1 I, the Lord your God, am not displeased with your coming this journey, notwithstanding your follies.
He should be ordained by you, Oliver Cowdery. 21:10
Revelation given through Joseph Smith at Salem, Massachusetts, August 6, 1836
111:1-111 I, the Lord your God, am not displeased with your coming this journey, notwithstanding your follies.
I, the Lord and your God, am okay with you going on this journey, even though you've made some mistakes.
2 I have much treasure in this city for you, for the benefit of Zion, and many people in this city, whom I will gather out in due time for the benefit of Zion, through your instrumentality.
I'll give you a lot of treasure from this city. [1]
3 Therefore, it is expedient that you should form acquaintance with men in this city, as you shall be led, and as it shall be given you.
So get to know the men who live here, since I'll soon be giving it to you.
4 And it shall come to pass in due time that I will give this city into your hands, that you shall have power over it, insomuch that they shall not discover your secret parts; and its wealth pertaining to gold and silver shall be yours.
Someday I'll give the city to you, and you'll have power over it.
They'll never discover your secret parts, and all its wealth, gold, and silver will be yours.
5 Concern not yourselves about your debts, for I will give you power to pay them.
Don't worry about your debts, I'll help you pay them.
6 Concern not yourselves about Zion, for I will deal mercifully with her.
And don't worry about Zion either.
7 Tarry in this place, and in the regions round about;
Stay around here for a while.
8 And the place where it is my will that you should tarry, for the main, shall be signalized unto you by the peace and power of my Spirit, that shall flow unto you.
My spirit will signalize you with a power that will flow into you.
9 This place you may obtain by hire. And inquire diligently concerning the more ancient inhabitants and founders of this city;
You can buy this place.
Find out about its ancient founders and inhabitants.
10 For there are more treasures than one for you in this city.
There's more than one treasure in this city for you.
11 Therefore, be ye as wise as serpents and yet without sin; and I will order all things for your good, as fast as ye are able to receive them. Amen.
So be wise as serpents but without sin.
I'll make everything happen as soon as you're ready. Amen.
The city that Jesus refers to here is Salem, Massachusetts. I don't think it's owned by the Mormons yet, but Jesus says it soon will be.
Copyright © 1999-2026
The Skeptic's Annotated Bible
Send comments to Steve Wells
at steve(at)skepticsannotededbible.com
I've tried to make the function and navigation of the SAB website as intuitive as possible. And so, hopefully, not much explanation is necessary. However, there are a few things that I've recently added (and that I'm currently working on) that I should mention.
The images on the SAB homepage link to the homepages of each of the four scriptures that are presented at the SAB website: the Bible, the Mormon Scriptures, the Quran, and the Bhagavad Gita. Clicking on an image opens the homepage for that scripture. The link below the image opens a drop-down table. This is a way to quickly access individual books or chapters in a particular scripture.
The header displays links to selected verses and trivia questions, which are randomly selected from the four scriptures. The images in the bookshelf on the right are links to the home pages for each scripture. And, of course, the SAB logo on the left side of the header links to the SAB home page.
Links to The Bible in Fewer Words are in the upper right. This is a podcast that my wife, Carole, and I did which covered the entire Bible in 309 episodes - but in fewer words. It is available on the usual podcast platforms as well as on YouTube. There is also a link to the text and notes for episodes with embedded YouTube videos. This allows you to read the text along with us as we do each podcast episode.
The rest of the links on the homepage probably need no explanation, except for, perhaps, the Scripture Comparisons link. This compares how various topics are treated in the scriptures. But be sure to notice the images of the books in the lower right. These are books that I have published, with links to the SAB bookstore where the books are for sale. There is also a link to our Patreon page below the links to the SAB bookstore.
The Bible homepage includes links to the books of the Bible, as well as the Apocrypha / Deuterocanonical books. Under the header on the left side is a drop-down table that allows quick access to the books and chapters of the Bible.
As on the SAB homepage the links are fairly self-explanatory. However I would like to mention a few that seem most important.
The Mormon Scriptures includes the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. Each of these is presented in a similar manner as discussed for the Bible homepage.
The Quran consists of 114 chapters or surahs. Each surah is presented in a way that is similar to the way the chapters are presented in the books of the Bible and in the Mormon Scriptures.
The Gita is the shortest of the four scriptures. It consists of 700 verses in 18 chapters. The chapters are presented in the same way as in the other scriptures.
Each book in the Bible has an outline page that includes a list of the chapters of the book, along with the sections within each chapter, with links to the chapters and sections. The left panel includes links to an introduction to the book, selected verses, Drunk With Blood killings, trivia questions, and Bible in Fewer Words episodes. Category links are shown below, ordered by the number of items in each list, with the number shown in parentheses.
In the header of every chapter page you'll find a "Bible Books" drop-down menu that displays the books in the Bible, with links to the chapters in each book of the Bible and Apocrypha. This allows you to go to any chapter in the Bible from any chapter page. And there are forward and back arrows at the top and bottom of every chapter page that will take you to the next chapter of the book.
There is also a small scripture book icon on the upper right corner of each chapter page. Clicking that will open a pop-up that provides links to all the chapters in that chapter's book. Clicking on the book icon again will close the pop-up.
Each chapter includes one or more section headings on the left, with category icons on the right. Clicking on these icons displays a list of category items in that section. (I am currently working on this feature, so some of the chapter pages will display the category items for the entire chapter, rather than for the section alone.)
