Book of Abraham Excerpt and Facsimile 2, 15 March 1842 [Abraham 2:19–5:21]

  • Source Note
  • Historical Introduction

Document Transcript

The Book of Abraham.
14. And the Lord appeared unto me in answer to my prayers, and said unto me, unto thy seed I will give this land. And I, Abraham, arose from the place of the Altar which I had built unto the Lord, and removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched my tent there; Bethel on the West, and Hai on the East; and there I built another altar unto the Lord, and called again upon the name of the Lord.
15. And I, Abraham, journeyed, going on still towards the South; and there was a continuation of a famine in the Land, and I Abraham concluded to go down into Egypt, to sojourn there, for the famine became very grievious. And it came to pass when I was come near to enter into Egypt, the Lord said unto me, behold, Sarai, thy wife, is a very fair woman to look upon, therefore it shall come to pass when the Egyptians shall see her, they will say she is his wife; and they will kill you, but they will save her alive; therefore see that ye do on this wise, let her say unto the Egyptians, she is thy sister, and thy soul shall live. And it came to pass that I, Abraham, told Sarai, my wife, all that the Lord had said unto me; therefore say unto them, I pray thee, thou art my sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake, and my soul shall live because of thee.
16. And I, Abraham, had the , which the Lord my God had given unto me, in Ur of the Chaldees; and I saw the stars also that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God; and there were many great ones, which were near unto it; and the Lord said unto me, these are the governing ones; and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me: for I am the Lord thy God, I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order of that upon which thou standest. And the Lord said unto me, by the Urim and Thummim, that Kolob was after the manner of the Lord, according to its times and seasons in the Revolutions thereof, that one revolution was a day unto the Lord, after his manner of reckoning, it being one thousand years according to the time appointed unto that whereon thou standest; this is the reckoning of the Lord’s time, according to the reckoning of Kolob.
17. And the Lord said unto me, the planet, which is the lesser light, lesser than that which is to rule the day, even the night, is above, or greater than that upon which thou standest, in point of reckoning, for it moveth in order more slow: this is in order, because it standeth above the earth upon which thou standest, therefore, the reckoning of its time is not so many as to its number of days, and of months, and of years. And the Lord said unto me, now, Abraham, these two facts exist, behold thine eyes seeth it; it is given unto thee to know the times of reckoning, and the set times, yea the set time of the earth upon which thou standest, and the set time of the greater light, which is set to rule the day, and the set time of the lesser light, which is set to rule the night.
18. Now the set time of the lesser light, is a longer time as to its reckoning, than the reckoning of the time of the earth upon which thou standest; and where these two facts exist, there shall be another fact above them, that is, there shall be another planet whose reckoning of time shall be longer still; and thus there shall be the reckoning of the time of one planet above another, until thou come nigh unto Kolob, which Kolob, is after the reckoning of the Lord’s time; which, Kolob, is set nigh unto the throne of God, to govern all those planets which belong to the same order of that upon which thou standest. And it is given unto thee, to know the set time of all the stars, that are set to give light, until thou come near unto the throne of God.
19. Thus I, Abraham, talked with the Lord, face to face, as one man talketh with another; and he told me of the works which his hands had made; and he said unto me, my son, my son, and his hand was stretched out, behold I will shew you all these. And he put his hand upon mine eyes, and I saw those things, which his hands had made, which were many; and they multiplied before mine eyes, and I could not see the end thereof: and he said unto me this is Shinehah, (which is the sun.) And he said unto me, Kokob, which is star. And he said unto me, [p. [719]] Olea, which is the moon. And he said unto me, Kokaubeam, which signifies stars, or all the great lights, which were in the firmament of heaven. And it was in the night time when the Lord spake these words unto me, I will multiply thee, and thy seed after thee, like unto these; and if thou canst count the number of sands so shall be the number of thy seeds.
20. And the Lord said unto me, Abraham, I shew these things unto thee, before ye go into Egypt, that ye may declare all these words. If two things exist, and there be one above the other, there shall be greater things above them; therefore, Kolob is the greatest of all the Kokaubeam that thou hast seen, because it is nearest unto me: now if there be two things, one above the other, and the Moon be above the earth, then it may be that a planet, or a star may exist above it, and there is nothing that the Lord thy God shall take in his heart to do, but what he will do it: Howbeit that he made the greater star, as, also, if there be two spirits, and one shall be more intelligent than the other, yet these two spirits, notwithstanding one is more intelligent than the other, yet they have no beginning, they existed before; they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are Gnolaum, or Eternal.
21. And the Lord said unto me, these two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other, there shall be another more intelligent than they: I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all. The Lord thy God sent his angel to deliver thee from the hands of the Priest of Elkenah. I dwell in the midst of them all; I, now, therefore, have come down unto thee, to deliver unto thee the works which my hands have made, wherein my wisdom excelleth them all, for I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath, in all wisdom and prudence, over all the intelligencies thine eyes have seen from the beginning; I came down in the beginning in the midst of all the intelligencies thou hast seen.
