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102-509: Khor Rori is best known for the ruins of the ancient fortified port city of Sumhuram on the eastern bank, which was founded in the 3rd century BC as an outpost for the Kingdom of Ḥaḍramawt . After the eclipse of Ḥaḍramawt, Sumhuram was under the influence of the Kingdom of Ḥimyar , as indicated by the Himyarite coins excavated from there. It was finally abandoned in the 5th century, most likely due to

204-567: A "nonmainstream literary aesthetic". Narratively and structurally, the book is complex, with multiple arcs that diverge and converge in the story while contributing to the book's overarching plot and themes. Historian Daniel Walker Howe concluded in his own appraisal that the Book of Mormon "is a powerful epic written on a grand scale" and "should rank among the great achievements of American literature". The Book of Mormon presents its text through multiple narrators explicitly identified as figures within

306-593: A central message. Barnes argues that the Book of Mormon depicts Jesus as a "revolutionary new character" different from that of the New Testament in a portrayal that is "constantly, subtly revising the Christian tradition". According to historian John Turner, the Book of Mormon's depiction provides "a twist" on Christian trinitarianism, as Jesus in the Book of Mormon is distinct from God the Father—as he prays to God during

408-557: A dialogue in which petitioners and deity engage one another in a mutual exchange in which God's contributions originate from outside the mortal recipient. The Book of Mormon also emphasizes regular prayer as a significant component of devotional life, depicting it as a central means through which such dialogic revelation can take place. While the Old Testament of the Christian Bible links revelation specifically to prophetic authority,

510-455: A guided process of miraculous assistance. The Book of Mormon's "eschatological content" lends to a "theology of Native and/or nonwhite liberation", in the words of American studies scholar Jared Hickman. The Book of Mormon's narrative content includes prophecies describing how although Gentiles (generally interpreted as being whites of European descent) would conquer the Indigenous residents of

612-678: A mediator in this trade route, thus bringing significant wealth and exotic displays to its ruling classes and institutions. Trade in South Arabia was initially done by barter in goods against standards of gold or silver or bronze by weight, but in the 4th or 3rd century BCE the kingdoms of the region started minting their own coinage, which were based on Athenian Greek ones. In the 1st century BCE, Ḥaḍramawt replaced these with its own Roman -inspired coinage which were struck with its royal mint's name of Šaqir . Known rulers of Ḥaḍramawt include: Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon

714-407: A messianic appearance at the book's climax. Furthermore, the Book of Mormon's "formal logic" criticizes the theological supports for racism and white supremacy prevalent in the antebellum United States by enacting a textual apocalypse. The book's apparently white Nephite narrators fail to recognize and repent of their own sinful, hubristic prejudices against the seemingly darker-skinned Lamanites in

816-708: A post-resurrection visit with the Nephites—while also emphasizing that Jesus and God have "divine unity," with other parts of the book calling Jesus "the Father and the Son". Beliefs among the churches of the Latter Day Saint movement range between social trinitarianism (such as among Latter-day Saints) and traditional trinitarianism (such as in Community of Christ ). The Christian concept of God's plan of salvation for humanity

918-465: A record from a much earlier people. There is a subsequent subplot describing a group of families who God leads away from the Tower of Babel after it falls. Led by a man named Jared and his brother , described as a prophet of God, these Jaredites travel to the "promised land" and establish a society there. After successive violent reversals between rival monarchs and faction, their society collapses around

1020-463: A record of God's dealings with ancient inhabitants of the Americas . The majority of Latter Day Saints believe the book to be a record of real-world history, with Latter Day Saint denominations viewing it variously as an inspired record of scripture to the linchpin or " keystone " of their religion. Independent archaeological, historical, and scientific communities have discovered no evidence to support

1122-474: A seer stone placed in his hat and then dictated the text of the Book of Mormon to scribes". Early on, Smith sometimes separated himself from his scribe with a blanket between them, as he did while Martin Harris, a neighbor, scribed his dictation in 1828. At other points in the process, such as when Oliver Cowdery or Emma Smith scribed, the plates were left covered up but in the open. During some dictation sessions

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1224-467: A set of spectacles that accompanied the plates, prepared by the Lord for the purpose of translating. The spectacles, often called the "Nephite interpreters," or the " Urim and Thummim ," after the biblical divination stones, were described as two clear seer stones which Smith said he could look through in order to translate, bound together by a metal rim and attached to a breastplate. Beginning around 1832, both

1326-454: A six-stories high palace in the city consisting of a post-and-beam framework similar to modern-day steel frameworks made of massive wooden beams which had been assembled with tongue and groove and pegs, as well as of brick curtain walls. Like the other South Arabian states, Ḥaḍramawt practised agriculture which required flash-flood and well irrigation techniques. Ḥaḍramawt produced aromatics, especially frankincense, which were cultivated in

