Chapter 27

The Prophet Continues His Work Despite Persecution

March 1832

Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon continued to work on making inspired corrections to the Bible. Jesus revealed to Joseph Smith the corrections that should be made, and Sidney Rigdon wrote them down (see chapter 16).

Joseph Smith didn’t understand some parts of the Bible. He prayed for understanding, and the Lord answered. Many of the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants came as answers to questions the Prophet asked the Lord while translating the Bible (see, for example, Doctrine and Covenants 76, 77, and 113).

Jesus was happy with Joseph’s work. Joseph was a great prophet.

During this time, Joseph and Emma Smith had twin babies who lived only a few hours. Joseph and Emma’s friends also had twin babies. The mother of these twins died, and their father allowed Joseph and Emma to adopt them.

One night a mob of angry men went to Joseph’s home. They broke open the door and went inside. Joseph was holding one of the little babies, who was very sick.

The men grabbed Joseph and dragged him outside in the cold night. The baby was left alone, and five days later he died.

The men choked Joseph and tried to pour poison in his mouth. The bottle broke one of his teeth, and the poison burned him.

The men tore off Joseph’s clothes and smeared tar on his skin. They covered the tar with feathers and beat him.

The mob went away, thinking Joseph would die. Joseph tried to stand up, but he couldn’t. He rested for a while, then got enough strength to crawl back to the house.

Joseph’s friends cleaned the tar from his body. It was hard to get the tar off. His skin was burned and sore.

The next day was Sunday. In great pain, Joseph went to church and gave a talk. Some of the men in the mob came to the meeting and were surprised to see Joseph. The Prophet had not let them stop him from doing the Lord’s work.