4a Behold, thou art Joseph, and thou wast chosen to do the work of the Lord, but because of transgression, if thou art not aware thou wilt fall, but remember God is merciful;
4b therefore, repent of that which thou hast done, which is contrary to the commandment which I gave you, and thou art still chosen, and art again called to the work;
4c except thou doest this, thou shalt be delivered up and become as other men, and have no more gift.
5a And when thou deliveredst up that which God had given thee sight and power to translate thou deliveredst up that which was sacred into the hands of a wicked man who has set at naught the counsels of God, and has broken the most sacred promises, which were made before God, and has depended upon his own judgment, and boasted in his own wisdom;
5b and this is the reason that thou hast lost thy privileges for a season, for thou hast suffered the counsel of thy director to be trampled upon from the beginning.
6a Nevertheless, my work shall go forth, for, inasmuch as the knowledge of a Savior has come unto the world, through the testimony of the Jews, even so shall the knowledge of a Savior come unto my people, and to the Nephites, and the Jacobites, and the Josephites, and the Zoramites, through the testimony of their fathers;
6b and this testimony shall come to the knowledge of the Lamanites, and the Lemuelites, and the Ishmaelites, who dwindled in unbelief because of the iniquity of their fathers, whom the Lord has suffered to destroy their brethren the Nephites, because of their iniquities and their abominations;
6c and for this very purpose are these plates preserved which contain these records, that the promises of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to his people;
6d and that the Lamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers, and that they might know the promises of the Lord,
6e and that they may believe the gospel and rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, and be glorified through faith in his name, and that through their repentance they might be saved. Amen.
DC 3 Intro: SECTION 3
After the loss of that portion of the Book of Mormon manuscript which had been translated before July 1828, the mind of Joseph was "darkened" (D. and C. 3:1b). After humbling himself, Joseph was again enlightened, and was permitted to resume his work. Instruction received in this connection is recorded in the following revelation, which was received while Joseph was still at Harmony, Pennsylvania, in July or August 1828.
