Book of Moses Evidence: Hell Was “Prepared”

Preparation for Hell in Restoration Texts

On several occasions, Joseph Smith’s revelations describe hell as being “prepared” for the wicked. This detail is repeated twice in the Book of Moses. Concerning those who rebelled against God, the Lord told Enoch, “Wherefore, they have foresworn themselves, and, by their oaths, they have brought upon themselves death; and a hell I have prepared for them, if they repent not” (Moses 6:29). The Lord provided a similar description to Enoch in the next chapter: “But behold, these which thine eyes are upon shall perish in the floods; and behold, I will shut them up; a prison have I prepared for them” (Moses 7:38). 

Based on a number of textual clues, it seems likely that the Book of Moses or some version of it was on the brass plates which influenced Nephite texts.1 Although we can’t be certain, this may be one of those cases where the Nephite writers perpetuated a theme that they found in the Book of Moses.2 As shown below, on several occasions the Book of Mormon mentions a hell that has been “prepared” for the wicked:

• “And I said unto them that it was a representation of that awful hell, which the angel said unto me was prepared for the wicked.” (1 Nephi 15:29)
• “And there is a place prepared, yea, even that awful hell of which I have spoken, and the devil is the preparator of it” (1 Nephi 15:35)
• “wherefore, they who are filthy are the devil and his angels; and they shall go away into everlasting fire, prepared for them” (2 Nephi 9:16)
• “Yea, they are grasped with death, and hell; and death, and hell, and the devil, and all that have been seized therewith must stand before the throne of God, and be judged according to their works, from whence they must go into the place prepared for them, even a lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment.” (2 Nephi 28:23)
• “And then I will confess unto them that I never knew them; and they shall depart into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Mosiah 26:27)
• “Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked” (Helaman 3:29)

Preparations for Hell in 1 Enoch

Although the idea that hell was specifically “prepared” for the wicked is found in a variety of ancient texts, it is especially pronounced in works focused on Enoch.3 For instance, in the book of 1 Enoch, the Lord instructed the angel Raphael to “‘Bind Azaz’el hand and foot (and) throw him into the darkness!’ And he made a hole in the desert which was in Duda’el and cast him there; he threw on top of him rugged and sharp rocks. And he covered his face in order that he may not see light; and in order that he may be sent into the fire on the great day of judgment” (1 Enoch 10:4).4 

Although we don’t explicitly get the “prepared” verbiage here, the text nevertheless depicts this preparation in the form of a hole or pit that was dug for the Satan figure named Azaz’el.5 Satan’s followers were to receive essentially the same treatment: “bind them for seventy generations underneath the rocks of the ground until the day of their judgment and of their consummation, until the eternal judgment is concluded. In those days they will lead them into the bottom of the fire—and in torment—in the prison where they will be locked up forever” (1 Enoch 10:12–13). Below are several more examples from 1 Enoch, all of which more explicitly designate hell as a place that is being “prepared” for the wicked:6 

• “They prepared these places [i.e., dark pits] in order to put them (i.e. the souls of the people) there until the day of their judgment and the appointed time of the great judgment upon them.” (1 Enoch 22:4)
• “And I asked the angel of peace, who was going with me, saying, ‘For whom are these imprisonment chains being prepared?’ And he said unto me, ‘These are being prepared for the armies of Azaz’el, in order that they may take them and cast them into the abyss of complete condemnation.” (1 Enoch 54:4–5)
• “And when this day arrives—and the power, the punishment, and the judgment, which the Lord of the Spirits has prepared for those who do not worship the righteous judgment, for those who deny the righteous judgment, and for those who take his name in vain—it will become a day of covenant for the elect and inquisition for the sinners.” (1 Enoch 60:24–25)
• “And the angel of peace who was with me said to me, ‘These two monsters are prepared for the great day of the Lord (when) they shall turn into food. So that the punishment of the Lord of the Spirits should come down upon them in order that the punishment of the Lord of the Spirits should not be issued in vain.’” (1 Enoch 60:24–25)
• “Then they shall see those who were born in darkness being taken into darkness, while the righteous ones shall be resplendent. (The sinners) shall cry aloud, and they shall see the righteous ones being resplendent; they shall go to the place which was prescribed for them concerning the days and the seasons.” (1 Enoch 108:15)

