“And then, behold, other records have I, that I will give unto you power that you may assist to translate.” (Doctrine and Covenants 9:2)
Introduction to Doctrine and Covenants Section 10.
REVELATION given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Harmony, Pennsylvania, likely around April 1829, though portions may have been received as early as the summer of 1828. Herein the Lord informs Joseph of alterations made by wicked men in the 116 manuscript pages from the translation of the Book of Lehi, in the Book of Mormon. These manuscript pages had been lost from the possession of Martin Harris, to whom the sheets had been temporarily entrusted. The evil design was to await the expected retranslation of the matter covered by the stolen pages and then to discredit the translator by showing discrepancies created by the alterations. That this wicked purpose had been conceived by the evil one and was known to the Lord even while Mormon, the ancient Nephite historian, was making his abridgment of the accumulated plates, is shown in the Book of Mormon (see Words of Mormon 1:3–7, p. 135).
“AND now, verily I say unto you, that an account of those things that you have written, which have gone out of your hands [the 116 pages translated from the Plates of Mormon], is engraven upon the Plates of Nephi; Yea, and you remember it was said in those writings [the Book of Lehi abridged by Mormon on his Plates of Mormon] that a more particular account was given of these things upon the Plates of Nephi. “And now, because the account which is engraven upon the Plates of Nephi is more particular concerning the things which, in My wisdom, I would bring to the knowledge of the people in this account—therefore, you shall translate the engravings which are on the Plates of Nephi, down even till you come to the reign of king Benjamin [the Book of Omni], or until you come to that which you have translated,which you have retained;* And behold, you shall publish it as the record of Nephi [1 Nephi through Omni]; and thus I will confound those who have altered My words [the stolen 116 pages; see p. 136]. “I will not suffer that they [those who stole the 116 pages] shall destroy My work; yea, I will show unto them that My wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil. Behold, they have only got a part, or an abridgment of the account of Nephi [the 116 pages]. Behold, there are many things engraven upon the Plates of Nephi which do throw greater views upon My gospel; therefore, it is wisdom in Me that you should translate this first part of the engravings of Nephi, and send forth in this work. “And, behold, all the remainder of this work does contain all those parts of My gospel which My holy prophets, yea, and also My disciples [the Nephite prophets], desired in their prayers should come forth unto this people. And I said unto them, that it should be granted unto them according to their faith in their prayers; Yea, and this was their faith— that My gospel, which I gave unto them [the Nephites] that they might preach in their days, might come unto their brethren the Lamanites, and also all that had become Lamanites because of their dissensions. “Now, this is not all—their faith in their prayers was that this gospel should be made known also, if it were possible that other nations should possess this land; And thus they did leave a blessing upon this land in their prayers, that whosoever should believe in this gospel in this land might have eternal life; yea, that it might be free unto all of whatsoever nation, kindred, tongue, or people they may be. And now, behold, according to their faith in their prayers will I bring this part of My gospel to the knowledge of My people. Behold, I do not bring it to destroy that which they have received, but to build it up” (Doctrine and Covenants 10:38-52; bracketed comments and emphasis added).
*Retained: Joseph apparently retained some of what he translated with Martin Harris; i.e., page 117. This may be Words of Mormon 1:12-18, which flow into Mosiah 1. The current Mosiah 1 was originally Mosiah 3; i.e., the first chapter and a half of Mosiah was included on the 116 pages that were stolen. (Also, see Appendix, “Two Sets of Plates,” p. 557. and below)
TWO SETS OF PLATES
“I [Mormon] made this record out of the Plates of Nephi, and hid up in the hill Cumorah
all the records which had been entrusted to me by the hand of the Lord, save it were these
few plates which I gave unto my son Moroni” (Mormon 6:6).
“The depository in the Hill Cumorah in New York was the site of all the Nephite records. Mormon
gave his abridgment of the Large Plates of Nephi to Moroni, who added the abridgment of the Book of
Ether along with his commentary and included his own record whereupon he “sealed” the record. Moroni put this set of plates into the stone box he constructed in a separate department of the Hill Cumorah, as Orson Pratt explained in 1882.** This was the “Original Book of Mormon” as Joseph Smith described it.
