Book of Mormon Evidence: Multiple Calendar Systems

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Scripture Central

Abstract

The Book of Mormon features multiple calendar systems that occasionally overlap and collectively feature hundreds of time-related references.

Book of Mormon Calendars

The Book of Mormon contains three main calendar systems. The first, established by Nephi and used primarily by subsequent writers of the small plates, marks the passage of time in relation to the year that Lehi left Jerusalem (1 Nephi 2:4). While fewer references are made to this system overall, it contains the longest span of time (more than 600 years).

Lehi leading his family away from Jerusalem. Image via churchofjesuschrist.org.

The second system was established when King Mosiah changed the Nephite monarchy into a system of judges, hence its designation as the “reign of the judges” (Mosiah 29:44). This system began in the first year of Alma’s reign as chief judge, which coincides with the opening chapter of the book of Alma (Alma 1:2). While only lasting about 100 years (3 Nephi 2:5), this period of Nephite history is the most thoroughly documented, containing approximately 170 references to specific dates.

Alma, the chief judge, giving a blessing. Image via churchofjesuschrist.org.

The final calendar marks the passage of time from the year of Christ’s birth, which was made known to Book of Mormon peoples by a heavenly sign, as prophesied of by Samuel the Lamanite (Helaman 14:2–3). The fulfillment of this sign is reported in 3 Nephi 1:15, and in the next chapter Mormon informs readers that “the Nephites began to reckon their time from this period when the sign was given, or from the coming of Christ” (3 Nephi 2:7). This calendar system is used through the rest of Mormon’s abridgment, as well as in Mormon and Moroni’s own final records.

Christmas Nativity Scene by bf87 via Adobe Stock. Derivative work by Book of Mormon Central.

In addition to these primary calendar systems, the Book of Mormon contains a couple other instances of sequential dating. Mormon included a short account given by Zeniff, which records the years of his reign in the lands of Lehi-Nephi and Shilom (Mosiah 9–10). Zeniff’s record contains four references to the passage of time,¹ which report either the number of years his people had dwelt in the land or, in one instance, the number of years Zeniff had reigned over his people (which seem to be one and the same).

A second brief sequence of time references is found in Ether 13:18–24, which marks the first, second, third, and fourth years that Ether hid in the cavity of a rock. While other time references are scattered throughout the book of Ether (such as the years of peace during a ruler’s reign or the number of years since a ruler attained a throne), they are typically given in isolation with no way to correlate them.²

Overlapping Calendars

In a couple instances, multiple calendars are used simultaneously. In 3 Nephi 1:1, after noting that “the ninety and first year [of the reign of the judges] had passed away,” Mormon reverted back to the early Nephite calendar, informing readers that this same date marked “six hundred years from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem.” This, of course, was an important date in the Nephite calendar because of the repeated prophecy that Christ would be born in this very year,³ the sign of which is reported as appearing only a few verses later (v. 15). Because the sign occurred in this same year, it also marked the first year of the new Nephite calendar which reckoned time from the sign of Christ’s birth.

In the next chapter, Mormon gave the following chronological report:

And also an hundred years had passed away since the days of Mosiah, who was king over the people of the Nephites. And six hundred and nine years had passed away since Lehi left Jerusalem. And nine years had passed away from the time when the sign was given, which was spoken of by the prophets, that Christ should come into the world. (3 Nephi 2:5–7)

Importantly, on these occasions where the date for all three calendars is given, the correlation among the respective systems is mathematically accurate.⁴

Conclusion

Together, throughout its multiple calendar systems, the Book of Mormon features hundreds of sequentially accurate time-related references (see Appendix).⁵ If the book were a mere work of fiction, it wouldn’t have to be so chronologically complex. It would surely have been much easier for Joseph Smith or any other proposed 19th century author to implement a single calendar system with fewer time-related references. Yet the text features various systems, as might be expected from an authentically ancient civilization that persisted for nearly a thousand years.⁶

Even near the transition phases from one calendar to another, the narrator never forgets which system of years is being reckoned. And on the two occasions where a date is given for multiple calendars simultaneously, the time correlation among the systems is mathematically accurate.⁷ The implementation of these separate calendars, with their host of dates and their respective modes of reckoning, is an important component of the Book of Mormon’s complexity.

