Book of Abraham / the papyri

They say

If the scraps don’t say Abraham, Joseph lied.

Daniel interpreted what Babylon’s scholars could not read. Joseph in Egypt read what the court could not. A seer in Genesis is a gift. A seer in Kirtland is a fraud — that is the double standard. Genesis already has Abraham, a vision of stars, and a covenant. The Restoration’s Abraham book is that story with the heavens opened.

• Genesis 15:1, 5

  KJV · The word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision… Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars.

  NRSVUE · The word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision… ‘Look toward heaven and count the stars.’

• Daniel 1:17

  KJV · Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

  NRSVUE · Daniel also had insight into all visions and dreams.

• Gospel Topics Essays

  Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham

  “Only small fragments of the long papyrus scrolls once in Joseph Smith’s possession exist today.”

• Gal1:8 library

  Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham

They say

Translate means letter-for-letter from these scraps. He failed.

Mosiah 8:13 already defines the gift: a seer can translate records he cannot read by scholarship. Webster 1828: translate includes interpret and explain. Joseph used the same verb for the Book of Mormon, the papyri, and John’s parchment. A seer translates. That is not the same thing as a modern Egyptologist reading those fragments word for word.

• Mosiah 8:13

  I can assuredly tell thee, O king, of a man that can translate the records; for he has wherewith that he can look, and translate all records that are of ancient date; and it is a gift from God.

• Webster 1828

  Translate

• Gal1:8 library

  Seer stones / translation

They say

The 1967 fragments are the whole collection. Joseph translated those scraps.

They are not. We know what Joseph bought because the people in the room wrote it down. Four mummies. Two papyrus rolls. And other small Egyptian pieces. Joseph said one roll was Abraham and the other was Joseph of Egypt. Visitors in Nauvoo were shown a long roll as Abraham’s writings. The fragments recovered in 1967 are short funerary texts. They match some of the small pieces — not the long rolls. Most of the collection was sold after Joseph’s death, went to a Chicago museum, and burned in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The Church’s own essay says we now have only a fraction of the papyri he had.

• W. W. Phelps to Sally Phelps, 20 July 1835

  On the last of June four Egyptian mummies were brought here. With them were two papyrus rolls, besides some other ancient Egyptian writings. … He soon knew what they were and said that the rolls of papyrus contained a sacred record kept by Joseph in Pharaoh’s court in Egypt and the teachings of Father Abraham.

• Joseph Smith History, July 1835

  With W. W. Phelps and Oliver Cowdery as scribes, I commenced the translation of some of the characters or hieroglyphics, and much to our joy found that one of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham, another the writings of Joseph of Egypt.

• Oliver Cowdery, Messenger and Advocate, Dec. 1835

  Two rolls of papyrus were found with two of the mummies. … Two or three other small pieces of papyrus, with astronomical calculations, epitaphs, &c. were found with others of the mummies. … Upon the subject of the Egyptian records, or rather the writings of Abraham and Joseph…

• Charlotte Haven, Nauvoo, 1843

  Lucy Mack Smith opened a long roll of manuscript, saying it was the writing of Abraham and Isaac.

• Joseph Smith Papers

  W. W. Phelps to Sally Phelps, 20 July 1835

• Oliver Cowdery

  Egyptian Mummies, Messenger and Advocate, Dec. 1835

• Joseph Smith Papers

  History, 1838–1856, July 1835 (Chandler mummies)

• Gospel Topics Essays

  Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham

  “Only small fragments of the long papyrus scrolls once in Joseph Smith’s possession exist today.”

• Gal1:8 library

  Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham

They say

The Church hid that the papyri are funeral texts.

The 2014 essay is public: the surviving fragments are later funerary texts. They are not the Abraham narrative. That is exactly what the lost-scroll evidence predicts: we recovered some of the small pieces, not the long Abraham roll. Facsimile 1 is on the Hor Book of Breathings fragment. The long roll witnesses described is still missing. Abraham 3 is the doctrine. The essay already said we have only a fraction of what Joseph had.

• Abraham 3:22–27

  The Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was… Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me.

• Gospel Topics Essays

  Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham

  “Only small fragments of the long papyrus scrolls once in Joseph Smith’s possession exist today.”

• FAIR

  Joseph Smith Papyri

• Gal1:8 library

  Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham

• Gal1:8 library

  Facsimiles

They say

Egyptologists settled this. The Hor Book of Breathings is the Book of Abraham. Apologists are coping.

John Gee and Kerry Muhlestein: Joseph owned multiple documents. Eyewitnesses counted two rolls plus fragments. A long roll was still being shown in Nauvoo as Abraham. The 1967 Met fragments are the Hor Breathing Permit and Book of the Dead pieces — short texts. Gee’s work on the Hor scroll’s length: it cannot be the ‘long roll’ Charlotte Haven and others described. Mormonr has the purchase, sale, and Chicago-fire chain in documents. The Church essay allows a missing long scroll. That is not a late excuse. That is what the first-hand accounts already said in 1835. A catalyst reading is still allowed. The documents first: there were more papyri than what we have.

• Gospel Topics Essays

  Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham

  “Only small fragments of the long papyrus scrolls once in Joseph Smith’s possession exist today.”

• FAIR

  Joseph Smith Papyri

• John Gee

  A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri

• Mormonr

  Book of Abraham translation

• Hugh Nibley

  Abraham in Egypt

• Austin Fife

  Light and Truth Letter

• Gal1:8 library

  Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham