Abraham 3

The Stars and the Council

Abraham is shown a ladder of greater and greater lights that ends not in a star but in God, and then the spirits who were with God before the world was.

Last revised October 7, 2026

Abraham chaptersChapter 3 of 5

Abraham’s vision on the way to Egypt, with the Urim and Thummim he had in Ur (Abr. 3:1, Abr. 3:15); first published in the Times and Seasons beginning in March 1842. Facsimile 2 Facsimile 3 Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

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Background

Nothing in Genesis runs beside this chapter. It is Abraham’s own account of a vision, and it begins with an instrument he already had: “the Urim and Thummim, which the Lord my God…

Nothing in Genesis runs beside this chapter. It is Abraham’s own account of a vision, and it begins with an instrument he already had: “the Urim and Thummim, which the Lord my God had given unto me, in Ur of the Chaldees” (Abr. 3:1). The Lord says He shows these things “before ye go into Egypt” (Abr. 3:15), and the vision came “while he was traveling to Egypt.” Part of it happens “in the night time” (Abr. 3:14), under the stars it describes.

The chapter moves in four steps: the stars and Kolob (verses 1–10); the Lord speaking “face to face” and sending Abraham to Egypt with what he has seen (11–15); an argument that carries the stars over to spirits (16–19); and the “intelligences” and the council that planned the earth (20–28). Chapters 4 and 5 then tell the Creation, beginning where the council leaves off (Abr. 4:1).

As for how the book reached the Saints: Michael Chandler brought Egyptian mummies and papyrus scrolls to Kirtland in 1835, and Joseph Smith “later translated some of the writings and published them as the ‘Book of Abraham’” in the Times and Seasons beginning in March 1842. What is known about the translation is told in the setting of Abr. 1. The council in verses 22–28 is told again, from the Lord’s own voice, in Moses 4:1–4.

The thread through the chapter

Abraham 3 reasons from what Abraham can see to what he cannot, and each step ends nearer to God.

Abraham 3 reasons from what Abraham can see to what he cannot, and each step ends nearer to God. Two things exist, one above the other, so there must be something above both: the earth, the moon, then planets “until thou come nigh unto Kolob” (Abr. 3:9). The Lord then uses the same reasoning for spirits (verses 16–19) and ends it with Himself: “I am more intelligent than they all” (Abr. 3:19). Greatness in the chapter is measured by nearness, not size. Once the ladder reaches God, the chapter turns to the spirits who stood with Him (verses 22–23) and to the plan for an earth on which they would be proved (verses 24–28). What began as a lesson about time and light ends with the spirits who lived before the world, the One who was sent, and what the earth is for.

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.

Verses 1–10

The stars and Kolob

In plain words

Abraham has the Urim and Thummim that the Lord gave him in Ur. He sees that the stars are very great, and that one is nearest to God’s throne, with many great ones near it. The Lord tells him these are the governing ones, and that the great one is named Kolob, “because it is near unto me.” By the Urim and Thummim the Lord says that Kolob runs on His own manner of reckoning: one of its revolutions is a day, equal to a thousand years on Abraham’s earth. The moon, which rules the night, is “above” the earth and moves more slowly, so it counts fewer days, months and years. These are two facts Abraham can see. Above them there must be another planet whose reckoning is longer still, and so on, planet above planet, until Kolob, which is set near God’s throne to govern all the planets of the same order as the earth. Abraham is allowed to know the set time of every star that gives light, until he comes near God’s throne.

1 And I, Abraham, had the Urim and Thummim, which the Lord my God had given unto me, in Ur of the Chaldees;

Context #

The Urim and Thummim in Ur

Abraham names the Urim and Thummim at the start, and in verse 4 the Lord speaks to him through it.

The name was “given to an instrument the Lord prepared to assist individuals in obtaining revelation and translating languages,” and scripture knows more than one of them. Abraham had his “in Ur of the Chaldees,” before the journey to Egypt, and in verse 4 the Lord speaks to him “by the Urim and Thummim.”

Verse 11 changes the manner: now Abraham talks with the Lord “face to face,” and the Lord puts His hand on Abraham’s eyes (verse 12). One reading takes these to be two distinct visions, the first through the Urim and Thummim (in which Abraham may have been looking at the stars themselves while the Lord spoke to him by the instrument), the second face to face. The text does not say where one stops and the other begins, and the reading is a proposal.

Sources: Moses 1; Abraham 3, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025). Kerry Muhlestein, “Encircling Astronomy and the Egyptians: An Approach to Abraham 3”, Religious Educator 10, no. 1 (2009): 33–50 (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

2 And I saw the stars, that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God; and there were many great ones which were near unto it;

3 And the Lord said unto me: These are the governing ones; and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord thy God: I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest.

Imagery #

Kolob, in the vision and in Facsimile 2

Kolob is great in this chapter because it is near the Lord, and the explanation of Facsimile 2 describes it in the same terms.

The Lord explains the name by a relation: Kolob is so called “because it is near unto me” (Abr. 3:3). The same measure runs through the chapter: Kolob is “nearest unto the throne of God” (Abr. 3:2), is set “to govern” (Abr. 3:9), and is “the greatest of all the Kokaubeam that thou hast seen, because it is nearest unto me” (Abr. 3:16). So “it is not size that makes one star or planet greater than another but rather its proximity to Kolob. The same is true with the children of God—their greatness and glory will depend upon their proximity to God.” Where Kolob is, or which star it might be, the chapter does not say.

The name appears once more in the book, in an illustration. The book has three illustrations, known as facsimiles, taken from images on the papyri, and Joseph Smith’s explanations of them were printed alongside. In the explanation of Facsimile 2, figure 1 is “Kolob, signifying the first creation, nearest to the celestial, or the residence of God. First in government, the last pertaining to the measurement of time.”

How much weight the explanation can bear is limited by what is known of the facsimiles: most of the explanations do not match what Egyptologists say of the figures, though some parallels have been noted, and how the plates relate to the text is not known. The plate, its explanation, and notes on its figures are on this site at Facsimile 2.

Sources: Moses 1; Abraham 3, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025). “Origins of the Book of Abraham”, Topics and Questions, Gospel Library. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

4 And the Lord said unto me, by the Urim and Thummim, that Kolob was after the manner of the Lord, according to its times and seasons in the revolutions thereof; that one revolution was a day unto the Lord, after his manner of reckoning, it being one thousand years according to the time appointed unto that whereon thou standest. This is the reckoning of the Lord’s time, according to the reckoning of Kolob.

5 And the Lord said unto me: The planet which is the lesser light, lesser than that which is to rule the day, even the night, is above or greater than that upon which thou standest in point of reckoning, for it moveth in order more slow; this is in order because it standeth above the earth upon which thou standest, therefore the reckoning of its time is not so many as to its number of days, and of months, and of years.

6 And the Lord said unto me: Now, Abraham, these two facts exist, behold thine eyes see it; it is given unto thee to know the times of reckoning, and the set time, yea, the set time of the earth upon which thou standest, and the set time of the greater light which is set to rule the day, and the set time of the lesser light which is set to rule the night.

7 Now the set time of the lesser light is a longer time as to its reckoning than the reckoning of the time of the earth upon which thou standest.

8 And where these two facts exist, there shall be another fact above them, that is, there shall be another planet whose reckoning of time shall be longer still;

9 And thus there shall be the reckoning of the time of one planet above another, until thou come nigh unto Kolob, which Kolob is after the reckoning of the Lord’s time; which Kolob is set nigh unto the throne of God, to govern all those planets which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest.

10 And it is given unto thee to know the set time of all the stars that are set to give light, until thou come near unto the throne of God.

Verses 11–15

Face to face, and sent to Egypt

In plain words

Abraham talks with the Lord face to face, as one man talks with another. The Lord calls him “my son,” puts His hand on Abraham’s eyes, and shows him works too many to count. He names the sun, the star, the moon and the stars (Shinehah, Kokob, Olea, Kokaubeam). It is night when the Lord promises to multiply Abraham and his seed like these lights, and like the sands, uncountable. The Lord tells him that these things are shown before he goes into Egypt, so that he may declare all these words.

