Gold Plates. According to the angel Moroni, the Book of Mormon was written upon plates of gold. Joseph Smith claimed to translate these plates into English from “Reformed Egyptian” characters.
A In A.D. 421, Moroni, a Nephite warrior and son of Mormon, buried the plates in the Hill Cumorah. In 1823, as a resurrected being, Moroni revealed the whereabouts of the plates to Joseph Smith who was permitted to retrieve them in 1827. The Book of Mormon was supposedly translated from these plates. Joseph Smith claimed that after he finished translating the plates they were given back to Moroni (Joseph Smith History 1:60). Apostle Robert D. Hales explained at a general conference, “Recorded on plates of gold, the Book of Mormon gives an account of Christ’s ministry in the Western Hemisphere, just as the Bible records His life and ministry in the Holy Land. Joseph received the gold plates four years later and, in December of 1827, began to translate the Book of Mormon” (“Preparations for the Restoration and the Second Coming: ‘My Hand Shall Be over Thee’”, Ensign (Conference Edition), November 2005, p. 91).
For more information, see:
- Did the Eleven Witnesses Actually See the Gold Plates?
- How Heavy Were Those Gold Plates?
- Where Are the Gold Plates Now?
For a 5-part podcast (audio) series on this topic, see:
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