1428-651: A successful expansionist policy against Sabaʾ and was challenging the supremacy of Sabaʾ in South Arabia, and at one point in the 1st century BCE, Ḥaḍramawt joined a coalition formed by Qatabān, Radman, Maḏay, and the Arab nomads against the Sabaeans. The Ḥaḍramite king Īlʿazz Yaliṭ II, who reigned around c.  220 CE is recorded as having organised a royal hunt during which were present two Palmyrene delegates, two Chaldaean delegates, and two South Asian delegates. Like Sabaʾ, Ḥaḍramawt often imposed its overlordship over

1530-413: A supreme position within the cosmology of the ancient South Arabians as the god presiding over the whole world, always appeared first in lists, and had various manifestations with their own epithets, also held this primacy within the religion of Ḥaḍramawt. And, like in the other South Arabian states, the rulers of Ḥaḍramawt would offer ritual banquets in honour of ʿAṯtar, with the banquet being paid for from

1632-544: A wall" a prophecy of Lehi's posterity—described as descendants of Joseph—overflowing into the New World. Latter-day Saints also believe the Bible prophesies of the Book of Mormon as an additional testament to God's dealings with humanity. In the 1980s, the church placed greater emphasis on the Book of Mormon as a central text of the faith. In 1982, it added the subtitle "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" to its official editions of

1734-418: A way of showing their allegiance to the religious community and to receive the deities' protections. The people of Ḥaḍramawt performed ritual hunts dedicated to their deities, the faithful accomplishment of which was believed to bring divine blessings, and the king Yadʿʾil Bayan is recorded as having gone on hunts where he killed oryxes, gazelles, cheetahs, panthers, and ibexes. This tradition lasted even after

1836-637: Is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement , first published in 1830 by Joseph Smith as The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi . The book is one of the earliest and most well-known unique writings of the Latter Day Saint movement. The denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement typically regard the text primarily as scripture (sometimes as one of four standard works ) and secondarily as

1938-458: Is a frequently recurring theme of the Book of Mormon. While the Bible does not directly outline a plan of salvation, the Book of Mormon explicitly refers to the concept thirty times, using a variety of terms such as plan of salvation , plan of happiness , and plan of redemption . The Book of Mormon's plan of salvation doctrine describes life as a probationary time for people to learn the gospel of Christ through revelation given to prophets and have

2040-467: Is divided into chapters and verses. Its English text imitates the style of the King James Version of the Bible. The Book of Mormon has been fully or partially translated into at least 112 languages . According to Smith's account and the book's narrative, the Book was originally engraved in otherwise unknown characters on golden plates by ancient prophets; the last prophet to contribute to

2142-401: Is illustrated most thoroughly through intertextuality—the pervasive echoes, allusions, and expansions on the Book of Mormon text that appear in the early converts' own writings." Early Latter Day Saints alluded to Book of Mormon narratives, incorporated Book of Mormon turns of phrase into their writing styles, and even gave their children Book of Mormon names. Like many other early adherents of

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2244-512: Is occasionally promoted as the summer palace of the Queen of Sheba , the legendary ruler of the Sabaʾ Kingdom living in the 10th century BC. It contradicts archaeological evidence which shows that Sumhuram was founded in the 3rd century BC by the kingdom of Ḥaḍramawt . Some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints believe that Khor Rori is the " land Bountiful " where Nephi from

2346-504: Is plausible for Smith to have produced the Book of Mormon himself, based on his knowledge of the Bible and enabled by a democratizing religious culture. The style of the Book of Mormon's English text resembles that of the King James Version of the Bible. Novelist Jane Barnes considered the book "difficult to read", and according to religious studies scholar Grant Hardy, the language is an "awkward, repetitious form of English" with

2448-514: Is the Book of Third Nephi , which describes a visit by Jesus to the people of the Book of Mormon sometime after his resurrection and ascension; historian John Turner calls this episode "the climax of the entire scripture". After this visit, the Nephites and Lamanites unite in a harmonious, peaceful society which endures for several generations before breaking into warring factions again, and in this conflict

2550-414: The Book of Mormon stayed during his travels from Jerusalem ( First Nephi , chapter 17). Kingdom of Hadhramaut Ḥaḍramawt ( Ḥaḑramitic : 𐩢𐩳𐩧𐩣𐩩 , romanized: ḤḌRMT ; Sabaic , Minaic , Qatabānic : 𐩢𐩳𐩧𐩣𐩥𐩩 , romanized: ḤḌRMWT ) was an ancient South Semitic -speaking kingdom of South Arabia ( ancient Yemen ) which existed from the early 1st millennium BCE till

2652-614: The Book of Moroni . The book's sequence is primarily chronological based on the narrative content of the book. Exceptions include the Words of Mormon and the Book of Ether . The Words of Mormon contains editorial commentary by Mormon . The Book of Ether is presented as the narrative of an earlier group of people who had come to the American continent before the immigration described in 1 Nephi. First Nephi through Omni are written in first-person narrative, as are Mormon and Moroni. The remainder of

