If God is all-knowing, why were the 116 pages lost, and does that story prove Joseph was covering a blunder?
The Bible answers
King James Version
Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.
NRSVUE
Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the secretary Baruch son of Neriah, who wrote on it at Jeremiah’s dictation all the words of the scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah had burned in the fire, and many similar words were added to them.
A sealed book. The learned cannot read it.
King James Version
And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
NRSVUE
The vision of all this has become for you like the words of a sealed document. If it is given to those who can read, with the command, “Read this,” they say, “We cannot, for it is sealed.” And if it is given to those who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” they say, “We cannot read.”
The Book of Mormon answers
Words of Mormon 1:6–7
The small plates were included for a wise purpose. The purpose showed up in 1828.
But behold, I shall take these plates, which contain these prophesyings and revelations, and put them with the remainder of my record. … And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me.
Also restored
Doctrine and Covenants 10:10–14, 45
Wicked men will not destroy my work. I will bring the plates of Nephi to pass.
And, behold, Satan hath put it into their hearts to alter the words which you have caused to be written, or which you have translated. … For, behold, if you should bring forth the same words they will say that you have lied and that you have pretended to translate, but that you have contradicted yourself. … Behold, there are many things engraven upon the plates of Nephi which do throw greater views upon my gospel.
Dead Sea Scrolls and related extra-biblical texts that illuminate the same pattern the Restoration restores.
Jeremiah 36
Then took Jeremiah another roll … and there were added besides unto them many like words.
When a scriptural manuscript is destroyed by hostile hands, the biblical solution is not a courtroom restaging of the identical words. It is another inspired record. The small plates are that other roll, and Mormon says he included them for a wise purpose he did not yet fully see.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The 116 pages were a real loss, a real rebuke, and a real providence. Joseph was not permitted to retranslate Mormon’s abridgment of the large plates covering that period. He was directed to Nephi’s small plates, which overlap the history with more prophecy and less political narrative. D&C 10 predicted the trap: altered stolen pages used to ‘prove’ contradiction. Foreknowledge of a trap is the opposite of scrambling after a mistake.
The Lord had prepared the small plates of Nephi to cover the same span with a greater view of the gospel, for a wise purpose.
FAIR Latter-day Saints
FAIR Latter-day Saints
The conspiracy theory requires thieves smart enough to alter a manuscript line by line and Joseph stupid enough to walk into the trap the Lord had just described. History shows Joseph did not walk into it. He translated a different, already-prepared record. That is either revelation or an improbably elegant coincidence the critics never grant in any other direction.
D&C 10 is dated before the rest of the translation resumed. The warning is not an after-the-fact excuse.
Faithful voices only. Most of these are independent — not official Church productions unless marked as such.
The Missionary Brief (Travis Anderson)
Be the first to tell us if this case is strong.