Intertextual Parallels in 1 Enoch 60, Moses 6, and the Book of Mormon

One set of relationships among these texts—namely, between 1 Enoch 60, Moses 6, and several passages from the Book of Mormon—is worthy of deeper comparative analysis. To begin with, it must first be understood that chapters 59–60 of 1 Enoch contain multiple layers of interpolation, in which materials seem to have been added to the original text. This has resulted in several displacements of text and disjunctions of ideas. According to George Nickelsburg, even though verses 7–10 and a portion of verse 24 are separated by a significant amount of intervening text, it appears that they originally belonged together.7 When the material presumed to be interruptive is removed, the text reads as follows:

On that day, two monsters will be parted—one monster, a female named Leviathan, in order to dwell in the abyss of the ocean over the fountains of water; and (the other), a male called Behemoth, which holds his chest in an invisible desert whose name is Dundayin, east of the garden of Eden, wherein the elect and the righteous ones dwell, wherein my grandfather was taken, the seventh from Adam, the first man whom the Lord of the Spirits created. Then I asked the second angel in order that he may show me (how) strong these monsters are, how they were separated on this day and were cast, the one into the abysses of the ocean, and the other into the dry desert. And he said to me, “You, son of man, according (to the degree) to which it will be permitted, you will know the hidden things.” … And the angel of peace who was with me said to me, “These two monsters are prepared for the great day of the Lord (when) they shall turn into food. (1 Enoch 60:7–10, 24)8

The two creatures, Leviathan and Behemoth, are part of a tradition found in several ancient Jewish and Christian texts, as well as in more ancient Near Eastern myths, involving primordial chaos monsters.9 Some aspects of the tradition, as seen in 1 Enoch, hold that these beasts would be prepared as food for a Messianic banquet at the final day of judgment.10 Interestingly, in verses 6 and 25 (the passages immediately surrounding this textual unit), we find another theme of preparation and judgment in an end-times setting:

And when this day arrives—and the power, the punishment, and the judgment, which the Lord of the Spirits has prepared for those who do not worship the righteous judgment, for those who deny the righteous judgment, and for those who take his name in vain—it will become a day of covenant for the elect and inquisition for the sinners. … So that the punishment of the Lord of the Spirits should come down upon them in order that the punishment of the Lord of the Spirits should not be issued in vain.”11

Although one can only speculate as to how and why this text eventually ended up as it did, it is fascinating that the description of the two monsters which were “prepared” for the Messianic banquet is sandwiched between a discussion of punishment that has been “prepared” for sinners. It suggests that whoever made the final arrangement of this text felt these themes of preparation went together in some manner. 

With this in mind, we can turn to the discussions of a composite, dualistic monster spoken of by Jacob in 2 Nephi 9. Not only do the relevant passages describe a fiery hell being “prepared” for the wicked, but we also see that God “prepares” a way of escape for the righteous through Christ’s Atonement:

10 O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit.

16 … wherefore, they who are filthy are the devil and his angels; and they shall go away into everlasting fire, prepared for them; and their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever and has no end.

19 O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of Israel! For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster the devil, and death, and hell, and that lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment.

26 For the atonement satisfieth the demands of his justice upon all those who have not the law given to them, that they are delivered from that awful monster, death and hell, and the devil, and the lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment; and they are restored to that God who gave them breath, which is the Holy One of Israel.

