D&C 2:1-3

Doctrine & Covenants > Section 2

Historical setting

• Received: 21-22 September 1823 in the Joseph Smith home at Manchester-Palmyra, New York
• D&C 2 is the first section in chronological order
• Next section in chronological order: D&C 3

The immediate setting of D&C 2 is recounted in Joseph Smith History 1:27-54. Three and a half years after his First Vision, Joseph Smith felt that he had fallen into many follies. He remained awake late at night on Sunday, 21 September 1823, praying to be forgiven and to know of his status before God. While praying, the angel Moroni appeared and quoted many Old Testament prophecies, including part of Malachi 3 and all of Malachi 4. Moroni appeared two more times that night and yet again the next day, repeating the same Old Testament prophecies during each of these four appearances.

Brief summary

Section 2 is an excerpt from Moroni's quotation of Malachi 4. Section 2 does not put these verses in the context of Moroni's larger discourse, nor even in the context of the rest of Malachi chapter 4. It simply identifies the points at which Moroni's quotation of Mal 4:5-6 differs from the text of the King James version. As noted in JSH 1:37, Moroni also made a change to Mal 4:1 that is not included in D&C 2.

D&C 2 is not a correction of a poorly transmitted Biblical text, since Mal 4:5-6 is quoted by the Lord in 3 Ne 25:5-6 without any change, and the Joseph Smith Translation of Malachi consists in its entirety of the word "correct." D&C 2 is instead an interpretive paraphrase, or to use Joseph Smith's words in D&C 128:17-18, it is a "plainer translation."

Detailed discussion

The changes that Moroni makes in D&C 2 while reciting Malachi 4:5-6 emphasize that: (1) what Elijah will do is restore priesthood keys, (2) those priesthood keys are necessary to fulfill the promises made to the fathers under the Abrahamic Covenant, and (3) those promises must be fulfilled in order to fulfill God's purposes in mortality.

Relation to other scriptures

Related sections and chapters

• D&C 2 is one of several sections that were added to the Doctrine & Covenants for the 1876 edition, along with D&C 13, D&C 110, and D&C 132. These additions cause the Doctrine & Covenants to begin with Malachi's promise in D&C 2 that Elijah will return and restore the priesthood sealing keys and an account in D&C 13 of John restoring the first set of preparatory keys, and to finish with an account of the fulfillment of Malachi's promise in D&C 110 and with discussions of the exercise of those keys through proxy baptism in D&C 127 and D&C 128 and eternal marriage in D&C 132 (further bookended by the Preface in D&C 1 and the Appendix in D&C 133).

• Moroni quoted several Old Testament prophecies to Joseph Smith on the occasion of his first visit to Joseph Smith, including:

1. part of Malachi 3 and all of Malachi 4, making the changes now found in D&C 2
2. Isaiah 11, saying that it is about to be fulfilled
3. Acts 3:22-23, which quotes Deuteronomy 18:15-19, explaining that the prophet spoken of by Moses and Peter is Christ, and that the day will soon come when they who will not hear his voice will be cut off
4. Joel 2:28-32, saying that it will soon be fulfilled and that the fullness of the Gentiles will soon come in
5. Psalm 100
6. Psalm 107
7. Psalm 144
8. Isaiah 1-2
9. Jeremiah 31
10. perhaps also Isaiah 29:11-12

Parallel passages

Section 2 is a short excerpt from the last chapter of Malachi, which is again quoted in 3 Ne 25. Parallel passages are better listed there.

Text transmission and circulation

• D&C 2 was first written down in the original manuscript of Manuscript History of the Church, Vol. A-1, p. 7, often known as Joseph Smith's 1838 account of his history.

• D&C 2 was first published as part of the serial publication of the History of Joseph Smith in the Times & Seasons newspaper at Nauvoo on 15 April 1842 (Vol. 3, No. 12, p. 753).

• D&C 2 was not included in the Doctrine & Covenants until the 1876 edition that was published a year before Brigham Young's death.

• The text of D&C 2 in significant editions of the Doctrine & Covenants can be found at:

• 1876 Doctrine & Covenants, sec. 2, p. 76
• 1921 Doctrine & Covenants, sec. 2, p. 4
• 1981 Doctrine & Covenants, sec. 2, p.4-5 (current)

• Summary of textual changes to D&C 2:

Questions for further thought and study

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Additional sources and links

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