In the Preface to the 1830 Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, Jr. describes the loss of the 116 pages:
“I translated by the gift & power of God & caused to be written one hun{l\d}red & sixteen pages the which I took from the Book of Lehi which was an account abridged from the plates of Lehi by the hand of Mormon which said account some person or persons have stolen & kept from me notwithstanding my utmost exersion to recover it again & being commanded of the Lord that I should not translate the same over again for Satan had put it into their hearts to tempt the Lord their God by altering the words that they did read conterary from that which I translated & caused to be written & if I should bring forth the same words again or in other words if I should translate the same over again they would publish that which they had stolen & Satan would stir up the hearts of this generation that they might not receive this work but behold the Lord said unto me I will not suffer that Satan shall accomplish his evil design in this thing therefore thou shalt translate from the plates of Nephi untill yeu you come to that which ye have translated which ye have retained & behold ye shall publish it as the record of Nephi & thus I will confound those who have altered my words I will not suffer that they shall destroy my work yea I will shew unto them that my wisdom is greater then the cunning of the Devil.”
Then, in 1 Nephi 1:17…
“[B]ut I shall make an account of my proceedings in my days behold, I make an abridgment of the record of my father upon plates which I have made with mine own hands wherefore after I have abridged the r<e>cord of my father of my father then will I make an account of mine own life.”
Key points:
1) Smith and Harris had no real knowledge of what happened to the pages—Lucy Harris likely burned them.
2) Smith’s Preface serves as a warning to the supposed thief, though nearly a year had passed.
3) No historical evidence confirms anyone possessed the text or intended to publish it.
4) Smith presents a revelation where God foresees the plot and counters it.
5) A major anachronism appears when Nephi, writing over 2,400 years earlier, preemptively accounts for the missing Book of Lehi.
Questions arise: If God knew the pages were burned, why warn a thief? Why did Nephi feel compelled to abridge a lost record? Did he foresee the missing pages? How does one reconcile God’s apparent miscalculation given that no malicious publication ever emerged?
