This heading was most likely not part of the original revelation text. It may have been created by Frederick G. Williams when he copied the text into Revelation Book 2.

See Revelation, June 1829–B [D&C 18:3, 27].

In 1845, Lucy Mack Smith recounted that shortly after obtaining the breastplate with the gold plates, JS handed it to her, wrapped in “a thin muslin handkerchief.” She reported, “It was concave on one side . . . and extended from the neck downwards as far as the centre of the stomach of a man of extraordinary size. It had four straps of the same material for the purpose of fastening it to the breast: two of which ran back to go over the shoulders, and the other two were designed to fasten to the hips.” (Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1845, 114.)

See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 12, 72 [1 Nephi 4:8–9; 2 Nephi 5:14].

In this version of the revelation, the use of “Urim and Thummim” (rather than the Book of Mormon term “interpreters” or the term “spectacles,” which JS used in 1829 and 1832) is probably a later redaction since “Urim and Thummim” does not appear in JS’s writings before 1833. The revisions in this section may in part be correcting errors made while copying from a source text that had itself been revised. (See Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 172–173, 546 [Mosiah 8:13; Ether 4:5]; JS History, ca. Summer 1832; and “Joseph Smith Documents Dating through June 1831.”)

This episode is recounted in Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 543–545 [Ether 3].

In the Book of Mormon the “marveelus directors,” named the “liahona,” function something like a compass to guide Lehi’s party in their journey. (Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 39, 48–49, 329 [1 Nephi 16:10; 18:12–21; Alma 37:38–40].)

For the most part, Cowdery, Harris, and Whitmer focused on the plates in their public testimonies. Whitmer did, however, make repeated reference to seeing the other objects as well. (See Testimony of Three Witnesses, Late June 1829.)

See Revelation, Mar. 1829 [D&C 5:25–26]; and Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 548 [Ether 5:2–4]. The March 1829 revelation discussing the prospect of Harris seeing the plates concluded with a commandment to JS that he stop translating the plates because, as the revelation explained, “I foresee the lieing in wait to destroy thee yea I foresee that if my Servant [Martin Harris] humbleth not himself & receive a witness from my hand that he will fall into transgression & there are many that lie in wait to destroy thee off the face of the Earth.” (Revelation, Mar. 1829 [D&C 5:32–33].)

A portion of the plates was “sealed” and was not included in what JS translated. (Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 110, 547–548 [2 Nephi 27:7–11; Ether 5:1].)