The Know

After reporting in detail the many natural disasters that followed Christ’s death, Mormon invited his audience to “see and behold if … all these things are not unto the fulfilling of the prophecies of many of the holy prophets” (3 Nephi 10:14). Book of Mormon prophets like Nephi and Samuel the Lamanite as well as extrabiblical prophets such as Zenos and Zenock had prophesied of natural disasters following the death of Christ long before they occurred.1 Other biblical and extrabiblical traditions, especially those related to certain words of Isaiah and Enoch, may also have prophetically anticipated these very events recorded in the Book of Mormon, which may also parallel the disasters connected with Christ’s Second Coming.

The natural disasters reported in 3 Nephi 8–10 included fires that burned down many cities.2 The Old Testament contains a few stories in which God sends down fire from heaven as a judgment,3 and Isaiah prophesied, “Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with … the flame of devouring fire” (Isaiah 29:6; compare 66:15–16). Fire was often associated with the imagery of God’s presence and glory.4

One prominent feature in the natural disasters at Christ’s death was the great storm, or “great and terrible tempest,” which was accompanied by whirlwinds (3 Nephi 8:5–6, 12). Isaiah also suggested that this was another form of judgment that God could sometimes send: “Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with … storm and tempest” (Isaiah 29:6). Job and Ezekiel both described God as appearing within storms or whirlwinds, and many other Old Testament passages describe God with storm imagery.5

In conjunction with the great storm, Mormon reported that there had been “exceedingly sharp lightnings” and “terrible thunder” (3 Nephi 8:6–7). Here he may again have recalled Isaiah, who said, “Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder … and great noise” (Isaiah 29:6). Several Old Testament passages describe God sending thunder and lightning or as having a thunderous voice and presence.6

Mormon’s additional recounting of “exceedingly great quaking of the whole earth” could have been see as a fulfillment of Isaiah’s further statement, “Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with … earthquake” (3 Nephi 8:12; Isaiah 29:6). In fact, the earthquake in 3 Nephi was very likely the cause of the other disasters, potentially triggering a volcanic eruption, flooding, and storms.7 The divine presence and voice of God are described in the Book of Mormon and Old Testament as shaking the earth.8

Third Nephi also describes extreme terraforming, whether by earthquake, volcano, landslides, or other processes, so that “the whole face of the land was changed” and many cities were buried.9 This could correlate with Isaiah’s prophecy that “every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.”10 It may have also recalled Old Testament stories and imagery of mountains melting or the earth opening to swallow the wicked (Numbers 16:3; Psalm 97:5).

Moreover, the destructions in 3 Nephi included the flooding of cities that were drowned in the sea.11 Though Old Testament prophecies of flooded cities are lacking, the best-known natural disaster in the Old Testament ––Noah’s flood ––is a noteworthy parallel (Genesis 6–9). The Lord is also poetically described as the provider of rain and as building upon or conquering primeval waters as part of the creation process.12 Similarly to the account of Noah’s flood, some of the Nephite civilization was covered in water because of wickedness, but it was the prelude to a new creation.13

Finally, the unnamed disaster in 3 Nephi is that of a volcanic eruption, which would have an extreme tephra output and could explain the three days of darkness.14 Though volcanoes are not explicitly mentioned in the Old Testament, the book contains several descriptions of mountains shaking, burning, melting, and being surrounded by clouds of darkness, like the events at Sinai.15 Some scholars have even argued that ancient Israelites associated Jehovah with volcano imagery.16

In addition to these biblical correlations, some intriguing parallels can be found between these destructions and extrabiblical literature. John W. Welch has noted that of the twenty giants (or Watchers) named in the Old Testament pseudepigraphal work named after Enoch (see 1 Enoch 6:7), sixteen have names that correspond to the rendition of Zenos’s prophecy of these destructions in 1 Nephi 19:11–17.17

Table 1. Similarities between destructions prophesied by Zenos and apocryphal giants’ names

Eight of these named powers could correspond not only to the verbiage used by Nephi but also to the disasters themselves: clouds, thunder, lightning, fire from the sky, the sea, the earth, mountains, and volcanic ash. These connections demonstrate the antiquity of the idea that God’s destructive visitations can occur through natural disasters.18 It is thus possible that Zenos, Zenock, Nephi, or even Samuel could have been informed by not only Old Testament writings but also by Enochic traditions recorded on the brass plates.19

The Why

The many associations in 3 Nephi between natural disasters and God’s judgments and His powerful presence accords well with biblical understandings and helps affirm the array of ancient Israelite backgrounds that were known to Mormon and which intricately stand behind the Book of Mormon itself. However, though natural disasters may have been closely associated with God’s judgments in ancient scripture, both the Bible and Book of Mormon also suggest that using those remonstrations is not God’s preferred method of communication.

