Texts and commentaries

Revelation, 26 April 1838 [D&C 115]

Joseph Smith; Joseph Smith Papers edition

Describes gathering to Zion and its stakes as refuge against worldwide wrath and gives instructions for the Far West temple.

Text available here

Far West: a refuge and a temple →

Revelation, 3 November 1831 [D&C 133]

Joseph Smith; Joseph Smith Papers edition

Commands departure from Babylon and gathering to Zion before the Lord's judgment of nations; explicitly leaves the bridegroom's day and hour unknown.

Text available here

Go ye out from Babylon →

The copying marks are part of this witness · commentary →

The copying marks are part of this witness · commentary →

Revelation, 30 August 1831 [D&C 63]

Joseph Smith; Joseph Smith Papers edition

Contrasts wrath and second death with the faithful inheriting the earth at its transfiguration; distinguishes sign seeking from signs following faith.

Text available here

Gathering before the desolation →

Revelation, 30 October 1831 [D&C 65]

Joseph Smith; Joseph Smith Papers edition

Connects Daniel's world-filling stone with preparing the bridegroom's coming and the heavenly kingdom meeting the earthly kingdom.

Text available here

Thy kingdom come →

Revelation, 4 November 1830 [D&C 34]

Joseph Smith, attributed revelator; John Whitmer, scribe and manuscript copyist

A revelation dictated in Fayette, New York, on 4 November 1830 for Orson Pratt, calling him to preach and prepare the way for Christ’s second coming. It is now Doctrine and Covenants 34.

Text available here

D&C 34: Orson Pratt’s call before the Second Coming →

Revelation, 5 January 1831 [D&C 39]

Joseph Smith, attributed revelator; John Whitmer, manuscript copyist

A revelation dictated in Fayette, New York, on 5 January 1831 for a minister named James, probably the Methodist James Covel. It calls him to baptism and to preach in preparation for Christ’s coming. It is now Doctrine and Covenants 39.

Text available here

D&C 39: James’s call and the time at hand →

Revelation, 6 December 1832 [D&C 86]

Joseph Smith, attributed revelator; Frederick G. Williams, manuscript copyist

A revelation dictated in Kirtland, Ohio, on 6 December 1832 explaining the parable of the wheat and the tares as a history of the church and of the gathering in the last days. It is now Doctrine and Covenants 86.

Text available here

D&C 86: the wheat and the tares in the last days →

Revelation, 7 December 1830 [D&C 35]

Joseph Smith, attributed revelator

A revelation to Sidney Rigdon says he was sent, like John, to prepare the way before Christ and before Elijah who should come. Dictated at or near Fayette, New York, on 7 December 1830, shortly after Sidney Rigdon came from Ohio; it appoints him to write for Joseph Smith.

Text available here

D&C 35: Elijah’s forerunner and the coming that is nigh →

Revelation, 7 May 1831 [D&C 49]

Joseph Smith; Joseph Smith Papers edition

A mission instruction addressing Shakers places Christ in heaven until his near descent while withholding knowledge of the day and hour.

Text available here

Christ’s return and the Shakers →

Revelation, 9 February 1831 [D&C 42:1–72]

Joseph Smith, attributed revelator

From the law given at Kirtland: the elders are to build up the church until the New Jerusalem is revealed, consecrated properties are to help build that city for the day when the Lord comes to his temple, and its location will be revealed in the Lord’s own due time. Three selected units of the 9 February 1831 revelation (verses 1–10, 30–39 and 61–69). The omitted verses give moral and church-discipline laws; verses 74–93 (73–93 in the current section heading) were added on 23 February 1831, according to the Joseph Smith Papers.

Text available here

D&C 42: the law, the New Jerusalem and the coming to the temple →

Revelation, circa 7 March 1831 [D&C 45]

Joseph Smith; Joseph Smith Papers edition

Recasts discourse on Jerusalem's destruction and restoration of Israel within a revelation attributed to Christ.

Text available here

D&C 45: signs of Christ’s coming →

An early copy with corrections · commentary →

An early copy with corrections · commentary →

Revelation, circa August 1830, with 1835 additions [D&C 27]

Joseph Smith, attributed revelator; John Whitmer, manuscript copyist

A revelation on the sacrament received in Harmony, Pennsylvania, about August 1830. The 1835 Doctrine and Covenants printed an expanded text in which Christ promises to drink the sacramental wine on earth with ancient prophets and names the keys they committed. It is now Doctrine and Covenants 27.