Although Jacob’s monster imagery appears on one level to be interacting with Isaiah 51:10,12 it also seems to be drawing upon imagery from Moses 6:29: “Wherefore, they have foresworn themselves, and, by their oaths, they have brought upon themselves death; and a hell I have prepared for them, if they repent not.” In addition to the obvious parallel elements, this connection is particularly enticing because numerous other aspects of Jacob’s sermon in this chapter correlate with material in the Book of Moses.13

Once all the pieces are in place, a fascinating chain of relationships emerge among these texts. For instance, Jacob’s dualistic monster imagery appears in a context of God’s justice and final judgment, just as does the monster imagery in 1 Enoch 60:6–25, both of which feature various forms of preparation.

Another parallel comes from the separation of the monsters in 1 Enoch 60:7 (“On that day, two monsters will be parted”). This is mirrored in 2 Nephi 9:10, which states that the Lord “prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell.” This parallel arises because Jacob was almost certainly alluding to the parting of the Red Sea, which is what created the “way” of escape.14 In other words, Jacob’s imagery effectively has God symbolically parting a dualistic primordial sea monster in order to save his people, which parallels the separation of the dual monsters in 1 Enoch.15

Moreover, the separation of the land monster from the water monster in 1 Enoch resonates with the Red Sea account, which also involves a separation between land and water: “But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left” (Exodus 14:29; cf. 15:29).16 Ultimately, it appears that both accounts hark back to the division between land and water in the Creation story (Genesis 1:9–10).17 This theme dovetails nicely with other Nephite texts that likewise evoke separation imagery when mentioning “preparations” of hell.18

Another resemblance comes from the dual outcomes of the impending judgment, with blessings for the righteous and punishment for the wicked. We read in 1 Enoch 60:6 that “the Lord of the Spirits has prepared for those who do not worship the righteous judgment, for those who deny the righteous judgment” and that “it will become a day of covenant for the elect and inquisition for the sinners.” Similarly, 2 Nephi 9:15–16 states that “then cometh the judgment … that they who are righteous shall be righteous still, and they who are filthy shall be filthy still; wherefore, they who are filthy are the devil and his angels; and they shall go away into everlasting fire, prepared for them.”

The emphasis on the denial of God in 1 Enoch 60:6 is also interesting: “the Lord of the Spirits has prepared for those who do not worship the righteous judgment, for those who deny the righteous judgment.” Concerning this passage, Nickelsburg notes that “The objects of God’s righteous judgment here are precisely those who deny and who reject the authority of the righteous one who executes it.” Nickelsburg then goes on to comment on the “centrality of this motif” in this portion of 1 Enoch (known as the Book of Parables).19 The Lord levels a similar allegation against the wicked in Moses 6 just before the discussion of death and hell being prepared:

And for these many generations, ever since the day that I created them, have they gone astray, and have denied me, and have sought their own counsels in the dark; and in their own abominations have they devised murder, and have not kept the commandments, which I gave unto their father, Adam. Wherefore, they have foresworn themselves, and, by their oaths, they have brought upon themselves death; and a hell I have prepared for them, if they repent not. (Moses 6:28–29)

Likewise, just three short verses after speaking of hell being “prepared” for the wicked in 2 Nephi 28:23, Nephi warned, “wo be unto him that hearkeneth unto the precepts of men, and denieth the power of God” (2 Nephi 28:6).

More textual relationships could be cited, but this should be sufficient to make the point. The imagery of a preparatory hell, primordial sea monsters that are divided in some manner, the denying of God’s power, and a final judgment for both the wicked and righteous in 1 Enoch mirror similar themes in Moses 6 and several passages from the Book of Mormon. There are differences between these texts, but several of the identified parallels are both rare and peculiar, making it difficult to suppose that they arose in these separate sources by chance.

