In late summer 1842, JS dictated five proverbs to . The predominant themes of these proverbs are loyalty to friends, honesty, and patience amid afflictions. The proverbs also include admonitions for debtors and their lenders. Like the date, the circumstances under which JS dictated these proverbs are unclear. later added a notation to the top of the document stating that the document consisted of “Proverbs of Joseph dictated by Joseph to Erastus H. Derby in 1843.” It is more likely, however, that Derby recorded these proverbs sometime between 11 August and 4 September 1842, since he did not work closely with JS in 1843 but did serve as his scribe for this three-week period in 1842. For a portion of that time, JS, who had been charged as an accessory before the fact to the attempted assassination of former governor , was in hiding in various locations near , Illinois, as well as across the in eastern , Iowa Territory. Derby was his near-constant companion during much of that time; JS remarked in a letter to , “I have been kept from melancholy and dumps, by the kind-heartedness of brother Derby, and his interesting chit-chat from time to time, which has called my mind from the more strong contemplations of things, and subjects that would have preyed more earnestly upon my feelings.” The themes of the proverbs were clearly relevant to JS’s circumstances at a time when he was relying on friends to protect him from the ongoing attempts to arrest him and extradite him to Missouri. All these circumstances suggest the proverbs were most likely dictated sometime between 11 August and 4 September.

There is no record of these proverbs being read or otherwise shared with a public or private audience either at the time recorded them or thereafter.