Further Reading

John L. Sorenson, Mormon’s Codex: An Ancient American Setting (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2013), 434–442.

David Rolph Seely, “Chronology, Book of Mormon,” in Book of Mormon Reference Companion, ed. Dennis L. Largey (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2003), 196–204.

John P. Pratt, “Book of Mormon Chronology,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., ed. Daniel H. Ludlow (New York, NY: Macmillan, 1992), 1:169–171.

Appendix

Chart Explanation:

The following chart provides a comprehensive list of sequentially significant time references in the Book of Mormon presented in the order that they show up in the text. The abbreviations in the “Calendar” column on the left correspond to the following time-keeping systems:

LD: Lehi’s Departure from Jerusalem
ZR: Zeniff’s Reign
RJ: Reign of the Judges
SCB: Sign of Christ’s Birth
EH: Ether in Hiding

Calendar	Time References	Verse
LD	30 years (passed)	2 Nephi 5:28
LD	40 years (passed)	2 Nephi 5:34
LD	55 years (passed)	Jacob 1:1
LD	179 years (passed)	Enos 1:25
LD	200 years (passed)	Jarom 1:5
LD	238 years (passed)	Jarom 1:13
LD	276 years (passed)	Omni 1:3
LD	320 years (passed)	Omni 1:5
LD	476 years (passed)	Mosiah 6:4
ZR	12 years (space of)	Mosiah 9:11
ZR	13^th year	Mosiah 9:14
ZR	22 years (space of)	Mosiah 10:3
ZR	22 years (space of)	Mosiah 10:5
LD	509 years (from)	Mosiah 29:46
RJ	1^st year	Alma 1:1
RJ	1^st year	Alma 1:2
RJ	2^nd year	Alma 1:23
RJ	5^th year	Alma 1:33
RJ	5^th year (start)	Alma 2:1
RJ	5^th year (ended)	Alma 3:25
RJ	5^th year (ended)	Alma 3:27
RJ	6^th year	Alma 4:1
RJ	7^th year	Alma 4:5(a)
RJ	7^th year (ended)	Alma 45(b)
RJ	8^th year	Alma 4:6
RJ	8^th year	Alma 4:9
RJ	8^th year (ended)	Alma 4:10
RJ	9^th year (start)	Alma 4:11
RJ	9^th year (start)	Alma 4:20
RJ	9^th year (ended)	Alma 8:2
RJ	10^th year (start)	Alma 8:3
RJ	10^th year, 7^th month, 4^th day	Alma 10:6
RJ	10^th year, 10^th month, 12^th day	Alma 14:23
RJ	10^th year (ended)	Alma 15:19
RJ	11^th year, 2^nd month, 5^th day	Alma 16:1
RJ	11^th year	Alma 16:9
RJ	14^th year	Alma 16:12
RJ	14^th year (ended)	Alma 16:21
RJ	15^th year (ended)	Alma 28:7
RJ	15^th year (ended)	Alma 28:9
RJ	1^st–15^th years (review)	Alma 28:10
RJ	16^th year	Alma 30:2
RJ	16^th year	Alma 30:4
RJ	17^th year (start)	Alma 30:5
RJ	17^th year (latter end)	Alma 30:6
RJ	17^th year (ended)	Alma 35:12
RJ	18^th year	Alma 35:13
RJ	18^th year	Alma 43:3
RJ	18^th year (start)	Alma 43:4
RJ	18^th year (ended)	Alma 44:24
RJ	19^th year	Alma 45:2
