Texts and commentaries

Quia maior

Innocent III

Crusade letter issued by Pope Innocent III in April 1213 summoning the Fifth Crusade. It applies the number of the beast in Revelation to the span of Muhammad’s faith and says almost six hundred of its 666 years have passed.

Text available here

Innocent III: the beast’s 666 years, almost 600 completed · commentary →

Quran

Islamic scripture, traditionally revealed to Muhammad; English translation Mustafa Khattab

The Qur’an is Islam’s scripture, organized into chapters called surahs. The selections collected here include Jesus as a sign of the Hour, the Byzantines and the barrier of Dhul-Qarnayn.

Text available here

The barrier against Gog and Magog →

Qur’an 30: defeat followed by victory →

Qur’an 43: Jesus and the Hour →

Gog and Magog and the promised day →

The earth tells its story →

Belief put to the test →

A sign from heaven →

Signs on the horizons and within →

Good news for the steadfast →

Rodwell connects Gog and Magog with other texts · commentary →

Rodwell records readings of Sidjill · commentary →

George Sale’s account of traditions about Jesus’ descent · commentary →

Raj Karega Khalsa: The Khalsa & The Rule

Harinder Singh, Sikh Research Institute

Harinder Singh’s SikhRI essay examines Raj Karega Khalsa, a motto associated with Sikh collective prayer, through a conduct text framed as a dialogue with Guru Gobind Singh.

Text available here

The Khalsa will rule →

Harinder Singh on the text’s origin · commentary →

Harinder Singh’s political reading · commentary →

Harinder Singh connects the promise to Sikh rule · commentary →

Rāmānuja’s Gītā Bhāṣya

Ramanuja; English translation by Swami Adidevananda

Explains that divine incarnation has no fixed time restriction and connects it with protecting devotees and restoring dharma.

Text available here

Rāmānuja on birth by divine will · commentary →

Knowing the divine birth and escaping rebirth · commentary →

Why the incarnations have no fixed period · commentary →

Rashi on the Babylonian Talmud

Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

Rashi’s eleventh-century running commentary on the Babylonian Talmud, printed beside the text in the Vilna edition.

Text available here

Rashi: the date is the end appointed for redemption · commentary →

Rashi’s Commentary on the Tanakh

Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

The commentary reads the Davidic shoot as the future Messiah who will redeem the Assyrian exiles, rather than limiting the consolation to Hezekiah.

Text available here

Rashi: the ends have passed; Saadia’s 1,335 years · commentary →

Rashi: Saadia’s end has passed; 1,290 years from the daily sacrifice · commentary →

Rashi on Michael, deliverance and resurrection · commentary →

Rashi: children and parents turn each other toward God · commentary →

Rashi: the exiles’ hope in the coming Messiah · commentary →

Rashi on receiving the Spirit and the signs in Joel · commentary →

Reasons for Believing the Advent Will Be on the 10th of the 7th Month

Samuel S. Snow

Explicitly predicts Christ’s return on the tenth day of the seventh month in 1844. Defends knowable timing against Mark 13:32, combines several chronological schemes, and applies the high priest’s emergence to the future earthly advent.

Text available here

Snow’s argument from the autumn festivals · commentary →

Snow’s argument from the autumn festivals · commentary →

Remarks on the Writings and Prophecies of Joanna Southcott

G. Denham

Challenges sealing as a claimed exclusive path to millennial participation and critiques its relation to election and conduct. Assertions about seal sales, blank papers and adherents’ morals require independent evidence.

Text available here

Denham objects to a second Messiah · commentary →

Researches and Missionary Labours among the Jews, Mohammedans, and Other Sects

Joseph Wolff

Joseph Wolff’s journal of his travels between 1831 and 1834 through Persia, Bokhara, Afghanistan and India. It records his conversations and correspondence with Jews and Muslims, including his expectation of Christ’s coming in 1847.

Text available here

Wolff’s 1847 expectation →

A Lucknow mujtahid disputes Wolff’s 1847 · commentary →

A Lucknow mujtahid disputes Wolff’s 1847 · commentary →

Revelation

John (narrative attribution); historical identity not established

Revelation is the New Testament book of visions addressed to seven churches. Its symbolic scenes concern judgment, opposition, resurrection and renewal.

Text available here

Revelation 11: the two witnesses →

Revelation 13: the beast and its number →

Revelation 1:1–8: he cometh with clouds →

Revelation 6: the six seals and the falling stars →

Revelation 14: the angel with the everlasting gospel →

Revelation 20: the millennium and final judgment →

Babylon and the seven kings →

Six trumpets of judgment →

John eats the little book →

The sealed servants and the great multitude →

The throne and the sealed book →

The seven bowls of wrath →

A new heaven and a new earth →

Revelation, 1 August 1831 [D&C 58]

Joseph Smith, attributed revelator

A revelation in Jackson County, Missouri, says glory follows much tribulation, the hour is not yet but nigh at hand, and Zion’s land is to be laid out. Dictated on 1 August 1831 in Jackson County, Missouri, about two weeks after Independence was named as the place for the City of Zion.

