtland, OH. Jan. 1835–Oct. 1836.

Likewise, the heading for the combined revelations in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants listed the date as 27 December 1832.8

Doctrine and Covenants 7, 1835 ed.
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Editorial Title: Revelation, 3 January 1833 [D&C 88:127–137]
ID #: 5375