1 Nephi 13:40

Both Joseph Smith’s father and Nephi’s father are described as having multiple dreams. In her book, Lucy Mack Smith recounts several of her husband’s visions, which were likely shared often within the family. One of these dreams is dated sixteen years before Joseph Smith obtained the plates:

"In 1811, we moved... to the town of Lebanon, New Hampshire. Soon after arriving here, my husband received another very singular vision, which I will relate..."

Readers have noted similarities between this account and the dream of Lehi in the Book of Mormon.

The following outlines parallels between Joseph Smith Sr.’s dream, as recorded in Lucy Smith's Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet and His Progenitors for Many Generations, and Lehi’s dream in 1 Nephi 8, along with Nephi’s expanded description of the same vision in 1 Nephi 11-14.

1. Both Joseph Smith's father and Lehi state they were traveling (1 Nephi 8:8; Smith, p. 58).
2. Both mention a field (1 Nephi 8:4,9; Smith, p. 58).
3. Both dreams compare the field to a world (1 Nephi 8:20; Smith, p. 58).
4. Both Joseph Smith Sr. and Lehi have a guide (1 Nephi 8:5-6; Smith, p. 58).
5. Both mention a broad road or roads (1 Nephi 12:17; Smith, p. 58).
6. Both mention a narrow path (1 Nephi 8:20; Smith, p. 58).
7. Both mention a stream of water (1 Nephi 8:13; Smith, p. 58).
8. Both mention something extending along the bank of the stream (1 Nephi 8:19; Smith, p. 58).
9. Both mention a tree (1 Nephi 8:10; Smith, p. 58).
10. Both mention the beauty of the tree (1 Nephi 11:8; Smith, p. 58).
11. Both trees bore fruit (1 Nephi 8:10; Smith, p. 58).
12. Both compared the whiteness of the fruit to snow (1 Nephi 11:8; Smith, p. 58).
13. Both Joseph Smith Sr. and Lehi ate of the fruit (1 Nephi 8:11; Smith, p. 58).
14. Both found the fruit to be delicious (1 Nephi 8:11; Smith, p. 58).
15. Both wanted their families to partake of the fruit (1 Nephi 8:12; Smith, p. 58).
16. Both families came and partook of the fruit (1 Nephi 8:16; Smith, p. 58).
17. After eating the fruit both experienced great joy (1 Nephi 8:12; Smith, pp. 58-59).
18. Both mention a spacious building (1 Nephi 8:26; Smith, p. 59).
19. Both indicate the building reached high into the air (1 Nephi 8:26; Smith, p. 59).
20. Both buildings were filled with people (1 Nephi 8:27; Smith, p. 59).
21. In both buildings the people were finely dressed (1 Nephi 8:27; Smith, p. 59).
22. In both cases the people in the building pointed the finger of scorn at those partaking of the fruit (1 Nephi 8:33; Smith, p. 59).
23. Both state they ignored the people in the building (1 Nephi 8:33; Smith, p. 59).
24. Both state the meaning of the fruit is the pure love of God (1 Nephi 11:21-22; Smith, p. 59).
25. Both state two members of the family are not present (1 Nephi 8:17; Smith, p. 59).
26. Both mention the fall of the building (1 Nephi 11:36; Smith, p. 59)
27. Both imply that pride was connected with the building or its inhabitants (1 Nephi 11:36; Smith, p. 59).

For a full treatment of this subject, including a side-by-side comparison of the above references, see Jerald Tanner and Sandra Tanner, Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, pp. 161–163.

"There are thirty-two interesting parallels between material found in three books of the Apocrypha and the Book of Mormon story of Nephi....Interestingly, twenty-eight of the thirty-two parallels to the Apocrypha are found in the first five chapters of the Book of Mormon. This constitutes an extraordinary cluster of similarities..." -Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, p. 29.

Parallel: In the second verse of the Book of Mormon, Nephi says that he is going to make a "record." 2 Maccabees 2:1 speaks of some "records" which told of a commandment given by Jeremy the prophet. A three-word parallel is found later in 1 Nephi. "in the records" (Compare 1 Nephi 13:40 with 2 Maccabees 2:1).

For other parallels, please see: 1 Nephi 1:1, 1 Nephi 1:2, 1 Nephi 1:17, 1 Nephi 4:20-24, 1 Nephi 2:4-6, 1 Nephi 3:3, 1 Nephi 3:16, 1 Nephi 3:25, 1 Nephi 3:31, 1 Nephi 4:1-2, 1 Nephi 4:4-5, 1 Nephi 4:7-9, 1 Nephi 4:18, 1 Nephi 4:19-24 & 38, 1 Nephi 4:20, 1 Nephi 4:27, 1 Nephi 5:9, 1 Nephi 13:40, 2 Nephi 5:8, Mosiah 3:1, Mosiah 10:13, 4 Nephi 1:31.

For a full note on the use of the Apocrypha, please see the annotation at 1 Nephi 1:1.

After the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon was published, editors—presumably led by Joseph Smith—made several notable revisions that appear to reflect a developing theological understanding of the Godhead.

For example, in the 1830 edition of 1 Nephi 11:18 the text reads, “Behold, the virgin which thou seest, is the mother of God….” In the 1837 edition, however, the wording was changed to: “Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God….”

A similar revision appears in 1 Nephi 11:21. The 1830 edition reads, “behold the Lamb of God, yea even the Eternal Father!” In the 1837 edition, this was changed to: “Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father!”

The same pattern appears in 1 Nephi 11:32. The 1830 text reads, “yea, the Everlasting God,” while the 1837 edition changes the phrase to “yea, the Son of the everlasting God.”

Likewise, 1 Nephi 13:40 in the 1830 edition states, “the Lamb of God is the Eternal Father and the Saviour of the world….” In the 1837 edition, this was revised to read, “the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world….”

Not every passage identifying Jesus as the “Eternal Father” was revised. For example, Mosiah 16:15 still retains this language. Nevertheless, the changes that were made raise several questions. Why were these particular passages altered? Were the revisions the result of new revelation? If not, who had the authority to modify the text? And if they were indeed revelatory corrections, this could raise further questions about the translation process described by the witnesses, as well as about the necessity of the golden plates themselves.

For those who believe that Joseph Smith’s theology evolved significantly—enough to prompt revisions to the Book of Mormon—there is an additional line of evidence worth considering. In Joseph Smith’s revision of the Bible, commonly known as the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible (JST), he altered the wording of Gospel of Luke 10:22. In the King James Version the verse reads:

“All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.”

In the JST, however, Smith changed the passage to read:

“All things are delivered to me of my Father; and no man knoweth that the Son is the Father, and the Father is the Son, but him to whom the Son will reveal it.”

Because Joseph Smith began his revisions to the King James Bible in 1830, this reading of Luke 10 aligns chronologically with the 1830 passages in the Book of Mormon that appear to identify Jesus more directly with the Father.

By 1844, however, Joseph Smith seems to have moved away from this earlier formulation. In his famous "Sermon in the Grove," Smith taught:

“I will preach on the plurality of Gods. I have selected this text for that express purpose. I wish to declare I have always, and in all congregations, when I have preached on the subject of the Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods… I have always declared God to be a distinct personage; Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father; and that the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit; and these three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods….” -History of the Church, vol. 6, pp. 473–479).

Taken together, these developments illustrate a significant shift in Joseph Smith’s later teaching about the nature of the Godhead.