Preparations for Hell in 2 Enoch

The book of 2 Enoch also brings up the theme of hell as being prepared for the wicked. When Enoch was shown the depths of hell by angelic guides, he declared, “‘Woe, woe! How very frightful this place is!’ And those men said to me, ‘This place, Enoch, has been prepared for those who do not glorify God, who practice on the earth the sin which is against nature … for all these this place has been prepared as an eternal reward’ (2 Enoch 10:4–6).20 This context is particularly relevant because it intersects on several levels with Enoch’s prophetic calling—including the Lord’s explanation of the prepared hell—found in Moses 6:26–36.21 We later read in 2 Enoch that “Many shelters have been prepared for people, good ones for the good, but bad ones for the bad, many, without number” (2 Enoch 61:2).22 These “shelters” appear to be houses or places of eternal dwelling, both for the righteous and wicked.   

Relevant New Testament Passages

According to 2 Peter 2:4, “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” Likewise, Jude records that “the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day” (Jude 1:6).23 Jude later connects this imagery specifically with the prophecies of Enoch: “Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints” (Jude 1:13–14).

The advantage of these passages, as a potential source of derivation for Joseph Smith’s revelations, is that Jude in particular connects this imagery specifically with the prophecy from Enoch. On the other hand, the specific language is somewhat different than is found in Moses 6:29 and 7:28. Whereas these New Testament texts speak of chains of darkness that are “reserved” for the wicked (or of the wicked themselves being “reserved” until the day of judgment), the Book of Moses instead speaks of a hell or prison being “prepared” for the wicked.

The closest language to the Book of Moses found in the New Testament actually comes from Matthew 25:41: “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Interestingly, several scholars have viewed portions of the book of Matthew—including details from this very verse and its surrounding literary unit—as interacting with Enochic literature or traditions that would have already been in existence at the time.24

Thus, rather than Joseph Smith simply borrowing this language from Matthew 25:41, it appears that Jesus himself could have been—and likely was—drawing upon or alluding to an Enochic tradition that was present in his own environment. The same is true, of course, of 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 1:6, 13–14, which have less clearly similar language but were also undoubtedly interacting with Enochic themes and traditions.

Conclusion

It can’t be denied that the imagery of hell being “prepared” for the wicked, as seen in the Book of Moses, is consistent with ancient Enochic lore, especially in the works of 1 Enoch and 2 Enoch. Because 2 Enoch wasn’t rediscovered by Western scholars and published in English until well after 1830, it would have been unavailable to Joseph Smith as a source of derivation.25 As for 1 Enoch, it is technically possible that Smith could have accessed Richard Laurence’s 1821 translation, but it seems unlikely that he did. The possibility of Smith encountering secondary extracts or news articles about 1 Enoch seems more likely, but there is still no evidence that he stumbled across such a source. The plausibility of him accessing any materials from 1 Enoch is a matter of ongoing debate.26

Of course, even if Smith didn’t derive this information from any extrabiblical Enochic source, there is the possibility that he simply borrowed the language from Matthew 25:41, or that he extrapolated this theme from Jude 1:6, 13–14 or 2 Peter 2:4. Yet, as noted earlier, the language in Jude and 2 Peter is comparatively dissimilar to that found in the Book of Moses. And, although the language in Matthew 25:41 is spot on, there is nothing in that passage that is obviously related to Enoch (unless one were already familiar with the extrabiblical Enochic traditions).

It is, in fact, somewhat telling that the New Testament verse which most closely matches the hell-related statements in the Pearl of Great Price and Book of Mormon has only come to be viewed by scholars in recent decades as particularly Enochic in nature. If Joseph Smith randomly drew upon this biblical verse to describe the nature of hell for his made-up Enochic text, he made a very appropriate guess.

In any case, the theory that Joseph Smith strictly derived this detail from the New Testament becomes less tenable once one looks closely at the nuances of his revelations—such as the dualistic monster imagery in 2 Nephi 9 and its complex relationships with Moses 6 and 1 Enoch 60. Overall, the preparatory nature of hell described in the Book of Moses strongly resonates with genuinely ancient Enochic traditions.