“Joseph translated all of these plates (except the sealed portion) in Harmony, PA with Oliver Cowdery
as the scribe. He translated the title page there, which was on the last leaf of the plates. Then he and
Oliver discussed going back to re-translate the Book of Lehi, the original translation of which Martin
Harris had lost. Instead, the Lord told them they’d have to translate the plates of Nephi—except they
didn’t have the plates of Nephi. (See p. xxxi, Doctrine and Covenants 10).
“Joseph gave the Harmony plates (the Plates of Mormon) to a divine messenger before leaving
Harmony. After Joseph, Oliver, and David Whitmer arrived in Fayette, a messenger (probably the same
one, see map at end of blog) brought the Small Plates of Nephi from the repository in the Hill Cumorah. Joseph, therefore, translated the Small Plates of Nephi in Fayette, NY” – Jonathan Neville, Whatever Happened to the Golden Plates?, Digital Legend [2016].
**“But the grand repository of all the numerous records of the ancient nations of the western continent, was located in another department of the hill, and its contents put under the charge of holy angels, until the day should come for them to be transferred to the sacred temple of Zion” – Orson Pratt, The Contributor, Salt Lake City, Vol. 03, No. 12 [Sep 1882], 357 Read or watch the entire story with Jonathan Neville’s products below:
Whatever Happened to the Golden Plates?
The title of this book above reflects one of the most basic questions people have when they first hear about the restoration.
People asked Joseph Smith and the other early saints this same question. How could anyone who hears the story not wonder what happened to the plates?
Although I do offer an answer to the question in this book, most of the book explains the new paradigm about the plates themselves.
Traditional Story
The traditional story is this: the angel Moroni showed Joseph a set of gold plates that he, Moroni, had placed in a stone box when he was still a mortal around 421 A.D. After 4 years, Joseph was allowed to remove the plates from the box. He took them to Harmony, PA, where he translated most of them (Book of Lehi through Book of Moroni). Then he went to Harmony and finished the translation from 1 Nephi through Words of Mormon. At that point, he returned the plates to the angel, who later showed them to the 3 witnesses. A few days later, Joseph showed the plates to the 8 witnesses near his parents’ home outside of Palmyra. Again, Joseph returned the plates to the angel and they haven’t been seen since.
The traditional story is fine as far as it goes, but when you think about it, it doesn’t make sense and it doesn’t explain numerous historical events.
Here are some examples.
1. The Title Page, which Joseph said was a literal translation from the last leaf of the plates, describes the contents of the plates as two abridgments, plus Moroni’s sealing. It says nothing about the original plates of Nephi.
2. Joseph translated the Title Page before he left Harmony. If it was the last leaf, then why didn’t he translate 1 Nephi – Words of Mormon in Harmony?
3. Joseph said the title page was from the “original Book of Mormon.”
4. Witnesses described the plates as 4″ thick and 6″ thick.
5. No one can explain where the unabridged plates of Nephi fit into the record if it was included in the plates Moroni gave Joseph.
New Paradigm
After assessing all the evidence, I concluded that the plates Joseph originally obtained from Moroni didn’t include the plates of Nephi. You’ll see that the more you think about it, the more obvious it is. I thought I’d write an article, but there was so much evidence that it grew into an entire book.
Here’s an example.
D&C 9 promises Oliver there would be “other records” for which he would have power to assist to translate. D&C 10 explains what these “other records” are; i.e., the plates of Nephi. But Joseph didn’t have the plates of Nephi when he was in Harmony.
Before he left Harmony, Joseph gave the plates to a divine messenger who returned them to the repository in the Hill Cumorah. From there, the messenger got the plates of Nephi and took them to Fayette so Joseph could translate 1 Nephi through Words of Mormon.
Implications
Once we understand that there were two sets of plates, we can reconcile the different accounts and make sense of these details of Church history.
We also understand that the repository Mormon referred to in Mormon 6:6 was actually in the Hill Cumorah in New York, as explained by several of the men who knew Joseph Smith, including Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, Heber C. Kimball, and Orson Pratt.
Obviously, if the repository was in the New York Cumorah, the entire premise for the Mesoamerican theory collapses.
You can expect Mesoamerican advocates to insist on the traditional one set of plates theory, but they won’t be able to show you evidence to support their idea.
Just remember it this way.
There is one Cumorah and two sets of plates.
Not two Cumorahs and one set of plates.
See Jonathan neville’s blog here:
