Revelation, 30 December 1830 [D&C 37]
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Source Note
Revelation, , NY, to JS and , [30 Dec.] 1830. Featured version, titled “40th Commandment AD 1830,” copied [ca. Mar. 1831] in Revelation Book 1, p. 49; handwriting of ; CHL. Includes redactions. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation Book 1.
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Historical Introduction
A September 1830 revelation declared that all members of the should gather together into one place. A second revelation decreed that a “City” (the ) would be located “among the .” Within a month, JS sent missionaries to search out the location for the New Jerusalem—understood to be the future gathering place—and to preach to American Indians. Traveling first to northeastern , these missionaries preached in the areas around and . They remained in Ohio a few weeks and baptized several dozen individuals, many of whom were members of ’s restorationist congregation, before continuing west. After passing through , Missouri, the group attempted to preach to the Indians who had been relocated by the government to territory just beyond the western border of .In late 1830, two of the converts, and , visited JS in , where opposition to the church was intensifying. Rigdon stayed for two months and became JS’s close confidant, serving as scribe for his revision of the Bible. In late December, JS and Rigdon traveled from to , New York, and there continued work on JS’s inspired of the Bible. Shortly after their arrival, JS dictated this revelation, which formally designated Ohio as a gathering place for the . Three days later, on 2 January 1831, the third of the church convened in Fayette, and there JS announced the plan to gather in Ohio.This revelation also directed JS and to temporarily stop their revision of the Bible so they could preach to and strengthen the existing congregations in before the move to . They preached in public venues and believers’ homes in , , , and .
Footnotes
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1
Revelation, Sept. 1830–A [D&C 29:8].
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2
Revelation, Sept. 1830–B [D&C 28:9].
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3
Prior to Rigdon’s arrival, Oliver Cowdery, John Whitmer, and Emma Smith served as scribes for this project. For more on JS’s Bible revision, see the Historical Introduction to Visions of Moses, June 1830 [Moses 1].
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4
“Testimony of Brother E. Thayre,” True Latter Day Saints’ Herald, Oct. 1862, 82–83; Tucker, Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism, 76–79; Whitmer, History, 9–10; see also Austin, Life among the Mormons, 37; Mather, “Early Days of Mormonism,” 204; and Waterloo, NY, 26 Jan. [1831], Letter to the Editor, Reflector (Palmyra, NY), 1 Feb. 1831, 95. The two also stopped in Harmony, Pennsylvania. (Knight, Reminiscences, 8.)
Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.
Tucker, Pomeroy. Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism: Biography of Its Founders and History of Its Church. New York: D. Appleton, 1867.
Austin, Emily M. Mormonism; or, Life among the Mormons: Being an Autobiographical Sketch, Including an Experience of Fourteen Years of Mormon Life. Madison, WI: M. J. Cantwell, 1882.
Mather, Frederic G. “The Early Days of Mormonism.” Lippincott’s Magazine of Popular Literature and Science 26 (Aug. 1880): 198–211.
Reflector. Palmyra, NY. 1821–1831.
Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.
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