Text available here

D&C 58: Zion’s land, and the residue to wait many years →

Revelation, 1 November 1831–A [D&C 68]

Joseph Smith, attributed revelator; John Whitmer and Oliver Cowdery, manuscript copyists

This early manuscript revelation gives instructions to four Latter-day Saint elders about preaching, baptism and teaching children. It also speaks of signs preceding the coming of the Son of Man. The text later became part of Doctrine and Covenants 68.

Text available here

Knowing the signs of Christ’s coming →

Revelation, 1 November 1831–B [D&C 1]

Joseph Smith, attributed revelator; John Whitmer, manuscript copyist

Joseph Smith dictated this revelation at a conference in Hiram, Ohio, on 1 November 1831 as the preface to the Book of Commandments. It warns all people of coming judgment and calls them to prepare for the Lord’s coming. It is now Doctrine and Covenants 1.

Text available here

D&C 1: the preface’s warning to all people →

Revelation, 11 September 1831 [D&C 64]

Joseph Smith; clerical copy identified in date field

Sets a five-year Kirtland stronghold while delaying overthrow of the wicked, followed by permission for migration. Distinguishes this wording from the later 1834 letter’s explicit redemption date; also links sacrifice and tithing with protection from burning.

Text available here

Kirtland’s five years →

Revelation, 16–17 December 1833 [D&C 101]

Joseph Smith; Joseph Smith Papers edition

Responds to expulsion from Jackson County with promised restoration to Zion and future judgment of nations. Historical setting and future claim are kept distinct.

Text available here

Zion after the expulsion →

Revelation, 2 August 1833–A [D&C 97]

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

A revelation dictated in Kirtland, Ohio, on 2 August 1833 about the school and the house of the Lord in Zion. It promises Zion protection if she obeys and affliction if she does not. It is now Doctrine and Covenants 97.

Text available here

D&C 97: the house in Zion and a conditional promise →

Revelation, 2 January 1831 [D&C 38]

Joseph Smith; Joseph Smith Papers edition

Warns of imminent unveiling, purification and angelic harvest, connecting community preparation with the end of the earth.

Text available here

If ye are prepared →

Revelation, 20 July 1831 [D&C 57]

Joseph Smith, attributed revelator; John Whitmer, manuscript copyist

Dictated in Independence, Missouri, on 20 July 1831, this revelation names Missouri the land of promise and Independence the place for the city of Zion and its temple. It is now Doctrine and Covenants 57.

Text available here

D&C 57: Independence as the place for the city of Zion →

Revelation, 22 June 1834 [D&C 105]

Joseph Smith; clerical copy identified in date field

Explains delayed Zion redemption through communal disobedience and inadequate support, requires waiting for preparation and endowment, and promises enemies’ removal within not many years. Causal explanation is the revelation’s claim.

Text available here

Zion must wait →

Revelation, 22–23 September 1832 [D&C 84]

Joseph Smith; Joseph Smith Papers edition

Locates New Jerusalem at the Missouri temple lot and declares a temple will be reared in this generation. The source preserves a bounded prediction without establishing its fulfillment.

Text available here

A temple in this generation →

Revelation, 23 July 1837 [D&C 112]

Joseph Smith, attributed revelator; Thomas B. Marsh, original scribe; James Mulholland, copyist of the featured version

A revelation dictated in Kirtland, Ohio, on 23 July 1837 for Thomas B. Marsh, president of the Twelve, about the apostles’ mission to all nations and a coming day of wrath. It is now Doctrine and Covenants 112.

Text available here

D&C 112: Thomas B. Marsh and the day of wrath →

Revelation, 24 February 1834 [D&C 103]

Joseph Smith, attributed revelator

After the expulsion from Jackson County, a revelation promises that the scattered Saints will return to Zion and prevail until the kingdoms of the world are subdued, if they hearken. Dictated at Kirtland on 24 February 1834, the day Parley P. Pratt and Lyman Wight, who had come from Missouri, reported to the Kirtland high council; it calls for the expedition later known as Zion’s Camp.

Text available here

D&C 103: the redemption of Zion must come by power →

Revelation, 25 December 1832 [D&C 87]

Joseph Smith; Joseph Smith Papers edition

Predicts war beginning with South Carolina, southern appeal to Britain, slave rebellion and escalating worldwide destruction; the full sequence exceeds a simple American Civil War correspondence.

Text available here

War beginning in South Carolina →

A surviving copy, not the original dictation sheet · commentary →

A surviving copy, not the original dictation sheet · commentary →

Revelation, 25 November 1834 [D&C 106]

Joseph Smith, attributed revelator; Oliver Cowdery, manuscript copyist

A revelation dictated in Kirtland, Ohio, on 25 November 1834 appointing Warren A. Cowdery to preside at Freedom, New York, and warning that the Lord’s coming draws near. It is now Doctrine and Covenants 106.

Text available here

D&C 106: the Lord’s coming as a thief in the night →