After Elijah called down fire from heaven in his contest with Baal’s false prophets, God showed Elijah that that the fullest measure of His presence was not in the wind, earthquake, or fire—it was in the “still small voice” that came after (1 Kings 19:11–12). The Nephites had a similar experience when they heard the gentle voice of God coming out of the darkness, after they had witnessed the wind, earthquake, fire, and much more: “And it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn.”20 This accords with other scriptural passages that discuss the various tones, timbres, and volumes of God’s penetrating voice and His preference for soft communication, only speaking loudly when necessary.21

In the latter days, the Second Coming is prophesied to include fire, lightning, storms, flooding, terraforming, and earthquakes.22 Modern prophets have noted strong parallels between Nephite civilization and the latter days, which most likely would include its natural disasters as well.23 Yet readers should be cautious not to ascribe all natural disasters to God’s punishment, or assume that all victims of such disasters are more wicked than others. Jesus’s own life shows that sometimes the righteous suffer as well. Joseph Smith taught concerning the Second Coming that “it is a false idea that the Saints will escape all the judgments, whilst the wicked suffer— … So that it is an unhallowed principle to say that such and such have transgressed because they have been preyed upon by disease or death, for all flesh is subject to death; and the Savior has said, ‘Judge not, lest ye be judged.’”24

Nonetheless, “the righteous need not fear” (1 Nephi 22:17). These natural occurrences simply confirm the reality of prophecy and thus show that prophesied blessings are real as well. In fact, one of Mormon’s primary goals throughout his account generally but especially in recounting the natural disasters is confirming the reality of prophecy.25 Mormon knew that prophetic prediction was one of the ways in which God and His prophets had demonstrated authority to ancient Israelites and Nephites, and thus he know that our reading about the fulfillment of ancient prophecies can strengthen faith today.26

