The LDS Church claims that the Book of Abraham is a divine translation of ancient papyrus, supposedly written by Abraham himself. Joseph Smith presented this work as inspired scripture, later canonized in the Pearl of Great Price. But what does the evidence reveal?
Egyptologists—both Mormon and non-Mormon—agree that the characters on the surviving papyrus fragments do not mention Abraham at all. Instead, these documents are ordinary Egyptian funerary texts, written between the third century B.C. and the first century A.D.—over a thousand years after Abraham’s lifetime. The fragments contain prayers and spells for the dead, not the story of a Hebrew patriarch.
Some defenders claim that Joseph Smith translated from portions of the papyrus that are now missing. But this explanation fails, because Smith’s own published drawings and explanations directly correspond to the very fragments we still have today. When modern scholars translate these same hieroglyphs, the results bear no resemblance to Smith’s interpretation. His “translation” is demonstrably inaccurate.
The Bible warns us against following false prophets who claim to speak for God but lead people astray: “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass … the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18:22). Jesus also cautioned, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (Matthew 7:15).
Furthermore, Scripture affirms that God’s Word is already complete and sufficient: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16–17). To add fabricated scripture undermines the sufficiency of God’s true revelation.
This video examines the overwhelming historical and linguistic evidence against Joseph Smith’s claims and asks, if the Book of Abraham was built on a false translation, what does that say about the prophetic authority of Joseph Smith—and the trustworthiness of Mormon scripture?
