The Book of Abraham — Joseph Smith Translates Ancient Egyptian Papyri Containing the Writings of Father Abraham (1835–1842)

In July 1835, a remarkable event unfolded in Kirtland, Ohio, that would bring to light one of the most ancient sacred texts of the Latter-day Saint tradition. An Irish-born traveling showman named Michael H. Chandler arrived in Kirtland with four Egyptian mummies and several papyrus scrolls that had been discovered with them. Chandler had been exhibiting the mummies and papyri across the eastern United States, and he came to Joseph Smith hoping the Prophet could translate the hieroglyphic writing on the scrolls.

When Joseph Smith examined the papyri, he immediately identified them as containing the writings of two ancient patriarchs: Abraham and Joseph (the son of Jacob, who was sold into Egypt). Joseph declared that one of the scrolls contained "the writings of Abraham while he was in Egypt, called the Book of Abraham, written by his own hand, upon papyrus." This was an extraordinary claim — that a record written by the hand of Abraham himself, the great patriarch who lived nearly 4,000 years earlier, had been preserved and brought to a prophet in the latter days.

The Saints purchased the mummies and papyri for $2,400, and Joseph began the work of translation. Operating by the gift and power of God — as he had with the Book of Mormon — Joseph translated the ancient characters into English. The resulting text, the Book of Abraham, contains:

— Abraham's account of his life in Ur of the Chaldees, his fathers' idolatry, and his search for the true God.

— A remarkable account of Abraham being saved from the altar of the priest of Elkenah by an angel.

— Abraham's astronomical knowledge — a vision of the stars, the heavens, and the governing principles of the cosmos, revealing that there are many great stars and that the greatest of all stars is Kolob, which is near to God's throne.

— Abraham's understanding of the pre-mortal existence, the creation, and the nature of the gods.

— Three facsimiles (ancient illustrations from the papyri) with Joseph's explanations of their meaning.

The Book of Abraham was published serially in the Times and Seasons in Nauvoo beginning March 1, 1842, and was later canonized as part of the Pearl of Great Price.

The translation of the Book of Abraham is a remarkable miracle of divine knowledge: Joseph Smith, a man with no formal education in Egyptian language or scholarship, produced a text that he identified as the ancient writings of Abraham himself. The papyri had lain in Egyptian tombs for millennia, passed through the hands of antiquities dealers, traveled across the ocean, and finally arrived in the hands of a prophet who, by the gift of God, could read them.

This account also involves an element of remarkable providence: the very papyri that contained Abraham's writings were the ones that survived the centuries and found their way to Joseph Smith. Of all the ancient records lost to time, this particular one — the writings of the great patriarch Abraham — was preserved, discovered, transported across the world, and brought to the prophet of the Restoration at the exact moment in history when it could be translated for the benefit of the Saints and the world.