RJ	19^th year (start)	Alma 45:20
RJ	19^th year (near end)	Alma 46:37
RJ	19^th year (latter end)	Alma 48:2
RJ	19^th year (latter end)	Alma 48:21
RJ	19^th year, 11^th month, 10^th day	Alma 49:1
RJ	19^th year (ended)	Alma 49:29
RJ	20^th year (start)	Alma 50:1
RJ	20^th year (ended)	Alma 50:16
RJ	21^st year (start)	Alma 50:17
RJ	21^st year	Alma 50:23
RJ	22^nd year (ended)	Alma 50:24(a)
RJ	23^rd year (ended)	Alma 50:24(b)
RJ	24^th year (start)	Alma 50:25
RJ	24^th year (ended)	Alma 50:35
RJ	24^th year (in the end)	Alma 50:40
RJ	25^th year (start)	Alma 51:1
RJ	25^th year	Alma 51:12
RJ	25^th year (ended)	Alma 51:37
RJ	26^th year, 1^st month, 1^st morning	Alma 52:1
RJ	26^th year (in the end)	Alma 52:14
RJ	27^th year	Alma 52:15
RJ	27^th year (latter end)	Alma 52:18
RJ	28^th year (start)	Alma 52:19
RJ	28^th year (ended)	Alma 53:23
RJ	29^th year (start)	Alma 54:1
RJ	29^th year (ended)	Alma 55:35
RJ	30^th year, 1^st month, 2^nd day	Alma 56:1
RJ	26^th year	Alma 56:7
RJ	26^th year	Alma 56:98
RJ	26^th year (ended)	Alma 56:20(a)
RJ	27^th year (start)	Alma 56:20(b)
RJ	[27^th year], 2^nd month	Alma 56:27
RJ	[27^th year], 7^th month, 3^rd day	Alma 56:42
RJ	28^th year (ended)	Alma 57:5
RJ	29^th year (start)	Alma 57:6
RJ	[29^th year] (space of many months)	Alma 58:7
RJ	29^th year (latter end)	Alma 58:38
RJ	30^th year	Alma 59:1
RJ	30^th year (ended)	Alma 62:11
RJ	31^st year (start)	Alma 62:12
RJ	31^st year (ended)	Alma 62:39
RJ	35^th year	Alma 62:52
RJ	36^th year (start)	Alma 63:1
RJ	36^th year (ended)	Alma 63:3
RJ	37^th year	Alma 63:4
RJ	37^th year (ended)	Alma 63:6
RJ	38^th year	Alma 63:7
RJ	38^th year (ended)	Alma 63:9
RJ	39^th year	Alma 63:10
RJ	39^th year (ended)	Alma 63:16
RJ	40^th year (start)	Helaman 1:1
RJ	40^th year (ended)	Helaman 1:13
RJ	41^st year	Helaman 1:14
RJ	41^st year (ended)	Helaman 1:34
RJ	42^nd	Helaman 2:1
RJ	42^nd year (ended)	Helaman 2:12
RJ	43^rd year	Helaman 3:1(a)
RJ	43^rd year (in the end)	Helaman 3:1(b)
RJ	44^th year	Helaman 3:2(a)
RJ	45^th year	Helaman 3:2(b)
RJ	46^th year (ended)	Helaman 3:18
RJ	47^th year	Helaman 3:19(b)
RJ	48^th year	Helaman 3:19(a)
RJ	48^th year (latter end)	Helaman 3:22
RJ	49^th year	Helaman 3:23
RJ	49^th year (remainder)	Helaman 3:32(a)
RJ	50^th year	Helaman 3:32(b)
RJ	51^st year	Helaman 3:33
RJ	52^nd year	Helaman 3:36
RJ	53^rd year	Helaman 3:37
RJ	54^th year	Helaman 4:1
RJ	56^th year	Helaman 4:4
RJ	57^th year	Helaman 4:5(a)
RJ	58^th year	Helaman 4:5(b)
RJ	58^th year	Helaman 4:8
RJ	60^th year	Helaman 4:9
RJ	61^st year	Helaman 4:10
