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Previous sectionMastheadNext sectionA Fac-Similie From the Book of Abraham, No. 2

The Book of Abraham

Times and Seasons, vol. 3, pp. 719 to 720

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

  1. And the Lord appeared unto me in answer to my prayer, and said unto me, unto thy seed will I 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 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.
  1. 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 [grievous]. 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 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.
  1. And I, Abraham, had the Urim and Thummim, 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 according to the time appointed unto that where on thou standest; this is the reckoning of the Lord's time, according to the reckoning of Kolob.
  1. 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 month, 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.
  1. 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.
  1. 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 [show] 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, Kolob, which is a star. And he said unto me,

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.

  1. And the Lord said unto me, Abraham, I shew [show] 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.
  1. 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 [intelligences] thine eyes have seen from the beginning; I came down in the beginning in the midst of all the intelligencies [intelligences] thou hast seen.
  1. Now the Lord had shewn [shown] 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 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.
  1. 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.
  1. 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 day: and this was the first, or the beginning of that which they called day and night.
  1. 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