• 1. For Nephi’s prophecies of the destructions at Christ’s death, see 1 Nephi 12; 19:10; 2 Nephi 26:3; for Zenos’s, see 1 Nephi 19; 3 Nephi 10:16; for Zenock’s, see 3 Nephi 10:16; and for Samuel’s, see Helaman 14:14–27.
• 2. 3 Nephi 8:8, 14, 24; 9:3, 9–11. It is not clear where the fire originated, though perhaps it was from lightning or volcanic tephra; all the text indicates is that God “did send down fire.” See 3 Nephi 9:11; Brant A. Gardner, Second Witness, 6 vols (Greg Kofford Books, 2007), 5:304.
• 3. Some of these instances have been postulated as lightning, though some seem to have a more supernatural and divine origin. See Genesis 19:24; Numbers 11:1; 1 Kings 18:38; 2 Kings 1:10.
• 4. Deuteronomy 9:3; Exodus 3:16; 14:24; 19:16–18; Isaiah 33:14.
• 5. Ezekiel 1:4; Job 38:1; Psalm 135:7. Scripture Central, “Why Did the Angel Speak to Alma with a Voice of Thunder? (Mosiah 27:11),” KnoWhy 105 (May 15, 2024). However, much storm imagery is connected to rain instead of windstorms, though it is unclear whether rain was a part of these storms or whether the whirlwinds and tempests were “powerfully accelerated ash clouds” from a volcano. Gardner, Second Witness, 5:306, 309.
• 6. Psalms 29:3; 77:17; 97:4; 135:7. Some passages about fire from heaven could refer to lightning, although Hebrew also has a unique word for lightning. See 1 Kings 18:38.
• 7. Scripture Central, “What Caused the Darkness and Destruction in the 34th Year? (3 Nephi 8:20),” KnoWhy 197 (September 28, 2016); Gardner, Second Witness, 5:301–302.
• 8. Psalms 29:8; 60:2; Job 9:6; Isaiah 2:19, 21; 13:13; Joel 3:16; Mosiah 27:11, 15, 18; Alma 36:7; Helaman 12:9, 11; Ether 4:9.
• 9. 3 Nephi 8:12; 9:8. However, it is worth noting that this terraforming probably did not significantly affect the geography of Book of Mormon lands. Gardner, Second Witness, 5:304–306.
• 10. Isaiah 40:4. The juxtaposition of “smooth” and “rough” in 3 Nephi 8:13 parallels Luke’s paraphrase of Isaiah better than the Isaiah verses themselves; see Gardner, Second Witness, 5:306–307.
• 11. Scripture Central, “Is There Evidence of Sunken Cities in Ancient America? (3 Nephi 9:7),” KnoWhy 429 (May 1, 2018).
• 12. Nahum 1:3; Zechariah 9:14; Job 36:26–37:24; 1 Kings 18; Fred E. Woods, “Who Controls the Water? Yahweh vs. Baal,” FARMS Occasional Papers, no. 4 (2003): 1–12.
• 13. For a brief comparison between the 3 Nephi narrative and the Creation narrative, see Daniel L. Belnap, “‘And God Blessed the Seventh Day, and Sanctified It’: The Sabbath at Creation, Dedications, and Christ’s Theophany in 3 Nephi,” in Sacred Time: The Sabbath as a Perpetual Covenant, ed. Gaye Strathearn (Deseret Book; Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2023), 8–10.
• 14. Scripture Central, “What Caused the Darkness and Destruction”; Scripture Central, “Is There Evidence for Great Destruction in the Land Northward at the Death of Christ? (3 Nephi 9:9),” KnoWhy 530 (September 6, 2019).
• 15. Exodus 19:16–19; Deuteronomy 4:11; Judges 5:5; Psalms 97:5; 104:32; 114:4, 8; 144:5; Micah 1:3–4; Nahum 1:5; Joel 2:2. Volcanic clouds of darkness could have been seen as fulfillments of prophecies, often interpreted as solar eclipses, which described the sun being darkened. See Isaiah 13:10; Joel 3:4; 4:15.
• 16. Jacob E. Dunn, “A God of Volcanoes: Did Yahwism Take Root in Volcanic Ashes?,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 38, no. 4 (2014): 387–424; Nissim Amzallag, “Some Implication of the Volcanic Theophany of YHWH on His Primeval Identity,” Antiguo Oriente 12 (2014): 11–38.
• 17. John W. Welch, “Enoch Translated,” FARMS Review 16, no. 1 (2004): 413–417. The names that did not correspond include “Sun of God,” “Moon of God,” “Star of God,” and “the one of [Mount] Hermon.” Some manuscripts and translations have a different number of Watchers. See E. Isaac, “1 (Ethiopic Apocalypse of) Enoch: A New Translation and Introduction,” in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2 vols., ed. James H. Charlesworth (Yale University Press, 1983), 1:15–16.
• 18. There is some debate as to whether the Watchers represent the intentional agents of God’s wrath or malevolent beings attempting to act independently of God’s will. See Welch, “Enoch Translated,” 416–417.
• 19. Alongside 1 Enoch, Zenos may have also referenced the Psalms and other Old Testament prophets; see Scripture Central, “Why Did Zenos Quote from Psalm 46 in His Prophecy of Christ’s Death? (1 Nephi 19:11),” KnoWhy 313 (May 15, 2017).
• 20. 3 Nephi 11:3. After the destructions, a voice came twice to Nephites, during which time the darkness and tremors continued; then, after the darkness and tremors abated, the voice of God came again to them three more times. 3 Nephi 8:19; 9:1; 10:3, 9–10; 11:3.
• 21. “For after your [prophetic] testimony [is rejected] cometh the testimony of earthquakes. … And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds.” Doctrine and Covenants 88:89–90. Or as Isaiah said, “Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, … behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the [Euphrates] river, strong and many.” Isaiah 8:6–7.
• 22. For fire before and at the end of the Millennium, see Malachi 4:1; Matthew 3:12; 13:30; Revelation 8:7; 18:8–9, 18; D&C 29:9, 21; 88:94; 101:23–25; 112:24; 5:19. For lightning and thunder, see Revelation 4:5; 8:5; 11:19; 16:18; D&C 88:89–90. For storms, see D&C 88:89–90; 112:24. For flooding, see D&C 88:89–90. For terraforming, see Revelation 6:14; D&C 49:23; 133:22–24. For earthquakes, see Revelation 6:12; 8:5; 11:13, 19; 16:18; D&C 29:13; 45:33; 87:6; 88:89.
• 23. Ezra Taft Benson noted, “The record of the Nephite history just prior to the Savior’s visit reveals many parallels to our own day as we anticipate the Savior’s second coming. The Nephite civilization had reached great heights. They were prosperous and industrious. … But, as so often happens, the people rejected the Lord. … And then the God of nature intervened, even Jesus Christ.” Ezra Taft Benson, A Witness and a Warning: A Modern-day Prophet Testifies of the Book of Mormon (Deseret Book, 1988), 37–38.
• 24. “Discourse, 29 September 1839, as Reported by James Mulholland,” p. 13, The Joseph Smith Papers, https://josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/discourse-29-september-1839-as-reported-by-james-mulholland/2. See also Luke 13:2–5.
• 25. 3 Nephi 10:14–16. Steven L. Olsen, “Prophecy and History: Structuring the Abridgment of the Nephite Records,” 26, notes, “When viewed systematically within the entire historical narrative, the correspondence between the prophetic and historical accounts of these events seems to be integral to the authors’ purpose and central to the book’s overall meaning. It seems as though Mormon’s abridgment is documenting the fulfillment of key prophecies.” See Scripture Central, “What Was Mormon’s Purpose in Writing the Book of Mormon? (Mormon 5:14),” KnoWhy 230 (November 14, 2016); Scripture Central, “How Does Prophecy Shape the Book of Mormon’s Content and Structure? (Words of Mormon 1:4),” KnoWhy 498 (January 15, 2019).
• 26. Deuteronomy 18:18–22; Isaiah 42:9; 48:3–7.