RJ	61^st year (ended)	Helaman 4:17
RJ	62^nd year	Helaman 4:18
RJ	62^nd year (ended)	Helaman 6:1
RJ	63^rd year (ended)	Helaman 6:6
RJ	64^th year (passed)	Helaman 6:13
RJ	65^th year	Helaman 6:14(a)
RJ	65^th year (passed)	Helaman 6:14(b)
RJ	66^th year	Helaman 6:15(a)
RJ	66^th year (ended)	Helaman 6:15(b)
RJ	67^th year (start)	Helaman 6:16
RJ	67^th year	Helaman 6:32
RJ	68^th year	Helaman 6:33
RJ	68^th year (ended)	Helaman 6:41
RJ	69^th year	Helaman 7:1
RJ	71^st year (ended)	Helaman 10:19
RJ	72^nd year	Helaman 11:1
RJ	73^rd year	Helaman 11:2
RJ	74^th year	Helaman 11:5
RJ	75^th year	Helaman 11:6
RJ	76^th year	Helaman 11:17
RJ	76^th year (ended)	Helaman 11:21(a)
RJ	77^th year (start)	Helaman 11:21(b)
RJ	77^th year (ended)	Helaman 11:21(c)
RJ	78^th year	Helaman 11:22
RJ	79^th year	Helaman 11:23
RJ	80^th year	Helaman 11:24
RJ	80^th year	Helaman 11:29
RJ	81^st year	Helaman 11:30
RJ	[81^st year] (ended)	Helaman 11:32
RJ	81^st year (ended)	Helaman 11:35
RJ	82^nd year	Helaman 11:36(a)
RJ	83^rd year	Helaman 11:36(b)
RJ	84^th year	Helaman 11:36(c)
RJ	85^th year	Helaman 11:37
RJ	85^th year (ended)	Helaman 11:38
RJ	86^th year	Helaman 13:1
RJ	86^th year (ended)	Helaman 16:9
RJ	87^th year (ended)	Helaman 16:10
RJ	88^th year	Helaman 16:11
RJ	89^th year	Helaman 16:12
RJ	90^th year	Helaman 16:13
RJ	90^th year (ended)	Helaman 16:24
RJ	91^st year (passed)	3 Nephi 1:1(a)
LD	600 years	3 Nephi 1:1(a)
RJ	92^nd year (start)	3 Nephi 1:4
RJ	92^nd year (passed)	3 Nephi 1:26
RJ	93^rd year (passed)	3 Nephi 1:27
RJ	94^th year	3 Nephi 1:28
RJ	95^th year (passed)	3 Nephi 2:1
RJ	96^th year (passed)	3 Nephi 2:4(a)
RJ	97^th year [passed]	3 Nephi 2:4(b)
RJ	98^th year [passed]	3 Nephi 2:4(c)
RJ	99^th year [passed)	3 Nephi 2:4(d)
RJ	100 years (passed)	3 Nephi 2:5
LD	609 years (passed)	3 Nephi 2:6
SCB	9 years (passed)	3 Nephi 2:7
SCB	9 years (passed)	3 Nephi 2:8
SCB	10^th year (passed)	3 Nephi 2:10(a)
SCB	11^th year (passed)	3 Nephi 2:10(b)
SCB	13^th year	3 Nephi 2:11
SCB	13 year (ended)	3 Nephi 2:16
SCB	14^th year (start)	3 Nephi 2:17
SCB	14^th year (ended)	3 Nephi 2:18(a)
SCB	15^th year	3 Nephi 2:18(b)
SCB	15^th year (ended)	3 Nephi 2:19
SCB	16^th	3 Nephi 3:1
SCB	17^th year (latter end)	3 Nephi 3:22
SCB	18^th year (latter end)	3 Nephi 4:1
SCB	18^th year (passed)	3 Nephi 4:4
SCB	19^th year	3 Nephi 4:5
SCB	[19^th year] 6^th month	3 Nephi 4:7
SCB	[19^th year] 6^th month	3 Nephi 4:11
SCB	19^th year (passed)	3 Nephi 4:15(a)
SCB	20^th year	3 Nephi 4:15(b)
SCB	21^st year	3 Nephi 4:16
SCB	22^nd year (passed)	3 Nephi 5:7(a)