2754-605: The Hadramautic language , which belonged to the Old South Arabian branch of the Semitic languages . Ḥaḍramawt was a monarchical state. The various other offices of the kingdom included that of the kabīr ( lit.   ' elder ' ), a senior official who could head a tribe or a professional group or be the king's agent. The Ḥaḍramites practised South Arabian polytheism , and the god 𐩲𐩻𐩩𐩧 ( ʿAṯtar ), who held

2856-549: The New Testament , re-emphasizes salvific baptism, and introduces the ritual consumption of bread and wine "in remembrance of [his] body", a teaching that became the basis for modern Latter-day Saints' "memorialist" view of their sacrament ordinance (analogous to communion). Jesus's ministry in the Book of Mormon resembles his portrayal in the Gospel of John , as Jesus similarly teaches without parables and preaches faith and obedience as

2958-556: The Ten Lost Tribes , the Book of Mormon actively rejects the hypothesis; the peoples in its narrative have an "ancient Hebrew" origin but do not descend from the lost tribes. The book ultimately heavily revises, rather than borrows, the Hebraic Indian theory. The Book of Mormon may creatively reconfigure, without plagiarizing, parts of the popular 1678 Christian allegory Pilgrim's Progress written by John Bunyan . For example,

3060-459: The fall of Adam and Eve , the nature of the Christian atonement , eschatology , agency , priesthood authority , redemption from physical and spiritual death, the nature and conduct of baptism , the age of accountability , the purpose and practice of communion , personalized revelation, economic justice, the anthropomorphic and personal nature of God, the nature of spirits and angels, and

3162-598: The Ẓufār region which formed part of its territory; the Graeco-Roman author Pliny the Elder mentioned Astramitica (Ḥaḍramawtic) as a variety of myrrh. Once harvested, these aromatics were brought to the port of Sumhuram , from where they were shipped to Qanīʾ , where the tradesmen of the Incense trade route picked them and brought them north to Šabwat, and then through Qatabān, Sabaʾ and Maʿīn, before heading north towards

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3264-419: The "Testimony of Eight Witnesses " which appeared in the original 1830 edition and every official Latter-day Saint edition thereafter. The books from First Nephi to Omni are described as being from "the small plates of Nephi". This account begins in ancient Jerusalem around 600 BC, telling the story of a man named Lehi , his family, and several others as they are led by God from Jerusalem shortly before

3366-421: The "utter inadequacy of his or her rac(ial)ist common sense". Adherents of the early Latter Day Saint movement frequently read the Book of Mormon as a corroboration of and supplement to the Bible, persuaded by its resemblance to the King James Version 's form and language. For these early readers, the Book of Mormon confirmed the Bible's scriptural veracity and resolved then-contemporary theological controversies

3468-461: The 8th century BC. It was abandoned in the 1st or 2nd century, and re-occupied in the medieval period. Inscriptions at Khor Rori report that the town of Sumhuram (Hadramautic: smhrm), was founded on royal initiative and settled by Hadhrami emigrants. The Dhofar region was the main source of frankincense in the ancient period, and it seems likely that the foundation of the settlement by the Hadhramaut

3570-462: The Adam and Eve story contributes to the Book of Mormon's emphasis "on the importance of human freedom and responsibility" to choose salvation. In the Book of Mormon, revelation from God typically manifests as a dialogue between God and persons, characterizing deity as an anthropomorphic being who hears prayers and provides direct answers to questions. Multiple narratives in the book portray revelation as

3672-852: The American Foundation for the Study of Man (AFSM) in the early 1950s and by the Italian Mission to Oman (IMTO) since 1994. The excavations have uncovered the ground plan of the settlement and has attested maritime contacts with the Ḥaḑramite homeland, India and the Mediterranean. It was inscribed in 2000, along with other sites along the Incense Route in Oman, as part of the World Heritage Site " Land of Frankincense ". In tourism literature, Sumhuram

3774-663: The Americas (imagined in the Book of Mormon as being a remnant of descendants of the Lamanites), this conquest would only precede the Native Americans' revival and resurgence as a God-empowered people. The Book of Mormon narrative's prophecies envision a Christian eschaton in which Indigenous people are destined to rise up as the true leaders of the continent, manifesting in a new utopia to be called "Zion". White Gentiles would have an opportunity to repent of their sins and join themselves to

3876-515: The Arab tribes living to the north of the South Arabian kingdoms. During this period, from the 4th to 2nd centuries BCE, Ḥaḍramawt experienced a period of prosperity, and several fortifications and both secular and religious buildings were built in its territory. The Ḥaḍramite king Yadʿʾil Bayan rebuilt the state's capital city of Šabwat. With the establishment of direct maritime trade links between

