The 116 Pages or "Lost 116 Pages" refer to pages from the original working manuscript of the "Book of Lehi" from the Book of Mormon which Martin Harris lost in the summer of 1828. Harris had been acting as scribe to Joseph Smith, Jr. in Harmony, Pennsylvania.

Contents

1 The need for evidence 2 The need for validation 3 Request for the manuscript 4 A delay 5 Re-translation, Translation and Witnesses 6 Lasting effects

The need for evidence

During one of Harris' trips to Harmony to help with the translation process, Harris' wife accompanied him and, according to Emma Smith, she "ransacked" the house wanting to find the Golden Plates and/or manuscript. Harris' wife became concerned that she was not allowed to see the work, since Harris had contributed more than 100 dollars to the Book of Mormon cause, which was a considerable amount of money at the time.

The need for validation

On another visit, Smith allowed Harris to take certain characters copied from the plates with their translation to show them to various professor to obtain a scholarly endorsment. See Reformed Egyptian.

Request for the manuscript

During a subsequent visit to act as scribe, Harris asked to take the working manuscript to Palmyra, New York to convince his wife, Lucy Harris, her sister, his brother and his parents of the validity of The Book of Mormon.

Smith later stated that he felt pressure to allow Harris to take the pages because of his financial support of the project, as well as his success in receiving comments from various scholars regarding the accuracy of the translation. In Smith's official account, he states that he asked God three times if Harris could take the manuscript and was repeatedly told no, until the last time, when the Lord said He'd "allow" Harris to take the pages upon certain conditions.

In accordance with those conditions, Martin Harris signed the "convenant" or a statement promising to show the pages only to the five persons listed above.

A delay

Upon his return trip, Harris took care of some business matters, and was then called to jury duty. Some scholars believe he may have shared information about the pages to jury members and others during this time.

Because of the delay caused by his jury duty (and lack of communications to Joseph Smith), Smith became concerned over the status of the manuscript pages and travelled from Harmony to his parents home in the Manchester/Palmyra area, leaving word for Harris to bring the pages to him as soon as possible.

The following day Harris came to the Smith home without the pages, telling him that he had lost them. Smith encouraged him to re-search his home, to which, Harris told him he had ripped open matresses, furniture and even searched his wife's belongings for the pages.

Smith stated that he lost the ability to translate "by the Gift and Power of God" for a period of time in punishment for his multiple requests to let Harris take the manuscript after being told "no" by God. See Doctrine and Covenants Section 3 and Section 10.

Re-translation, Translation and Witnesses

According to the Doctrine and Covenants Smith was commanded not to re-translate those pages, but that God had foreseen the events and prepared the same history in an unabridged format, called the "Small Plates of Nephi." This unabridged version makes up the books of 1 & 2 Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Jarom and Omni. The abridged version was called "The Book of Lehi," and was not re-translated or included in the published version of The Book of Mormon.

Smith continued translating the Book of Mosiah through the Book of Moroni and the Small Plates of Nephi, and then published the account with a statement about the 116 pages, along with the Testimony of Three Witnesses, and Testimony of Eight Witnesses within The Book of Mormon. Harris became one of the Three Witnesses who saw and handled the Golden Plates.

Lasting effects

Latter Day Saint tradition holds that Lucy either destroyed the manuscript pages or gave/sold them to "evil men" who changed wording in the pages in order to prove Smith could not re-translate the same content from The Book of Mormon. The pages have never resurfaced, although it has been rumored that forger Mark Hofmann was working on a forgery when he was caught.

This experience is one of many that resulted in a strong Mormon cultural belief that things of a spiritual nature do not need to be proven scientifically, physically or scholarly, but need to be "proven" by witness from the Holy Ghost through personal revelation.

Harris' already rocky marriage with Lucy deteriorated sharply at that time, and led to the practical end of their union.

Many Latter Day Saints also believe that this portion of the Book of Mormon, along with the "sealed portion" will be made available before the end of the world, as new scripture comes to light. See Apocrypha.