SCB	23^rd year [passed]	3 Nephi 5:7(b)
SCB	24^th year [passed]	3 Nephi 5:7(c)
SCB	25^th year [passed]	3 Nephi 5:7(d)
SCB	25 years (space of)	3 Nephi 5:8
SCB	26^th year	3 Nephi 6:1
SCB	26^th year (passed)	3 Nephi 6:4(a)
SCB	27^th year (passed)	3 Nephi 6:4(b)
SCB	28^th year (passed)	3 Nephi 6:9
SCB	29^th year	3 Nephi 6:10
SCB	30^th year	3 Nephi 6:14
SCB	30^th year (start)	3 Nephi 6:17
SCB	30^th year	3 Nephi 7:1
SCB	30^th year (ended)	3 Nephi 7:13
SCB	31^st year	3 Nephi 7:14
SCB	31^st year (passed)	3 Nephi 7:21
SCB	32^nd year (passed	3 Nephi 7:23(a)
SCB	33^rd year (start)	3 Nephi 7:23(b)
SCB	33^rd year (passed)	3 Nephi 8:2
SCB	34^th year, 1st month, 4^th day	3 Nephi 8:5
SCB	34^th year (in ending)	3 Nephi 10:18
SCB	34^th year (passed	4 Nephi 1:1(a)
SCB	35^th year [passed]	4 Nephi 1:1(b)
SCB	36^th year	4 Nephi 1:2
SCB	37^th year (passed)	4 Nephi 1:4
SCB	38^th year (passed)	4 Nephi 1:6(a)
SCB	39^th year (passed)	4 Nephi 1:6(b)
SCB	41^st year (passed)	4 Nephi 1:6(c)
SCB	42^nd year (passed)	4 Nephi 1:6(d)
SCB	49 years (passed)	4 Nephi 1:6(e)
SCB	51^st year (passed)	4 Nephi 1:6(f)
SCB	52^nd year (passed)	4 Nephi 1:6(g)
SCB	59 years (passed)	4 Nephi 1:6(h)
SCB	71^st year	4 Nephi 1:14(a)
SCB	72^nd year (passed)	4 Nephi 1:14(b)
SCB	79^th year (passed)	4 Nephi 1:14(c)
SCB	100 years (passed)	4 Nephi 1:14(d)
SCB	110 years (passed)	4 Nephi 1:18
SCB	194 years (from Christ)	4 Nephi 1:21
SCB	200 years (passed)	4 Nephi 1:22
SCB	201^st year	4 Nephi 1:24
SCB	210 years (passed)	4 Nephi 1:27
SCB	230 years (passed)	4 Nephi 1:34
SCB	231^st year	4 Nephi 1:35
SCB	244 years (passed)	4 Nephi 1:40
SCB	250 years (passed)	4 Nephi 1:41(a)
SCB	260 years (passed)	4 Nephi 1:41(a)
SCB	300 years (passed)	4 Nephi 1:45
SCB	305 years (passed)	4 Nephi 1:47
SCB	320 years (passed)	4 Nephi 1:48
SCB	326 years (passed)	Mormon 2:2
SCB	327^th year	Mormon 2:3
SCB	330 years (passed)	Mormon 2:9
SCB	344 years (passed)	Mormon 2:15
SCB	345^th year	Mormon 2:16
SCB	346^th year	Mormon 2:22
SCB	349^th year (passed)	Mormon 2:28(a)
SCB	350^th year	Mormon 2:28(b)
SCB	360 years (from Christ)	Mormon 3:4
SCB	361^st year	Mormon 3:7
SCB	362^nd year	Mormon 3:8
SCB	363^rd year	Mormon 4:1
SCB	364^th year	Mormon 4:7
SCB	366^th year	Mormon 4:10
SCB	367^th year	Mormon 4:15
SCB	375^th year	Mormon 4:16
SCB	379 years (passed)	Mormon 5:5
SCB	380^th year	Mormon 5:6
SCB	384 years (passed)	Mormon 6:5
SCB	400 years (since Christ)	Mormon 8:6
EH	1^st year	Ether 13:18
EH	2^nd year	Ether 13:20
EH	3^rd year	Ether 13:23
EH	4^th year	Ether 13:24
SCB	+420 years (passed)	Moroni 10:1

