The Lost 116 Pages — The Lord's Foreknowledge Spans 2,400 Years to Preserve the Book of Mormon (1828)

One of the most remarkable miracles of foreknowledge in the Restoration concerns the lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript and the Lord's preparation, over 2,400 years in advance, to prevent the loss of the sacred record.

In the summer of 1828, Martin Harris, who had been serving as Joseph Smith's scribe during the translation of the Book of Mormon, repeatedly asked Joseph for permission to take the first 116 pages of the translated manuscript to show to his wife and skeptical family members. Joseph inquired of the Lord twice and was denied. After a third inquiry, the Lord permitted it, but with strict conditions. Martin took the pages to Palmyra and, through a combination of carelessness and the schemes of his wife, the 116 pages were lost — stolen or destroyed.

Joseph was devastated. He had lost a sacred trust. The Lord rebuked him through a revelation (now D&C 3): "For, behold, you should not have feared man more than God... For although a man may have many revelations, and have power to do many mighty works, yet if he boasts in his own strength... he must fall." Joseph's gift of translation was temporarily taken from him.

But the Lord had prepared a solution — one that had been set in motion over 2,400 years earlier.

When the ancient prophet Nephi was making his second set of records (the "small plates of Nephi"), he did not fully understand why the Lord had commanded him to make a second, separate record covering the same period as his larger, historical account. Nephi wrote: "Wherefore, the Lord hath commanded me to make these plates... And upon these I write the things of my soul... for my soul delighteth in the scriptures... Nevertheless, I do not write anything upon plates save it be that I think it be sacred." (2 Nephi 5:30–32; 2 Nephi 9:49–52). Nephi was also told that the Lord knew all things from the beginning and had prepared the small plates for "a wise purpose" which he did not fully comprehend (1 Nephi 9:5–6; Words of Mormon 1:3–7).

Centuries later, the prophet Mormon, while abridging the large plates of Nephi to create the Book of Mormon, came across the small plates and was "moved upon by the Spirit" to include them in his record, even though they covered the same period as the portion he had already abridged. Mormon wrote: "And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will." (Words of Mormon 1:3–7). Mormon did not know why he was including this seemingly redundant record, but he trusted the Spirit.

The wise purpose was revealed when Martin Harris lost the 116 pages. The Lord commanded Joseph not to retranslate the lost portion, because his enemies had altered the stolen pages and would use them to trap him: "And, behold, Satan hath put it into their hearts to alter the words which you have caused to be written... that he may throw this people into [destruction]." (D&C 10:10–11). Instead, the Lord directed Joseph to translate the small plates of Nephi — the second, parallel record that Nephi had been commanded to make 2,400 years earlier and that Mormon had been moved to include centuries later — which covered the same period as the lost 116 pages.

This is a miracle of foreknowledge spanning millennia:

— The Lord, knowing in the days of Nephi (c. 590 BC) that Martin Harris would lose the 116 pages in 1828 AD, commanded Nephi to make a second record covering the same period.

— The Lord, knowing in the days of Mormon (c. AD 385) that the small plates would be needed, moved Mormon by the Spirit to include them in his abridgment, even though he did not understand why.

— The Lord, in 1828, after the 116 pages were lost, directed Joseph to the portion of the record that had been prepared 2,400 years earlier as a replacement.

— The enemies who had stolen and altered the original pages were thus frustrated, because the replacement account came from a different, parallel record and could not be compared to the stolen, altered pages.

This miracle demonstrates that God, who knows the end from the beginning, prepared the Book of Mormon to withstand the loss of its first 116 pages. The small plates of Nephi — 1 Nephi through Omni — stand in the Book of Mormon today as a witness that the Lord's foreknowledge extends across millennia, and that His purposes cannot be frustrated by the weakness of men or the schemes of the adversary. It is one of the most striking examples in scripture of God preparing, far in advance, to preserve His word and accomplish His work.