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Revelation, circa 7 March 1831 [D&C 45]

Source Note

Revelation, , OH, ca. 7 Mar. 1831. Featured version, titled “47 A prophecy March 7th. 1831,” copied [between ca. Mar. and June 1831] in Revelation Book 1, pp. 71–76; handwriting of ; CHL. Includes redactions. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation Book 1.

Historical Introduction

JS dictated this revelation, which Revelation Book 1 titles a “prophecy,” sometime around 7 March 1831, during a period when, according to JS’s history, “many false reports, lies, and fo[o]lish stories were published in the newspapers, and circulated in every direction, to prevent people from investigating the work, or embracing the faith.” JS’s history reported that the revelation was the “joy of the saints who had to struggle against every thing that prejudice and wickedness could invent.”
The revelation describes the and Christ’s second coming, both of which had been prophesied in JS’s of the Book of Mormon, his previous revelations, and his revision of the Old Testament. In particular, it connects the text of Matthew 24, in which Jesus prophesied concerning the last days and the Second Coming, with JS’s 9 February 1831 revelation about the New Jerusalem; as the revelation featured here states, “I will shew it plainly as I shewed it unto my Deciples as I stood before them in the flesh.” The revelation also uses Jesus’s New Testament prophecies to explain and reinforce the command to gather to : “Not many years hence ye Shall hear of wars in your own lands wherefore I the Lord have said gether ye out from the Eastern lands [and] assemble ye yourselves together.”
Parts of this text also found in Matthew 24 were among those included in JS’s later work of revising the New Testament, a project that began the day after JS dictated this revelation. Though JS’s inspired Bible revision had focused only on the Old Testament before this time, the revelation instructed him to shift his immediate efforts to the New Testament: “Now behold I say unto you it shall not be given unto you to know any farther then this until the New Testament be & in it all things shall be made known Wherefore I give unto you that ye may now Translate it that ye may be prepared for the things to come.”
Three early copies of this revelation are extant. The version in Revelation Book 1 (featured here) and a copy in ’s handwriting were created around the same time, likely in spring 1831, and there are no significant differences to indicate which is earlier. An additional copy created by later in 1831 largely corresponds with the other two versions. Differences between all three versions are noted in the footnotes.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    John Whitmer copied the text into Revelation Book 1, where it is designated “A prophecy March 7th. 1831.” Edward Partridge and William E. McLellin also made copies in 1831, but they assigned the date of 6 March 1831. The 1833 Book of Commandments dates this revelation to March 1831 and locates it at Kirtland, Ohio, while the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants specifies the date as 7 March but gives no location. (Revelations Collection, CHL; McLellin, Copies of Revelations, [1]–7; Book of Commandments 48; Doctrine and Covenants 15, 1835 ed.)

    Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.

    McLellin, William E. Copies of Revelations, early Nov. 1831. In “W. E. Mc.Lellan Jan— 1877,” 1877, William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 7.

  2. [2]

    JS History, vol. A-1, 104.

  3. [3]

    See, for example, Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 501 [3 Nephi 21:23–25]; and Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:9, 35, 62, 67]; see also Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 566 [Ether 13:3–5]. One revelation foretold the destruction to come and urged the gathering of “mine Elect” to a designated place of safety. Another indicated that the sacred city was to be built “among the Lamanites,” or the American Indians. Two months later, in December 1830, JS dictated a passage that described the founding of the city of Zion by the patriarch Enoch and prophesied that there would be another Zion. In that text, God declared that he would “gether out mine own elect from the four quarters of the earth unto a place which I shall prepare an holy City that my people may gird up their loins and be looking fourth for the time of my coming for there shall be my tabernicle and it shall be called Zion a New Jerusalem.” (Revelation, Sept. 1830–A [D&C 29:7]; Revelation, Sept. 1830–B [D&C 28:9]; Old Testament Revision 1, p. 19 [Moses 7:62].)

