4 First Vision Accounts by Joseph Smith

By Jessica Palmer

I didn’t know there were multiple accounts of the First Vision. Does that mean it’s not true?

One day while browsing the internet, I discovered an article about the First Vision. Thinking it would be informative, I clicked on it only to find that the author had claimed that Joseph Smith had fabricated the whole story. That wasn’t new to me—people had said that to me before, and I’d even wondered it myself. What was new was the evidence that there were other, different accounts of the First Vision, all by Joseph Smith.

After more digging, I found out that this was true. There were at least four accounts of the First Vision according to Joseph Smith, and five more known accounts written by people who had heard him talk about it, and they were all different to some extent. This came as a shock—why hadn’t I heard this before?

I decided to read the accounts for myself. I expected to find added and missing details among the accounts—and I did. What I didn’t expect was that despite the differences, the accounts all supported each other. With every account I read, the Holy Ghost testified to my skeptical heart that each was true. Together these accounts created a fuller, more miraculous picture of what the First Vision was really like. Instead of disintegrating, my testimony of the First Vision actually strengthened.

I’d like to encourage anyone who has questions or doubts to research them and pray about them. If you find truth, the Holy Ghost will testify of it to you.

Learn More

Learn more about each of Joseph’s Smith’s First Vision accounts by reading the Ensign and Liahona article “The First Vision: The Key to Truth.”

To find out about the historic significance of each of the accounts, see the Church History article “Joseph Smith’s Accounts of the First Vision.”

See also how the Church describes the First Vision accounts.