Endnotes

^1. See Mosiah 9:11, 14; 10:3, 5.
^2. See, for example, Ether 2:13; 9:25; 10:13. See also, David Rolph Seely, “Chronology, Book of Mormon,” in Book of Mormon Reference Companion, ed. Dennis L. Largey (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2003), 196.
^3. See 1 Nephi 10:4; 19:8; 2 Nephi 25:19.
^4. See Evidence Central, “Book of Mormon Evidence: Mathematically Consistent Chronology,” September 20, 2021, online at evidencecentral.org.
^5. See See Evidence Central, “Book of Mormon Evidence: Sequentially Consistent Chronology,” September 20, 2021, online at evidencecentral.org; Evidence Central, “Book of Mormon Evidence: Mathematically Consistent Chronology,” September 20, 2021, online at evidencecentral.org.
^6. Multiple calendar systems were used anciently in both Israel and Mesoamerica. For discussions on ancient Jewish calendars, see Jonathan Ben-Dov and Stéphane Saulnier, “Qumran Calendars: A Survey of Scholarship 1980—2007,” Currents in Biblical Research 7, no. 1 (2008):124–168; Sacha Stern, “Rachel Elior on Ancient Jewish Calendars: A Critique,” Aleph 5 (2005): 287–292; Rachel Elior, “Ancient Jewish Calendars: A Response,” Aleph 5 (2005): 293–302; James C. VanderKam, “Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls,” Near Eastern Archaeology 63, no. 3 (2000): 164–167; Daniel E. Fleming, “A Break in the Line: Reconsidering the Bible’s Diverse Festival Calendars,” Revue Biblique 106, no. 2 (1999): 162. For some recent discussions of ancient Mesoamerican calendars, see Anne S. Dowd and Susan Milbrath, eds., Cosmology, Calendars, and Horizon-Based Astronomy in Ancient Mesoamerica (Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado, 2015); Lars Kirkhusmo Pharo, The Ritual Practice of Time: Philosophy and Sociopolitics of Mesoamerican Calendars (Boston, MA: Brill, 2014); Prudence M. Rice, Maya Calendar Origins: Monuments, Mythistory, and the Materialization of Time (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2009).
^7. SeeEvidence Central, “Book of Mormon Evidence: Mathematically Consistent Chronology,” September 20, 2021, online at evidencecentral.org.
8. It has been proposed that a chronological discrepancy arises in Alma 53:22–23 when these verses are compared to Helaman’s account of these same events recorded in Alma 56:9. See John L. Sorenson, “The Significance of the Chronological Discrepancy between Alma 53:22 and Alma 56:9,” FARMS Paper SOR-90b (Provo, UT, 1990); John L. Sorenson, “Mormon’s Sources,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 20, no. 2 (2011), 11. However, the error might simply be in the way that Sorenson interpreted these passages. Readers should note that Alma 53:10–22 doesn’t contain any dates and that these verses clearly act as a digression, giving a brief glimpse of what was happening on a different front of the war during a roughly contemporaneous period of conflict. A careful parsing of verses 22–23 is particularly important: “And now it came to pass that Helaman did march at the head of his two thousand stripling soldiers, to the support of the people in the borders of the land on the south by the west sea. And thus ended the twenty and eighth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi.” It is clear from Helaman’s later epistle that while his initial march to the southwest war front occurred in the 26^th year (Alma 56:9), his efforts to support the war effort in this area (including lots of additional marching to and from locations in this region) continued into the 28th year and even beyond (Alma 57:5–6). In other words, Alma 53:10–22 can be seen as a digression/flashback that lets readers know about some key events that were happening on another war front, which events began in the 26th year but clearly continued into the 28th year—the very year which Mormon was discussing before and after the digression (Alma 52:19; 53:23). When Mormon’s statements are interpreted in this way, there is no chronological error or discrepancy.

Complexity

Chronology

Multiple Calendars

Book of Mormon

Evidence #241 | September 20, 2021

Book of Mormon Evidence: Multiple Calendar Systems