Portal:Book of Mormon

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The Book of Mormon Portal

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The Book of Mormon published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Book of Mormon is one of the sacred texts of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, named after the prophet-historian Mormon who, according to the text, compiled most of the book. It was published by the founder of the Church, Joseph Smith, Jr., in March 1830 in Palmyra, New York, USA. Its purpose, as stated on its title page, "is to show the remnant of the House of Israel what great things the Lord has done for their fathers" and to convince "Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself to all nations."

Joseph Smith, Jr. said the book was a translation of Golden Plates. He said that the angel Moroni told him the plates were buried in a hill near his home (which he later called the Hill Cumorah). He said the translation was made through the power of God with aid of the Urim and Thummim, which were with the plates. During the production of the work Smith obtained the affidavits of Three Witnesses and Eight Witnesses who testified they saw and handled the plates. These affidavits are published as part of the Book. When the book was complete, he said he returned the plates to the angel Moroni.

Along with the Bible, which is also held by Latter Day Saints to be the Word of God as far as it is translated correctly, the Book of Mormon is esteemed as part of canon by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Community of Christ, The Church of Jesus Christ and other churches that claim Joseph Smith as their founder. In 1982, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints added the subtitle Another Testament of Jesus Christ to its editions of the book to help clarify and emphasize its purpose. Prior to 1982, some editions of the Book of Mormon had included the subtitle, A Second Testament of Jesus Christ.

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The Ten Commandments

The Book of Mosiah is one of the books which make up the Book of Mormon. The title refers to Mosiah, a king of the Nephites at Zarahemla. The book covers the time period between ca 130 BC and 91 BC, except for when the book has a flashback into the Record of Zeniff, which starts at ca 200 BC, according to footnotes. Noah is a wicked king. He is one of the more favorite villains among Book of Mormon readers. He collects exorbitant taxes from his people to build a palace and he and his ministers live a life of comfort, ease and self indulgence. His wicked ways lead the whole colony into wickedness. Then along comes a man named Abinadi. He is a holy man, a prophet, and he begins to preach that they must repent. He speaks against King Noah and prophecies that he will be killed if he doesn't repent. Abinadi is arrested and brought before King Noah where he gives what is considered a very important discourse in the Book of Mormon (chapters 12-16). Abinadi asks the ministers what they preach and they respond that they preach the Law of Moses. Abinadi then tells them that they ought to teach the Law of Moses, but rebukes them for not obeying it themselves, including the Ten Commandments, which he quotes to them. Abinadi then continues to explain that the Law of Moses is a teaching method to prepare people for the coming of Jesus Christ.

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Selected history

Photograph of what is believed to be the 1830 document known as the "Anthon Transcript"

The Book of Mormon, a work of scripture of the Latter Day Saint movement, describes itself as having originally been written in reformed Egyptian characters on plates of metal or "ore" by prophets living in the Western Hemisphere from perhaps as early as 2600 BC until as late as AD 421. Joseph Smith, Jr., the movement's founder, published the Book of Mormon in 1830 as a translation of these golden plates. Scholarly reference works on languages do not, however, acknowledge the existence of either a "reformed Egyptian" language or "reformed Egyptian" script as it has been described in Mormon belief. No archaeological, linguistic, or other evidence of the use of Egyptian writing in ancient America has been discovered. On their website, Bad Archaeology, two British archaeologists, Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews and Dames Doeser, say "The only writing systems to have been recognised in the Americas are those used by the Maya and the Aztecs, neither of which resembles Egyptian hieroglyphs, although Joseph Smith, the founder of the religion, produced a scrap of papyrus containing hieroglyphs he claimed to be a Reformed Egyptian text written by the Patriarch Abraham."

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Selected Location

An 1841 engraving of Cumorah (looking south), where Joseph Smith said he was given golden plates by an angel named Moroni, on the west side, near the peak.

Cumorah (/kəˈmɔər.ə/; also known as Mormon Hill, Gold Bible Hill, and Inspiration Point) is a drumlin in Manchester, New York, United States, where Joseph Smith said he found a set of golden plates which he translated into English and published as the Book of Mormon. The hill named Cumorah in Manchester, New York is where Smith said he discovered the golden plates which contained the writings of the Book of Mormon. Smith wrote: "On the west side of this hill, not far from the top, under a stone of considerable size, lay the plates, deposited in a stone box." Smith visited the hill each year on September 22 between 1823 and 1827 and was instructed by a "holy messenger", who Smith identified as Moroni. Smith was finally allowed to take the record on September 22, 1827. The hill, which was unnamed prior to 1829, is situated a few miles from Smith's boyhood home on a farm that was then owned by a local farmer, Alonzo Sanders. This farm was 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Palmyra, on the main road toward Canandaigua from Palmyra to Manchester, and is not far from Carangrie Creek and the Clyde River. According to geologists, the hill was formed during the retreat of the Ice Age glaciers, and it rises approximately 110 feet (34 m) above the surrounding valley floor.

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Selected biography

Still from The Life of Nephi (1915)

Nephi (/ˈniːfaɪ/ NEE-fy) is one of the central figures described in the Book of Mormon. He was the son of Lehi, a prophet, founder of the Nephite people, and author of the first two books of the Book of Mormon, First and Second Nephi. Nephi was the fourth of six sons of Lehi and Sariah. Nephi and his family lived in Jerusalem, circa 600 BC, during the reign of King Zedekiah, until Lehi was commanded by God to take his family and flee into the wilderness. Before their flight, Nephi's father prophesied the impending destruction and captivity of Jerusalem by the armies of Babylon.Nephi is regarded by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a major figure in the Book of Mormon, as a prophet, political leader, and record keeper. A variety of individuals throughout the Book of Mormon were named after him, including all of the kings in the early Nephite civilization. Additionally, his people referred to themselves as "Nephites" – a name that would follow them through the entire 1000-year history given in the Book of Mormon. Nephi is also used as a personal name amongst contemporary Latter-day Saints.

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Selected Quotes

The Book of Helaman Chapter 7

Nephi is rejected in the north and returns to Zarahemla—He prays upon his garden tower and then calls upon the people to repent or perish.

1 Behold, now it came to pass in the sixty and ninth year of the reign of the judges over the people of the Nephites, that Nephi, the son of Helaman, returned to the land of Zarahemla from the land northward.

2 For he had been forth among the people who were in the land northward, and did preach the word of God unto them, and did prophesy many things unto them;

3 And they did reject all his words, insomuch that he could not stay among them, but returned again unto the land of his nativity.

4 And seeing the people in a state of such awful wickedness, and those Gadianton robbers filling the judgment-seats—having usurped the power and authority of the land; laying aside the commandments of God, and not in the least aright before him; doing no justice unto the children of men;

5 Condemning the righteous because of their righteousness; letting the guilty and the wicked go unpunished because of their money; and moreover to be held in office at the head of government, to rule and do according to their wills, that they might get gain and glory of the world, and, moreover, that they might the more easily commit adultery, and steal, and kill, and do according to their own wills—

6 Now this great iniquity had come upon the Nephites, in the space of not many years; and when Nephi saw it, his heart was swollen with sorrow within his breast; and he did exclaim in the agony of his soul:

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