The Lost 116 Pages

I. What Was Lost

In the summer of 1828, Martin Harris asked Joseph Smith repeatedly for permission to take the first 116 pages of the Book of Mormon translation — the Book of Lehi, translated from the Large Plates of Nephi covering the period from Lehi’s departure from Jerusalem to approximately the reign of King Benjamin — home to show his wife Lucy. After three askings, the Lord allowed it on strict conditions. The pages disappeared from Harris’s home and have never surfaced.

The Lord’s response is recorded in D&C 3 and D&C 10 — two of the earliest revelations of the Restoration, and two of the most doctrinally important revelations ever given on the sovereignty of God over human failure.

“The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught… For God doth not walk in crooked paths… neither doth he vary from that which he hath said, therefore his paths are straight, and his course is one eternal round.”

II. The Lord’s Two Purposes — D&C 10

D&C 10 reveals that the loss was not a surprise to the Lord. Ancient prophets had anticipated it and prepared a backup:

“Behold, they have sought to destroy you; yea, even the man in whom you have trusted has sought to destroy you… And now, verily I say unto you, that an account of those things that you have written, which have gone out of your hands, is engraven upon the plates of Nephi.”

“And behold, all the remainder of this work does contain all those parts of my gospel which my holy prophets, yea, and also my disciples, desired in their prayers should come forth unto this people… Behold, there are many things engraven upon the plates of Nephi which do throw greater views upon my gospel; therefore, it is wisdom in me that you should translate this first part of the engravings of Nephi, and send forth in this work.”

The backup is the Small Plates of Nephi — what we now know as 1 Nephi through Omni. The Small Plates were commanded of Nephi [1 Nephi 9:2–5; 2 Nephi 5:28–33] "for a wise purpose in him, which purpose I know not" [1 Nephi 9:5]. The purpose was this: to preserve a spiritual, ministry-focused parallel account of the period Lehi’s manuscript covered, so that when the enemies of the work corrupted the Large Plate translation, the Lord already had another copy — written by different hands, focused on different matters, that the adversary could not tamper with retroactively.

III. What Was in the Book of Lehi — Internal Evidence

Although the manuscript itself is lost, the Book of Mormon preserves substantial internal evidence about its contents. The Book of Lehi corresponded to the Large Plates of Nephi and covered the period from Lehi’s departure from Jerusalem to approximately King Benjamin — material that the Small Plates cover in a different voice and focus.

Reconstructable elements include:

• A fuller account of Lehi’s ministry in Jerusalem before departure — Nephi says his father "wrote many things which he saw in visions and in dreams" and also many prophecies, more than 1 Nephi preserves [1 Nephi 1:16]
• The secular and genealogical history of the Nephite kings from Nephi down through Mosiah I (the Small Plates largely skip the royal annals, while Words of Mormon 1:10–11 and Mosiah 1:2–6 assume them)
• The wars, reigns, and migrations that Jacob, Enos, Jarom, and the later Small Plate writers explicitly refer out to "the larger plates" [Jacob 1:1–4; Jarom 1:14; Omni 1:11]
• Mormon’s own abridgement of the Book of Lehi as the opening of his larger abridgement of the Nephite record — which he completed before the loss
• The coronation of King Benjamin, which King Benjamin’s own sermon in Mosiah 2–5 assumes the reader already knows

IV. Words of Mormon — The Bridge

Words of Mormon is the most important single chapter for understanding the lost material. Mormon writes it near the end of his life, after he has already abridged the Large Plates of Nephi down to the end of King Benjamin’s reign. He is going to place this abridgement at the front of his work — but he has also discovered the Small Plates, and by prophetic impulse he decides to include them too.

“And now I speak somewhat concerning that which I have written; for after I had made an abridgment from the plates of Nephi, down to the reign of this king Benjamin, of whom Amaleki spake, I searched among the records which had been delivered into my hands, and I found these plates, which contained this small account of the prophets… And the things which are upon these plates pleasing me, because of the prophecies of the coming of Christ… I chose these things, to finish my record upon them… 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.”

Mormon is following the Spirit without knowing why. Centuries later, Joseph Smith’s translation of Mormon’s Book of Lehi abridgement (the 116 pages) would be lost — and the Small Plates Mormon appended for "a wise purpose" would be precisely the replacement the Lord had prepared. Words of Mormon is the seam where the two halves meet.

V. Why the Lord Did Not Retranslate

The Lord’s reasoning in D&C 10 is strategic, not sentimental:

“Behold, they have altered the words, because Satan saith unto them: He hath deceived you — and thus he flattereth them away to do iniquity, to get thee to tempt the Lord thy God. Behold, I say unto you, that you shall not translate again those words which have gone forth out of your hands… For, behold, if you should bring forth the same words they will say that you have lied and that you have pretended to translate, but that you have contradicted yourself.”

The thieves had altered the manuscript. Any retranslation would show the alterations — and because the retranslation would inevitably produce at least minor verbal differences from the altered copy, the critics would cry fraud. The Lord refused to play that game. He already had the Small Plates prepared. He would use them.

VI. What Will Be Restored

The Book of Mormon itself promises that the lost material will not stay lost forever. Nephi prophesies that the full record will come forth in its time:

“Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins…”

“For behold, they are they who are of the Jews, and they are they who are of the ten tribes; and they are they who are of the land of Jerusalem, and they are they who shall come. Yea, even the tribes which have been lost, which the Father hath led away out of Jerusalem.”

The Lord’s pattern is always the same — more comes forth, not less. The sealed portion of the plates [2 Nephi 27:7–11], the records of the Lost Tribes, and the restoration of the ancient covenant line all belong to the same ongoing revelation. The lost 116 pages, in their time, will be restored — not from Martin Harris’s house in 1828, but from the Lord’s own archive preserved with the Large Plates themselves.