Sacred Texts: Mormons

Doctrine and Convenants: 82. Revelation to Joseph Smith, Jackson County, Missouri, April 26, 1832.

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This is a section of Latter-day Saint scripture — specifically a revelatory text from the Doctrine and Covenants (Section 82), presented as direct divine speech delivered through Joseph Smith in 1832. The passage addresses a group of named church leaders (including Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Oliver Cowdery) following a meeting of reconciliation, first pronouncing their sins forgiven while warning that future transgressions will carry heavier consequences given their elevated spiritual knowledge and responsibility. The central command is for these men to enter a formal "bond and covenant" binding them jointly to manage the economic affairs of the early church — specifically the care of the poor and stewardship of church properties in Kirtland, Ohio and Zion (Missouri). The text articulates an early Mormon communitarian economic vision in which resources are held in common, distributed according to individual need, and returned as surplus to a collective "storehouse" — a system called the Law of Consecration. A notably distinctive claim appears in verse 10 — "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise" — framing the divine relationship as essentially contractual. Someone interested in early American religious communitarianism, 19th-century Latter-day Saint theology, or the intersection of scripture and economic organization would find this passage directly relevant.

Doctrine and Convenants: 82. Revelation to Joseph Smith, Jackson County, Missouri, April 26, 1832.

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