22. Now the lord had shewn unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones, and God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said, these, I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me, Abraham, thou art one of them, thou wast chosen before thou wast born. And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those, who were with him, we will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an Earth whereon these may dwell; and we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; and they, who keep their first estate, shall be added upon; and they, who keep not their first estate, shall not have glory in the same kingdom, with those who keep their first estate; and they, who keep their second estate, shall have glory added upon their heads forever and ever.
23. And the Lord said, who shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man, here am I, send me. And another answered and said, here am I, send me. And the Lord said, I will send the first. And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate, and, at that day, many followed after him. And then the Lord said, let us go down; and they went down at the beginning, and they organized and formed, (that is, the Gods,) the heavens and the earth. And the earth, after it was formed, was empty and desolate; because they had not formed anything but the earth: and darkness reigned upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of the Gods was brooding upon the faces of the water.
24. And they said, the Gods, let there be light, and there was light. And they, the Gods, comprehended the light, for it was bright; and they divided the light, or caused it to be divided from the darkness, and the Gods called the light day, and the darkness they called night. And it came to pass that from the evening until morning, they called night; and from the morning until the evening, they called day: and this was the first, or the beginning of that which they called day and night.
25. And the Gods also said let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and it shall divide the waters from the waters. And the Gods ordered the expanse, so that it divided the waters which were under the expanse, from the waters which were above the expanse: and it was so, even as they ordered. And the Gods called the expanse, heaven. And [p. 720] it came to pass that it was from evening until morning, that they called night; and it came to pass that it was morning until evening, that they called day: and this was the second time, that they called night and day.
26. And the Gods ordered, saying, let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the earth come up dry, and it was so, as they ordered; and the Gods pronounced the earth dry, and the gathering together of the waters, pronounced they great waters: and the Gods saw that they were obeyed.— And the Gods said, let us prepare the earth to bring forth grass; the herb yielding seed; the fruit tree yielding fruit, after his kind, whose seed in itself yieldeth its own likeness upon the earth; and it was so even as they ordered. And the Gods organized the earth to bring forth grass from its own seed, and the herb to bring forth herb from its own seed, yielding seed after his kind, and the earth to bring forth the tree from its own seed, yielding fruit, whose seed could only bring forth the same, in itself, after his kind; and the Gods saw that they were obeyed. And it came to pass that they numbered the days; from the evening until the morning they called night. And it came to pass from the morning until the evening they called day; and it was the third time.
27. And the Gods organized the lights in the expanse of the heaven, and caused them to divide the day from the night; and organized them to be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years; and organized them to be for lights in the expanse of the heaven, to give light upon the earth; and it was so. And the Gods organized the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; with the lesser light he set the stars, also; and the Gods set them in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to cause to divide the light from the darkness. And the Gods watched those things which they had ordered, until they obeyed. And it came to pass, that it was from evening until morning, that it was night; and it came to pass that it was from morning until evening, that it was day; and it was the fourth time.
28. And the Gods said let us prepare the waters to bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that hath life; and the fowl that they may fly above the earth, in the open expanse of heaven. And the gods prepared the waters that they might bring forth great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters were to bring forth abundantly after their kind; and every winged fowl after their kind; and the Gods saw that they would be obeyed, and that their plan was good. And the Gods said we will bless them and cause them to be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, or great waters; and cause the fowl to multiply in the earth. And it came to pass that it was from evening until morning, that they called night; and it came to pass that it was from morning until evening, that they called day; and it was the fifth time.
29. And the Gods prepared the earth to bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping things, and beast of the earth after their kind; and it was so as they had said. And the Gods organized the earth to bring forth the beasts after their kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after their kind; and the Gods saw they would obey. And the Gods took counsel among themselves, and said, let us go down, and form man in our image, after our likeness, and we will give them dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing, that creepeth upon the earth. So the Gods went down to organize man in their own image, in the image of the Gods, to form they him, male and female, to form they them: and the Gods said we will bless them. And the Gods said we will cause them to be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and to have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And the Gods said, behold, we will give them every herb bearing seed that shall come upon the face of all the earth, and every tree which shall have fruit upon it, yea the fruit of the tree, yielding seed to them we will give it, it shall be for their meat; and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, behold we will give them life, and also we will give to them every [p. 721] green herb for meat, and all these things shall be thus organized. And the Gods said we will do every thing that we have said, and organize them; and, behold, they shall be very obedient. And it came to pass that it was from evening until morning, they called night; and it came to pass that it was from morning until evening, they called day; and they numbered the sixth time.
30. And thus we will finish the heavens and the earth, and all the hosts of them. And the Gods said among themselves, on the seventh time, we will end our work, which we have counselled; and we will rest on the seventh time from all our work which we have counselled. And the Gods concluded upon the seventh time, because, that on the seventh time they would rest from all their works, which they, the Gods, counselled among themselves to form, and sanctified it. And thus were their decisions, at the time that they counselled among themselves to form the heavens and the earth. And the Gods came down and formed these, the generations of the heavens, and of the earth, when they were formed, in the day that the Gods formed the earth and the heavens, according to all that, which they had said, concerning every plant of the field, before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field, before it grew; for the Gods had not caused it to rain upon the earth, when they counselled to do them; and had not formed a man to till the ground; but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Gods formed man from the dust of the ground, and took his spirit, that is the man’s spirit, and put it into him, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
31. And the Gods planted a garden, eastward in Eden, and there they put the man, whose spirit they had put into the body, which they had formed. And out of the ground made the Gods to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food: the tree of life, also, in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. There was a river running out of Eden, to water the garden, and from thence it was parted and became into four heads. And the Gods took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it: and the Gods commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the Garden, thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the time that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now I, Abraham, saw that it was after the Lord’s time, which was after the time of Kolob; for as yet, the Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning.
32. And the Gods said, Let us make an help meet for the man, for it is not good that the man should be alone, therefore we will form an help meet for him. And the Gods caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and he slept, and they took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in the stead thereof, and the rib which the Gods had taken from man, formed they a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said this was bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh, now she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man; therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. And out of the ground the Gods formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought unto Adam to see what he would call them; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that should be the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, to the fowl of the air, to every beast of the field; and for Adam there was found an help meet for him. [p. 722]
A FAC-SIMILE FROM THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM, NO. 2.
[facsimile of hypocephalus]
Explanation of the above Cut.
Fig. 1. Kolob, signifying the first creation, nearest to the celestial, or the residence of God. First in government, the last pertaining to the measurement of time. The measurement according to the celestial time; which, celestial time, signifies one day to a cubit. One day, in Kolob, is equal to a thousand years, according to the measurement of this earth, which is called by the Egyptians Jah-oh-eh.
Fig. 2. Stands next to Kolob, called by the Egyptians Oliblish, which is the next grand governing creation, near to the celestial or the place where God resides; holding the key of power also, pertaining to other planets; as revealed from God to Abraham, as he offered sacrifice upon an altar, which he had built unto the Lord.
Fig. 3. Is made to represent God, sitting upon his throne, clothed with power and authority; with a crown of eternal light upon his head; representing, also, the grand Key words of the Holy Priesthood, as revealed to Adam in the Garden of Eden, as also to Seth, Noah, Melchisedek, Abraham and all to whom the Priesthood was revealed.
Fig. 4. Answers to the Hebrew word Raukeeyang, signifying expanse, or the firmament of the heavens: also, a numerical figure, in Egyptian, signifying one thousand; answering to the measuring of the time of Oliblish, which is equal with Kolob in its revolution and in its measuring of time.
Fig. 5, Is called in Egyptian Enish-go-on-dosh; that is one of the governing planets also; and is said by the Egyptians to be the Sun, and to borrow its light from Kolob through the medium of Kae-e-vanrash, which is the grand Key, or in other words, the governing power, which governs fifteen other fixed planets or stars, as also Floeese or the Moon, the earth and the Sun in their annual revolutions. This planet receives its power through the medium of Kli-flos-is-es, or Hah-ko-kau-beam, the stars represented by numbers 22, and 23, receiving light from the revolutions of Kolob.
Fig. 6, Represents this earth in its four quarters.
Fig. 7, Represents God sitting upon his throne, revealing, through the heavens, the grand Key words of the Priesthood; as, also, the sign of the Holy Ghost unto Abraham, in the form of a dove.
Fig. 8, Contains writing that cannot be revealed unto the world; but is to be had in the Holy Temple of God.
Fig. 9, Ought not to be revealed at the present time.
Fig. 10, Also.
Fig. 11, Also.—If the world can find out these numbers, So let it be, Amen.
Figures 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 21, will be given in the own due time of the Lord.
The above translation is given as far as we have any right to give, at the present time. [verso blank]