3978-473: The Bible did not seem to adequately address, such as the appropriate mode of baptism, the role of prayer, and the nature of the Christian atonement. Early church administrative design also drew inspiration from the Book of Mormon. Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith, respectively, used the depiction of the Christian church in the Book of Mormon as a template for their Articles of the Church and Articles and Covenants of

4080-461: The Book of Mormon as "the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of [the] religion". Although Smith quoted the book infrequently, he accepted the Book of Mormon narrative world as his own. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) accepts the Book of Mormon as one of the four sacred texts in its scriptural canon called the standard works . Church leaders and publications have "strongly affirm[ed]" Smith's claims of

4182-438: The Book of Mormon as its narrative). Whether or not View influenced the Book of Mormon is the subject of debate. A pseudo-anthropological treatise, View presented allegedly empirical evidence in support of its hypothesis. The Book of Mormon is written as a narrative, and Christian themes predominate rather than supposedly Indigenous parallels. Additionally, while View supposes that Indigenous American peoples descended from

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4284-408: The Book of Mormon is written in third-person historical narrative, said to be compiled and abridged by Mormon (with Moroni abridging the Book of Ether and writing the latter part of Mormon and the Book of Moroni). Most modern editions of the book have been divided into chapters and verses. Most editions of the book also contain supplementary material, including the "Testimony of Three Witnesses " and

4386-471: The Book of Mormon universalizes Christian salvation as being accessible across all time and places. By implying that even more ancient peoples were familiar with Jesus Christ, the book presents a "polygenist Christian history" in which Christianity has multiple origins. In the climax of the book, Jesus visits some early inhabitants of the Americas after his resurrection in an extended bodily theophany . During this ministry, he reiterates many teachings from

4488-440: The Book of Mormon's portrayal democratizes the idea of revelation, depicting it as the right of every person. Figures such as Nephi and Ammon receive visions and revelatory direction prior to or without ever becoming prophets, and Laman and Lemuel are rebuked for hesitating to pray for revelation. Also in contrast with traditional Christian conceptions of revelations is the Book of Mormon's broader range of revelatory content. In

4590-454: The Book of Mormon's primary narrative). Smith sometimes shared what he said he had learned through such angelic encounters with his family as well. In Smith's account, Moroni allowed him, accompanied by his wife Emma Hale Smith , to take the plates on September 22, 1827, four years after his initial visit to the hill, and directed him to translate them into English. Smith said the angel Moroni strictly instructed him to not let anyone else see

4692-492: The Book of Mormon, figures petition God for revelatory answers to doctrinal questions and ecclesiastical crises as well as for inspiration to guide hunts, military campaigns, and sociopolitical decisions. The Book of Mormon depicts revelation as an active and sometimes laborious experience. For example, the Book of Mormon's Brother of Jared learns to act not merely as a petitioner with questions but moreover as an interlocutor with "a specific proposal" for God to consider as part of

4794-443: The Book of Mormon. Ezra Taft Benson , the church's thirteenth president (1985–1994), especially emphasized the Book of Mormon. Referencing Smith's 1832 revelation, Benson said the church remained under condemnation for treating the Book of Mormon lightly. Since the late 1980s, Latter-day Saint leaders have encouraged church members to read from the Book of Mormon daily, and in the twenty-first century, many Latter-day Saints use

4896-447: The Church . The Book of Mormon was also significant in the early movement as a sign, proving Joseph Smith's claimed prophetic calling, signalling the "restoration of all things", and ending what was believed to have been an apostasy from true Christianity. Early Latter Day Saints tended to interpret the Book of Mormon through a millenarian lens and consequently believed the book portended Christ's imminent Second Coming . And during

4998-620: The Erythraean Sea of the 1st century CE, and in Ptolemy 's Geographia in the next century. It has also been identified with Abissa polis or Abyssapolis ( Ancient Greek : Ἄβισσα πόλις ) from Ptolemy; this name has first been connected with the abyss besides the waterfall of Wādī Darbāt, but may be related to the Abyssinian people. The existence of an ancient port city in this area has been expected by 19th century western geographers based on

5100-411: The Indigenous remnant, but if white Gentile society fails to do so, the Book of Mormon's content foretells a future "apocalyptic reversal" in which Native Americans will destroy white American society and replace it with a godly, Zionic society. This prophecy commanding whites to repent and become supporters of American Indians even bears "special authority as an utterance of Jesus" Christ himself during

5202-526: The Latter Day Saint movement consider the Book of Mormon an authentic historical record, translated by Smith from actual ancient plates through divine revelation . The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the largest Latter Day Saint denomination, maintains this as its official position. The Book of Mormon as a written text is the transcription of what scholars Grant Hardy and William L. Davis call an "extended oral performance", one which Davis considers "comparable in length and magnitude to

