Revelation, May 1829–B [D&C 12]
-
Source Note
Revelation, , Susquehanna Co., PA, to , May 1829. Featured version, titled “Chapter XI,” typeset [between 1 Nov. and 31 Dec. 1832] for Book of Commandments, 31. This revelation is not extant in Revelation Book 1, nor is it listed in the index to that volume. The version found in the Book of Commandments and featured below is the earliest extant version. For more complete source information, see the source note for the Book of Commandments.
-
Historical Introduction
This revelation addressed , a , New York, resident and early supporter of JS. In late 1826, Knight began employing JS as a day laborer, and JS soon gained enough favor with Knight that he loaned JS his “horse and Cutter to go and see his girl,” , whom JS soon married. In September 1827, Knight was at the home the night JS obtained the , and he later reported that JS gave him a detailed description of the plates and the . That winter JS and Emma, who had returned to , Pennsylvania, fell on hard times and asked Knight for assistance. “I let him have some little provisions and some few things out of the store a pair of shoes and three Dollars in money to help him a little,” wrote Knight.provided support that helped JS recommence the after lost the initial manuscript in July 1828. In January 1829, and stopped at Knight’s home on their way from , New York, to visit JS in . Knight took them the rest of the way in his sleigh, and once they arrived in Harmony he gave Joseph Sr. a half-dollar and also gave JS money to buy paper for the translation. Knight may have also returned to Harmony to aid JS at other times between January and May 1829: wrote, “Father and I often went to see him [JS] and carry him something to live upon.” In April 1829, the Knight family may have supplied all or part of the fifty-dollar payment that JS made on a thirteen-and-a-half-acre lot and small house purchased from his father-in-law, .When JS and were running low on provisions in May 1829, they temporarily stopped translating and journeyed to to see . Although absent at the time, Knight soon traveled to with more paper and with “provisions enough to Last till the translation was Done.” JS may have dictated this revelation during that visit. Introducing the revelation, JS’s history stated that Knight was “very anxious to know his duty as to this work. I enquired of the Lord for him, and obtained as follows.”This text addresses the same themes, largely in the same wording, as earlier revelations directed to and , alerting them to the emerging “great and marvelous work” and commanding them to “bring forth and establish the cause of Zion.” The revelation for also broadened its potential audience by stating that it applied to “all those who have desires to bring forth and establish this work.” That the text itself does not specify Knight as its recipient also suggests that the call to work could have been to all who were willing to accept the responsibility.The Book of Commandments contains the earliest copy of this revelation. did not include a copy in Revelation Book 1, indicating that JS may not have kept a copy or may have lost his copy. The editors of the Book of Commandments included the revelation, however, perhaps relying on a personal copy of the text kept by an early believer. When in May 1829 this revelation was dictated is unknown, in part because it is unclear how many times and when traveled to to assist JS. The revelation dates from the same general period as the revelation for and may have preceded it. It is possible that Knight gave Hyrum a ride to Harmony, as he had done for Joseph Sr. and a few months earlier, and that the two revelations came during this trip. Neither Knight’s history nor other accounts give exact dates as to when Knight arrived.
Footnotes
-
1
Knight, Reminiscences, 2, 5. Knight thought JS and Emma may have been married in February, but the actual date was 18 January 1827.
Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.
-
2
JS History, vol. A-1, 11; Knight, Reminiscences, 5.
Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.
-
3
Knight, Autobiographical Sketch, 1.
Knight, Joseph, Jr. Autobiographical Sketch, 1862. CHL. MS 286.
-
4
This payment, made on 27 April 1829, was the second payment JS made on the property. Oliver Cowdery may have assisted with a sixty-four-dollar payment made on 6 April. Joseph Knight Jr. wrote that at some point during the translation JS requested fifty dollars of his father. Joseph Knight Sr. did not have that much available, but he went to Joseph Knight Jr., who sold a lot and sent JS a wagon, apparently in an effort to help JS raise the fifty dollars. (Agreement with Isaac Hale, 6 Apr. 1829; Knight, Autobiographical Sketch, 1.)
Knight, Joseph, Jr. Autobiographical Sketch, 1862. CHL. MS 286.
-
5
Knight, Reminiscences, 6.
Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.
-
6
JS History, vol. A-1, 21.
-
7
Compare Revelation, Apr. 1829–A [D&C 6:6]; and Revelation, Feb. 1829 [D&C 4:3].
-
8
Early revelations were often personal enough that recipients or people close to them retained copies. Several Knight family members as well as Oliver Cowdery were living in Jackson County, Missouri, in late 1832 when this revelation was typeset. It is reasonable to assume that one of them provided a copy of the revelation to the compilers of the Book of Commandments, though no such copy has survived.
-
9
See Revelation, May 1829–A [D&C 11].
-
10
See Historical Introduction to Revelation, Feb. 1829 [D&C 4].
-
1
Cite this page
