Introduction

The Prophet Joseph Smith:

“[The Doctrine and Covenants is] the foundation of the Church in these last days, and a benefit to the world, showing that the keys of the mysteries of the kingdom of our Savior are again entrusted to man” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 194).

President Ezra Taft Benson:

“The Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants are bound together as revelations from Israel’s God to gather and prepare His people for the second coming of the Lord. …

“The Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants testify of each other. You cannot believe one and not the other. …

“The Doctrine and Covenants is the binding link between the Book of Mormon and the continuing work of the Restoration through the Prophet Joseph Smith and his successors. …

“The Book of Mormon brings men to Christ. The Doctrine and Covenants brings men to Christ’s kingdom, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ‘the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth’ [D&C 1:30]. I know that.

“The Book of Mormon is the ‘keystone’ of our religion, and the Doctrine and Covenants is the capstone, with continuing latter-day revelation. The Lord has placed His stamp of approval on both the keystone and the capstone” (“The Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants,”Ensign, May 1987, 83).

Different editions of the Doctrine and Covenants

In November 1831 the Prophet Joseph Smith met with elders in Hiram, Ohio. The group decided to compile and publish some of the revelations that the Prophet had received. They selected 65 revelations and titled the compilation the Book of Commandments. By the summer of 1833 most of the compilations had been printed, but a mob destroyed nearly all of the copies. As a result, very few copies exist today. Another edition was approved and published in 1835. This edition contained the Lectures on Faith (see the introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants) and 103 revelations. This edition, therefore, was the first with the title Doctrine (the lectures) and Covenants (the revelations). (See History of the Church, 2:243–251.)

A few more editions (each adding new revelations or making slight improvements to the organization) were printed periodically until 1981, when the Church published a new edition of the triple combination, in English, with expanded footnotes and cross-references and a new index. At that time, the Prophet Joseph Smith’s 1836 vision of the celestial kingdom and President Joseph F. Smith’s 1918 vision of the redemption of the dead, both canonized by the Church in 1976 and originally added to the Pearl of Great Price, were added to the Doctrine and Covenants as sections 137 and 138. The 1981 edition has 138 sections and two official declarations: the Manifesto, issued in 1890 by President Wilford Woodruff, and the declaration on priesthood, issued in 1978 by President Spencer W. Kimball. On March 1, 2013, the First Presidency announced a new edition of the English scriptures. Most of the adjustments that were made in this edition are in the study helps or the headings of the Doctrine and Covenants or entail minor spelling corrections to the text. (For more detailed information about the different editions, see the Revelations Correspondence Chart in “Corresponding Section Numbers in Editions of the Doctrine and Covenants,” JosephSmithPapers.org/reference/library.)