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5304-409: The Latter Day Saint movement, Smith referenced Book of Mormon scriptures in his preaching relatively infrequently and cited the Bible more often. In 1832, Smith dictated a revelation that condemned the "whole church" for treating the Book of Mormon lightly, although even after doing so Smith still referenced the Book of Mormon less often than the Bible. Nevertheless, in 1841 Joseph Smith characterized

5406-589: The Mediterranean and South Asia via the Red Sea in the late Hellenistic period, the tribes of the South Arabian highland became ascendant at the expense of the kingdoms of the Sayhad. To participate in the new commercial developments, Ḥaḍramawt established two sea ports on the Indian Ocean, one at Qanīʾ and the second at Sumhuram . Ḥaḍramawt and Ḥimyar divided the territories of Qatabān among themselves and annexed them in

5508-462: The Nephites are destroyed while the Lamanites emerge victorious. In the narrative, Mormon, a Nephite, lives during this period of war, and he dies before finishing his book. His son Moroni takes over as narrator, describing himself taking his father's record into his charge and finishing its writing. Before the very end of the book, Moroni describes making an abridgment (called the Book of Ether ) of

5610-654: The Spalding manuscript source hypothesis debunked since 1945, when Fawn M. Brodie thoroughly disproved it in her critical biography of Smith. Historians since the early twentieth century have suggested Smith was inspired by View of the Hebrews , an 1823 book which propounded the Hebraic Indian theory , since both associate American Indians with ancient Israel and describe clashes between two dualistically opposed civilizations ( View as speculation about American Indian history and

5712-598: The Wādī Ḥaḍramawt and the Wādī al-Masīla, and in the east and the south it was bordered by the Indian Ocean . Its capital was the city of Šabwat . The earliest human activities in the region date from the Middle Palaeolithic , with the local population using a Levallois technique for flake preparation until the appearance of tools produced by a desert-dwelling pre-agricultural population. From this latter period, or perhaps

5814-532: The ability to translate and that Moroni had taken back the plates to be returned only after Smith repented. Smith later stated that God allowed him to resume translation, but directed that he begin where he left off (in what is now called the Book of Mosiah), without retranslating what had been in the lost manuscript. Smith recommenced some Book of Mormon dictation between September 1828 and April 1829 with his wife Emma Smith scribing with occasional help from his brother Samuel Smith, though transcription accomplished

5916-551: The book's own narrative. Narrators describe reading, redacting, writing, and exchanging records. The book also embeds sermons, given by figures from the narrative, throughout the text, and these internal orations make up just over 40 percent of the Book of Mormon. Periodically, the book's primary narrators reflexively describe themselves creating the book in a move that is "almost postmodern" in its self-consciousness. Historian Laurie Maffly-Kipp explains that "the mechanics of editing and transmitting thereby become an important feature of

6018-491: The book's place in a causal chain which held that if the Book of Mormon was "verifiably true revelation of God," then it justified Smith's claims to prophetic authority to restore the New Testament church. Latter-day Saints have also long believed the Book of Mormon's contents confirm and fulfill biblical prophecies. For example, "many Latter-day Saints" consider the biblical patriarch Jacob 's description of his son Joseph as "a fruitful bough   ... whose branches run over

6120-436: The book's significance to the faith. According to the church's "Articles of Faith" —a document written by Joseph Smith in 1842 and canonized by the church as scripture in 1880—members "believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly," and they "believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God," without qualification. In their evangelism, Latter-day Saint leaders and missionaries have long emphasized

6222-457: The book, Moroni , had buried it in what is present-day Manchester, New York and then appeared in a vision to Smith in 1827, revealing the location of the plates and instructing him to translate the plates into English. The more widely accepted view is that Smith authored the Book, drawing on material and ideas from his contemporary 19th-century environment, rather than translating an ancient record. According to Joseph Smith, in 1823, when he

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6324-423: The classic oral epics, such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey ". Eyewitnesses said Smith never referred to notes or other documents while dictating, and Smith's followers and those close to him insisted he lacked the writing and narrative skills necessary to consciously produce a text like the Book of Mormon. Some naturalistic interpretations have therefore compared Smith's dictation to automatic writing arising from

6426-563: The classical and Arabic sources. In the 1890s the location was pointed out by Eduard Glaser , and English explorer James Theodore Bent , who visited it in January 1895 with his wife Mabel , published a description of it, and reiterated the double identification. In 1908, J.G. Lorimer recorded Khor Rori in his Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf , noting its location as the eastern extremity of Dhofar proper. He wrote: A remarkable lake or inlet of

6528-409: The control of Sabaʾ. After Ḥaḍramawt and Qatabān regained their independence from Sabaʾ in the early or late 5th century BCE, the Ḥaḍramites, Qatabānians and Minaeans together rejected the hegemony of Sabaʾ to instead became the dominant states of the South Arabian region, and the names of the rulers of Ḥaḍramawt are first attested by name beginning in the 5th century BCE. Qatabān soon embarked on