Footnotes

  1. 1

    See Genesis 12:7–13.  

  2. 2

    See Genesis 22:17.  

  3. 3

    In the manuscript version of this text, Willard Richards inscribed the word “declare” rather than “deliver.” (Book of Abraham Manuscript, 8–ca. 15 Mar. 1842, p. 7 [Abraham 3:21].)  

  4. 4

    TEXT: This facsimile was printed separately and pasted between pages 720 and 721 of the 15 March 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons. A second printing of Facsimile 2 was also made. For annotation on the content of the facsimile, see Explanation of Facsimile 2, ca. 15 Mar. 1842. For the loose broadside version of Facsimile 2, see “A Fac-simile from the Book of Abraham, No. 2.,” Second Issue, between ca. 15 Mar. 1842 and 1 Apr. 1843.  

  5. 5

    This phrase also appeared in a notation on the back of a circa 1 March 1842 editorial draft as well as in an explanation of a vignette copied from the papyri. (Historical Introduction to Editorial, ca. 1 Mar. 1842, Draft; Book of Abraham Manuscript and Explanation of Facsimile 1, ca. Feb. 1842 [Abraham 1:1–2:18].)  

  6. 6

    A circa 15 March 1842 manuscript of the Book of Abraham, in the handwriting of Willard Richards, reads: “is called by the Egyptians.” (Explanation of Facsimile 2, ca. 15 Mar. 1842.)  

  7. 7

    A circa 15 March 1842 manuscript of the Book of Abraham reads: “cannot now be revealed.” (Explanation of Facsimile 2, ca. 15 Mar. 1842.)  

  8. 8

    Neither the manuscript of this explanation nor the printed facsimile has “20.” The manuscript includes “22” here. The facsimile has two figures labeled with “22” and one figure labeled “23,” which are referenced in the explanation of figure 5. (See Explanation of Facsimile 2, ca. 15 Mar. 1842.)  

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