The following verse—found in The Pearl of Great Price, Abraham 1:26—has long been the subject of theological debate, particularly regarding its implications for race and priesthood authority. The corresponding section of the Joseph Smith Papyri is suspiciously missing. The scripture states:

“Pharaoh, being a righteous man, established his kingdom and judged his people wisely and justly all his days, seeking earnestly to imitate that order established by the fathers in the first generations, in the days of the first patriarchal reign, even in the reign of Adam, and also of Noah, his father, who blessed him with the blessings of the earth, and with the blessings of wisdom, but cursed him as pertaining to the Priesthood.”