6630-559: The early 400s CE. On its title page, the Book of Mormon describes its central purpose as being the "convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations." Although much of the Book of Mormon's internal chronology takes place prior to the birth of Jesus, prophets in the book frequently see him in vision and preach about him, and the people in

6732-408: The end of the kingdom of Ḥaḍramawt, with the inhabitants of the region believing until recently that hunting was a prerequisite for bringing rainfall, and consequently avoiding drought and resulting famine. The architecture of Ḥaḍramawt was similar to that of the other ancient South Arabian states, although unique to its capital of Šabwat were several tall multi-storey buildings, with the structure of

6834-450: The evening of September 21, 1823, and that on the following day, via divine guidance, he located the burial location of the plates on this hill and was instructed by Moroni to meet him at the same hill on September 22 of the following year to receive further instructions, which repeated annually for the next three years. Smith told his entire immediate family about this angelic encounter by the next night, and his brother William reported that

6936-429: The existence of the civilizations described therein. Characteristics of the language and content point toward a nineteenth-century origin of the Book of Mormon . Various academics and apologetic organizations connected to the Latter Day Saint movement nevertheless argue that the book is an authentic account of the pre- Columbian exchange world. The Book of Mormon has a number of doctrinal discussions on subjects such as

7038-406: The extant Book of Mormon was completed in 1829 in between 53 and 74 working days. Descriptions of the way in which Smith dictated the Book of Mormon vary. Smith himself called the Book of Mormon a translated work, but in public he generally described the process itself only in vague terms, saying he translated by a miraculous gift from God. According to some accounts from his family and friends at

7140-540: The fall of that city to the Babylonians . The book describes their journey across the Arabian peninsula , and then to a "promised land", presumably an unspecified location in the Americas, by ship. These books recount the group's dealings from approximately 600 BC to about 130 BC, during which time the community grows and splits into two main groups, called Nephites and Lamanites , that frequently war with each other throughout

7242-414: The family "believed all he [Joseph Smith] said" about the angel and plates. Smith and his family reminisced that as part of what Smith believed was angelic instruction, Moroni provided Smith with a "brief sketch" of the "origin, progress, civilization, laws, governments   ... righteousness and iniquity" of the "aboriginal inhabitants of the country" (referring to the Nephites and Lamanites who figure in

7344-436: The formation of the sandbar blocking the estuary. There are also archaeological ruins on the two promontories at the mouth of Khor Rori. The eastern promontory ( Inqitat Mirbat ) is better explored than the western promontory ( Inqitat Taqah ). Inqitat Mirbat, also known as Khatiya or al-Ḥamr al-Sharqiya , had been inhabited by the 4th century BC before the emergence of Sumhuram, and its settlement history might date back to

7446-481: The interpreters and Smith's own seer stone were at times referred to as the "Urim and Thummim", and Smith sometimes used the term interchangeably with "spectacles". Emma Smith 's and David Whitmer 's accounts describe Smith using the interpreters while dictating for Martin Harris 's scribing and switching to only using his seer stone(s) in subsequent translation. Religious studies scholar Grant Hardy summarizes Smith's known dictation process as follows: "Smith looked at

7548-595: The late 1st or 2nd century CE. Ḥaḍramawt itself was soon ceased to exist as an independent polity when it was annexed around c.  290 CE by the Ḥimyarite king Šammar Yuharʿiš , who styled himself as King of Sabaʾ and Ḏū-Raydān and Ḥaḍramawt and Yamanat in an inscription from 299 CE. Ḥaḍramawt is mentioned in the Table of Nations of the Hebrew Bible under the name of Hazarmaveth ( Biblical Hebrew : חֲצַרְמָוֶת , romanized:  Ḥăṣarmāweṯ ), as one of

7650-463: The late 3rd century CE in the area currently named after it in the region of the Ṣayhad desert. The kingdom of Ḥaḍramawt was one of the six ancient South Arabian kingdoms of ancient Yemen, along with Sabaʾ , Maʿīn , Qatabān , Ḥimyar , and Awsān . Little is known about Ḥaḍramawt compared to the other early South Arabian states. The kingdom of Ḥaḍramawt was the easternmost of the ancient South Arabian kingdoms, with its core being centred around

7752-485: The martyr narrative of Abinadi in the Book of Mormon shares a complex matrix of descriptive language with Faithful's martyr narrative in Progress . Some other Book of Mormon narratives, such as the dream Lehi has in the book's opening, also resemble creative reworkings of Progress story arcs as well as elements of other works by Bunyan, such as The Holy War and Grace Abounding . Historical scholarship also suggests it

7854-448: The movement's first years, observers identified converts with the new scripture they propounded, nicknaming them "Mormons". Early Mormons also cultivated their own individual relationships with the Book of Mormon. Reading the book became an ordinary habit for some, and some would reference passages by page number in correspondence with friends and family. Historian Janiece Johnson explains that early converts' "depth of Book of Mormon usage