  4. [4]

    Revelation, 9 Feb. 1831 [D&C 42:8–9].

  5. [5]

    Compare Matthew 24:6.

  6. [6]

    Revelation, ca. 7 Mar. 1831, in Revelations Collection, CHL.

    Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.

  7. [7]

    McLellin, Copies of Revelations, [1]–7.

    McLellin, William E. Copies of Revelations, early Nov. 1831. In “W. E. Mc.Lellan Jan— 1877,” 1877, William E. McLellin, Papers, 1831–1878. CHL. MS 13538, box 1, fd. 7.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. *Revelation, circa 7 March 1831 [D&C 45] Revelation Book 1 Revelation, circa 7 March 1831, Edward Partridge Copy [D&C 45] Revelation, circa 7 March 1831, as Recorded in McLellin, Copies of Revelations [D&C 45] 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] Doctrine and Covenants, 1844 “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 72

Wherefore come ye unto it With him that cometh I will reason as with men of old in days of old And I will shew unto you my strong reasoning Wherefore hearken ye together & let me shew it unto you even my wisdom the wisdom of him whom ye say is the God of Enoch & his Brethren who were seperated from the Earth & were reserved unto myself a City reserved untill a day of righteousness shall come a day which was sought for by all Holy men & they found it not Because of wickedness & abominations & confessed that they were strangers & pilgrims on the Earth but obtained a promise that they should find it & see it in their flesh wherefore hearken & I will reason with you & I will speak unto you & prophecy as unto men in days of old & I will shew it plainly as I shewed it unto my Deciples as I stood before them in the flesh & spake unto them saying <​as​> ye have asked of me concerning these signs of my coming in the day when I shall come in my glory in the clouds of Heaven to fulfill the promises that I have made unto your fathers for as you have looked upon the long absence of your spirits from your bodies to be a bondage I will shew unto you how the day of redemption shall come & also the restoration of the scattered Israel & now ye behold this temple which is in Jerusalem which ye call the House of God & your enemies say that this House shall never fall but verily I say unto you that desolation shall come upon this generation as a thief in the night And this people shall be destroyed & scattered among all Nations & this Temple which ye now see shall be thrown down that there shall not be left an stone upon another & it shall come to pass that this generation of Jews shall not pass away [until every] desolation which I have told you concerning them shall come to pass ye say that ye know that the end of the World cometh ye say also that ye know that the Heavens & the Earth shall pass away [p. 72]
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Page 72

Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Revelation, circa 7 March 1831 [D&C 45]
ID #
6504
Total Pages
6
Print Volume Location
JSP, D1:274–280
Handwriting on This Page
  • John Whitmer

Footnotes

  1. [10]

    JS’s revision of the book of Genesis in December 1830 declared that the city of Enoch, called Zion, “in process of time was taken up into heaven” but that during the Millennium its inhabitants would return to earth and unite with the citizens of the latter-day Zion, the New Jerusalem, who would “fall upon our necks and we will kiss each other and there shall be mine abode . . . and for the space of a thousand years shall the earth [res]t.” (Old Testament Revision 1, pp. 16, 19 [Moses 7:21, 63–64].)

  2. [11]

    See Hebrews 11:13.

  3. [12]

    TEXT: Or “spoke”.

  4. [13]

    Several of the statements that follow are similar to those found in the discourse given by Jesus to his apostles in Matthew 24.

  5. [14]

    See 1 Thessalonians 5:2; and 2 Peter 3:10.

  6. [15]

    See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 56–57, 84, 104 [1 Nephi 22:3, 5; 2 Nephi 10:6; 25:15]; Zechariah 7:14; and Joel 3:2.

  7. [16]

    See Matthew 24:2; Luke 21:6; and Mark 13:2.

  8. [17]

    Omitted words supplied based on Partridge’s copy. (Revelations Collection, CHL [D&C 45:21].)

    Revelations Collection, 1831–ca. 1844, 1847, 1861, ca. 1876. CHL. MS 4583.

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