Text available here

D&C 27: the sacrament and the prophets at Christ’s coming →

Revelation, February 1831 [Doctrine and Covenants 43]

Joseph Smith

This February 1831 revelation addresses authority to receive revelation for the church, instructs the elders to warn the nations, and announces resurrection, judgment and the Millennium.

Text available here

D&C 43: the final call to the nations →

Revelation, September 1830 [D&C 29]

Joseph Smith; Joseph Smith Papers edition

Gathering prepares elect for imminent tribulation; Christ promises a thousand-year earthly reign, resurrection, and celestial signs before the great day.

Text available here

The gathering before the thousand years →

Revelations, December 1832 and January 1833 [Doctrine and Covenants 88]

Joseph Smith

Doctrine and Covenants 88 joins teaching about Christ’s light and resurrection with warnings of judgment, a sequence of angelic trumpets, and directions for worship and the School of the Prophets.

Text available here

D&C 88: resurrection and the angelic trumpets →

Romans

Paul

Paul’s letter to the Christians at Rome. Chapters 9–11 discuss Israel and the Gentiles, ending with the mystery that blindness has come on part of Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles comes in.

Text available here

Romans 11:11–32: until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in →

Saddhammapatirupaka Sutta (SN16.13)

Canonical Buddhist discourse; Thanissaro Bhikkhu translator

The discourse connects the disappearance of the true teaching with human conduct and counterfeit teachings rather than elemental disasters.

Text available here

What makes the true Dhamma disappear? →

The comparison with counterfeit gold · commentary →

Natural disasters and the disappearance of teaching · commentary →

Buddhist — Mahāyāna

Saddharmapuṇḍarīka (Lotus Sutra)

Anonymous Buddhist scripture; the narrative presents the Buddha as speaker

A Mahāyāna scripture containing teachings, parables and predictions of Buddhahood. In Kern’s chapter XXII, the Buddha recounts the Medicine King’s former devotion and entrusts the teaching for a future last period.

Text available here

The Lotus in the last period →

Sahih al-Bukhari

Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari (compiler)

Abu Huraira's report describes Jesus descending as a just judge, breaking the cross, killing pigs, ending jizya, and abundance. The narrator's Quran cross-reference is distinguished from the reported speech.

Text available here

Jesus returns as a just ruler →

Sahih Muslim

Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, compiler · Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (compiler); report attributed to Muhammad via Jabir ibn Abdullah · Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (compiler); report attributed to Muhammad via an-Nawwas ibn Saman

This hadith collection preserves reports about Jesus’ descent, the community’s prayer leader, the Dajjal, and Gog and Magog. The selected reports describe different parts of an end-times sequence and retain their separate wording.

Text available here

Jesus’ descent and the prayer leader →

The Dajjal, Jesus, and the final Hour →

SAOŠYANT

William W. Malandra

William W. Malandra’s Encyclopaedia Iranica article traces the meaning and use of Saoshyant in Zoroastrian texts.

Text available here

Malandra on the meaning of Saoshyant · commentary →

Sattasuriya Sutta: The Seven Suns (AN 7.66)

Pali Buddhist tradition; Bhikkhu Sujato translator

The Seven Suns is a discourse in the Pali Anguttara Nikaya. It teaches impermanence through the eventual destruction of the earth.

Text available here

Seven suns and the passing of the world →

Sau Sakhi (Sakhee Book, or the Description of Gooroo Gobind Singh's Religion and Doctrines)

Anonymous/contested attributed Sikh compilation; Attar Singh of Bhadour, translator and commentator

Contains Ram Singh, Khalsa rule, disorder and Duleep Singh future narratives; translator explicitly discusses contested authorship and Kuka identification.

Text available here

Sakhee 51: Ram Singh and the future Khalsa kingdom →

The four Asrums · commentary →

The translator records disagreement about authorship · commentary →

Bunya: a corn-chandler · commentary →

Mown: Englishmen · commentary →

Paniput, a railway train, or ocean steamers? · commentary →

Why Attar Singh published the translation · commentary →

The Kuka identification of Ram Singh · commentary →

Ruths: a carriage · commentary →

Attar Singh’s judgment about the book’s composition · commentary →

How Attar Singh understood his translation task · commentary →

Scofield Reference Notes

C. I. Scofield and associated editors

Connects the final crisis with Daniel's seventieth week and distinguishes future deliverance of Jerusalem from its past destruction.

Text available here

Scofield: “generation” means the nation of Israel · commentary →