7956-439: The narrative in his own words. Early observers, presuming Smith incapable of writing something as long or as complex as the Book of Mormon, often searched for a possible source he might have plagiarized. In the nineteenth century, a popular hypothesis was that Smith collaborated with Sidney Rigdon to plagiarize an unpublished manuscript written by Solomon Spalding and turn into the Book of Mormon. Historians have considered

8058-404: The narrative worship Jesus as "pre-Christian Christians." For example, the book's first narrator Nephi describes having a vision of the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus, said to have taken place nearly 600 years prior to Jesus' birth. Late in the book, a narrator refers to converted peoples as "children of Christ". By depicting ancient prophets and peoples as familiar with Jesus as a Savior,

8160-411: The narrative. In their pride, the Nephites repeatedly backslide into producing oppressive social orders, such that the book's narrative performs a sustained critique of colonialist racism. The book concludes with its own narrative implosion in which Lamanites suddenly succeed over and destroy Nephites in a literary turn seemingly designed to jar the average antebellum white American reader into recognizing

8262-451: The narratives" of the Book of Mormon for several years by making outlines, whether mental or on private notes, until he began dictating in 1828. Smith's oral recitations about Nephites to his family could have been an opportunity to work out ideas and practice oratory, and he received some formal education as a lay Methodist exhorter. In this interpretation, Smith believed the dictation he produced reflected an ancient history, but he assembled

8364-674: The oases where lived the Arabs ; Ḥaḍramawt's capital of Šabwat thus formed the beginning of the Incense Route which ran through the western border of the Arabian Desert until the Mediterranean port of Gaza, as well as of another incense trading route which ran to the north-east until Gerrha , due to which Ḥaḍramawt also derived significant revenue from the transit through its territory of merchant caravans trading incense produced in Ẓufār and luxuries imported from South Asia , which allowed it to act as

8466-570: The opportunity to choose whether or not to obey God. Jesus' atonement then makes repentance possible, enabling the righteous to enter a heavenly state after a final judgment . Although most of Christianity traditionally considers the fall of man a negative development for humanity, the Book of Mormon instead portrays the fall as a foreordained step in God's plan of salvation, necessary to securing human agency, eventual righteousness, and bodily joy through physical experience. This positive interpretation of

8568-501: The organization of the latter day church . The pivotal event of the book is an appearance of Jesus Christ in the Americas shortly after his resurrection. Common teachings of the Latter Day Saint movement hold that the Book of Mormon fulfills numerous biblical prophecies by ending a global apostasy and signaling a restoration of Christian gospel. The Book of Mormon is divided into smaller books — which are usually titled after individuals named as primary authors — and in most versions,

8670-429: The people of Ḥaḍramawt made use of similar cult equipment as the other ancient South Arabian states, and professional priestesses are recorded to have existed in Ḥaḍramawt, where they participated in the social life of the community, such as arbitrating marital dispute cases. The Ḥaḍramites followed the South Arabian custom of dedicating themselves and their close family members to the deities, and especially to Sayīn, as

8772-565: The plates by holding or moving them wrapped in cloth, although without seeing the plates themselves. Their accounts of the plates' appearance tend to describe a golden-colored compilation of thin metal sheets (the "plates") bound together by wires in the shape of a book. The manuscript was completed in June 1829. E. B. Grandin published the Book of Mormon in Palmyra, New York, and it went on sale in his bookstore on March 26, 1830. Smith said he returned

8874-403: The plates to Moroni upon the publication of the book. Multiple theories of naturalistic composition have been proposed. In the twenty-first century, leading naturalistic interpretations of Book of Mormon origins hold that Smith authored it himself, whether consciously or subconsciously, and simultaneously sincerely believed the Book of Mormon was an authentic sacred history. Most adherents of

8976-407: The plates were entirely absent. In 1828, while scribing for Smith, Harris, at the prompting of his wife Lucy Harris , repeatedly asked Smith to loan him the manuscript pages of the dictation thus far. Smith reluctantly acceded to Harris's requests. Within weeks, Harris lost the manuscript , which was most likely stolen by a member of his extended family. After the loss, Smith recorded that he lost

9078-474: The plates without divine permission. Neighbors, some of whom had collaborated with Smith in earlier treasure-hunting enterprises, tried several times to steal the plates from Smith while he and his family guarded them. As Smith and contemporaries reported, the English manuscript of the Book of Mormon was produced as scribes wrote down Smith's dictation in multiple sessions between 1828 and 1829. The dictation of

9180-452: The rest of the narrative. Following this section is the Words of Mormon , a small book that introduces Mormon , the principal narrator for the remainder of the text. The narration describes the proceeding content ( Book of Mosiah through to chapter 7 of the internal Book of Mormon ) as being Mormon's abridgment of "the large plates of Nephi", existing records that detailed the people's history up to Mormon's own life. Part of this portion

