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Related Ancient Texts

Pseudepigrapha — not canonical

Second Temple and early Christian writings outside any canon — and outside the Apocrypha endorsed in D&C 91. They make no doctrinal claim on the reader. We house them here because several preserve traditions that illuminate the Restoration scriptures with uncommon clarity: 1 Enoch beside Moses 7, the Apocalypse of Abraham beside Abraham 1–3, the Gospel of Nicodemus beside D&C 138.

Public-domain texts only — Charles 1913/1917, Box 1918, Brooks 1918, Ante-Nicene Fathers 1886. Read with discernment.

• 1 Enoch

  The Book of the Watchers and the visions of the heavenly tabernacle — the closest extant pseudepigraphal parallel to Moses 7's vision of Enoch's city.

  108 chapters · R.H. Charles, 1917 (Oxford / Clarendon Press)

• 2 Enoch

  Enoch's ascent through ten heavens, the throne-vision in the tenth (ch 22), and the cosmic temple — direct typological parallels to JS-H 1, D&C 76, and the endowment narrative.

  60 chapters · W.R. Morfill, translated from the Slavonic, 1896 (Oxford); short-recension chapter division

• Jubilees

  Genesis–Exodus retold on a precise calendar of jubilees, with Abraham as a temple-builder and Moses receiving the heavenly tablets on Sinai — foundational for understanding the Abrahamic covenant in PGP Abraham.

  50 chapters · R.H. Charles, 1902/1913 (Oxford / Clarendon Press)

• Apocalypse of Abraham

  Abraham's destruction of his father Terah's idols, his ascent to the throne of God, and his vision of the cosmos and the elect — the single closest extra-canonical parallel to Abraham 1–3 and the Facsimiles.

  32 chapters · G.H. Box, 1918 (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge)

• Life of Adam and Eve

  Adam and Eve's life after the Fall, their penitence (Adam's 40 days in the Jordan, ch 6–9), Eve's narrative of the transgression, Adam's vision of the future (ch 25–29), and his eight-part creation account (ch 55) — major source for the Moses 4–5 expansion.

  57 chapters · Anderson critical edition of the Latin Vita Adae et Evae (Lechner-Schmidt text, Custis/Anderson/Layton translation, U. Virginia IATH); includes medieval Latin appendices 52–57

• Joseph and Asenath

  Asenath's conversion through a heavenly visitor, the honeycomb of immortality, and Joseph's marriage — a Second Temple romance loaded with eucharistic, baptismal, and temple-marriage typology.

  29 chapters · E.W. Brooks, 1918 (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge)

• Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

  The deathbed counsels of Jacob's twelve sons — each testament organized around a single virtue and shot through with Messianic prophecy. Levi's vision of the heavens and Joseph's chastity narrative are especially significant.

  12 chapters · R.H. Charles, 1908 (Oxford / Clarendon Press)

• Gospel of Nicodemus

  Acts of Pilate (chs 1–16) and the Descensus Christi ad Inferos (chs 17–27) — Christ's preaching to the spirits in prison. The most detailed early Christian narration of what 1 Peter 3:18–20, 4:6, and D&C 138 describe in summary.

  29 chapters · Roberts & Donaldson / Alexander Walker, Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 8 (1886) — Latin Form A (Acts of Pilate 1–16, Descensus 17–27, Letter of Pilate to Claudius 28–29)

These texts survive in Ethiopic, Old Church Slavonic, Greek, Latin, Armenian, and Syriac manuscripts. Where multiple recensions exist we follow the longest and most complete witness, and note divergences within each text’s page.