9282-462: The sea running a mile or more inland; it is the estuary of Wadi Dirbat from Jabal Samhan. The inlet is divided from the sea by a sand bar over which the water flows at high tide. A peninsula, once fortified, adjoins the east side of the entrance. Remains of ancient buildings surround the lake. There is a fortified rock at the entrance to the inlet, which is called Khatiyah. This harbour is the ancient Moscha, or Abyssapolis. The site has been excavated by

9384-429: The subconscious. However, Ann Taves considers this description problematic for overemphasizing "lack of control" when historical and comparative study instead suggests Smith "had a highly focused awareness" and "a considerable degree of control over the experience" of dictation. Independent scholar William L. Davis posits that after believing he had encountered an angel in 1823, Smith "carefully developed his ideas about

9486-454: The succeeding one, can be dated several megalithic structures, large stone circles , and four dolmen -like strictures whose inner surfaces were decorated with repetitive rows of pecked meander or crenellated design. In the late 7th century BCE, Ḥaḍramawt and the nearby kingdom of Qatabān were initially allies of the king Karibʾil Watar of the neighbouring kingdom of Sabaʾ , but by the 6th century BCE, Ḥaḍramawt and Qatabān had come under

9588-473: The text". Barnes calls the Book of Mormon a "scripture about writing and its influence in a post-modern world of texts" and "a statement about different voices, and possibly the problem of voice, in sacred literature". The Book of Mormon is organized as a compilation of smaller books, each named after its main named narrator or a prominent leader, beginning with the First Book of Nephi (1 Nephi) and ending with

9690-446: The thirteen sons of Yoqṭān descended from Šēm through ʿĒḇer . The Graeco-Roman author Strabo referred to Ḥaḍramawt under the name of Khatramōtítis ( Χατραμωτίτις ). Like the other neighbouring states of Qatabān, Sabaʾ, Maʿīn, and Ḥimyar, the kingdom of Ḥaḍramawt belonged to the ancient South Arabian culture and developed as part of it, albeit with its own minor iterations of this culture. The people of Ḥaḍramawt spoke

9792-400: The time that Lehi's family arrive in the promised land further south. The narrative returns to Moroni's present ( Book of Moroni ) in which he transcribes a few short documents, meditates on and addresses the book's audience, finishes the record, and buries the plates upon which they are narrated to be inscribed upon, before implicitly dying as his father did, in what allegedly would have been

9894-445: The time, early on, Smith copied characters off the plates as part of a process of learning to translate an initial corpus. For the majority of the process, Smith dictated the text by voicing strings of words which a scribe would write down; after the scribe confirmed they had finished writing, Smith would continue. Many accounts describe Smith dictating by reading a text as it appeared either on seer stones he already possessed or on

9996-553: The tithe offered to the god by the populace. The patron deity of the Ḥaḍramites, however, was the Moon-god 𐪊𐪚𐩬 ( Sayīn ), who was seen as being closer to the people compared to the more distant figure of ʿAṯtar, and the people of Ḥaḍramawt consequently called themselves the "children of Sayīn." Other deities known to have been worshipped in Ḥaḍramawt include the Sun-goddess 𐩦𐩣𐩪 ( Šams ). The religious practises of

10098-521: The uncovered golden plates and, in some cases, handle them. Their written testimonies are known as the Testimony of Three Witnesses , who described seeing the plates in a visionary encounter with an angel, and the Testimony of Eight Witnesses , who described handling the plates as displayed by Smith. Statements signed by them have been published in most editions of the Book of Mormon. In addition to Smith and these eleven, several others described encountering

10200-406: Was in part motivated by wish to control the production of this valuable commodity. Khor Rori has been tentatively identified as the location of Moscha Limen ( Ancient Greek : Μόσχα λιμήν , probably meaning "the harbour of young shoots (μόσχος)" and referring to the possible mangrove vegetation in the past), or else "the harbour of musk , perfume" The name appeared in the anonymous Periplus of

10302-576: Was limited. In April 1829, Oliver Cowdery met Smith and, believing Smith's account of the plates, began scribing for Smith in what became a "burst of rapid-fire translation". In May, Joseph and Emma Smith along with Cowdery moved in with the Whitmer family, sympathetic neighbors, in an effort to avoid interruptions as they proceeded with producing the manuscript. While living with the Whitmers, Smith said he received permission to allow eleven specific others to see

10404-462: Was seventeen years old, an angel of God named Moroni appeared to him and said that a collection of ancient writings was buried in a nearby hill in present-day Wayne County, New York , engraved on golden plates by ancient prophets. The writings were said to describe a people whom God had led from Jerusalem to the Western hemisphere 600 years before Jesus 's birth. Smith said this vision occurred on

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