11 Thus I, Abraham, talked with the Lord, face to face, as one man talketh with another; and he told me of the works which his hands had made;

12 And he said unto me: My son, my son (and his hand was stretched out), behold I will show you all these. And he put his hand upon mine eyes, and I saw those things which his hands had made, which were many; and they multiplied before mine eyes, and I could not see the end thereof.

13 And he said unto me: This is Shinehah, which is the sun. And he said unto me: Kokob, which is star. And he said unto me: Olea, which is the moon. And he said unto me: Kokaubeam, which signifies stars, or all the great lights, which were in the firmament of heaven.

14 And it was in the night time when the Lord spake these words unto me: I will multiply thee, and thy seed after thee, like unto these; and if thou canst count the number of sands, so shall be the number of thy seeds.

15 And the Lord said unto me: Abraham, I show these things unto thee before ye go into Egypt, that ye may declare all these words.

Context #

Why Abraham was shown the stars

The Lord gives His own reason for the vision: it is for what Abraham will say in Egypt.

“I show these things unto thee before ye go into Egypt, that ye may declare all these words.” That is an instruction “to teach the truths he learned to the Egyptians,” and the stars may have let him share the gospel “in a way that would resonate with them,” since “the Egyptian king and his court were aware of and keenly interested in the movements of the sun, moon, planets, and stars.” How much “all these words” covers is less certain. On one reading, “the phrase ‘all these words’ indicates that Abraham was to teach not only astronomy but also gospel principles the Lord explained through astronomic means.” That Abraham taught in Pharaoh’s court is not in this chapter; the Lord’s instruction is what the text gives.

Verses 16–19

From stars to spirits

In plain words

If two things exist and one is above the other, greater things are above them; so Kolob is the greatest of the stars Abraham saw, because it is nearest the Lord. If the moon is above the earth, a planet or star may exist above it, and the Lord does what He takes in His heart to do. He made the greater star. In the same way, if there are two spirits and one is more intelligent than the other, they still have no beginning and no end; they are “gnolaum,” eternal. And there will be another more intelligent than they; the Lord says He is more intelligent than all of them.

16 If two things exist, and there be one above the other, there shall be greater things above them; therefore Kolob is the greatest of all the Kokaubeam that thou hast seen, because it is nearest unto me.

Literary Structure #

One argument, used twice

Verses 16–19 are the chapter’s turn, because they use the same argument on spirits that verses 5–9 use on stars.

The first argument runs: the earth and the moon are “two facts” that “thine eyes see” (Abr. 3:6); “there shall be another fact above them” (Abr. 3:8); and so on “until thou come nigh unto Kolob” (Abr. 3:9). Verse 16 states it as a rule: “If two things exist, and there be one above the other, there shall be greater things above them.” Verse 18 applies it: “if there be two spirits, and one shall be more intelligent than the other,” there shall be “another more intelligent than they” (Abr. 3:19). The ladder that ended with Kolob now ends with the Lord: “I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all.”

Read this way, the stars are what Abraham could check with his eyes, and the lesson reaches past them. One reading calls it teaching by something already known: “the concept of orbiting planets and their governing times was used as apperception to explain that a being—not a planet—was the governing source.”

Sources: Kerry Muhlestein, “Encircling Astronomy and the Egyptians: An Approach to Abraham 3”, Religious Educator 10, no. 1 (2009): 33–50 (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

17 Now, if there be two things, one above the other, and the moon be above the earth, then it may be that a planet or a star may exist above it; and there is nothing that the Lord thy God shall take in his heart to do but what he will do it.

18 Howbeit that he made the greater star; as, also, if there be two spirits, and one shall be more intelligent than the other, yet these two spirits, notwithstanding one is more intelligent than the other, have no beginning; they existed before, they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are gnolaum, or eternal.

Related Scriptures #

Spirits that have no beginning

Verse 18 says the spirits have no beginning, and the chapter calls them by three names, which the Church’s sources do not reduce to one meaning.

Abraham calls them “spirits” (verses 18–19), “intelligences” (verses 21–22) and “souls” (verse 23). Intelligence has several meanings in the Church’s usage, three of which are “the light of truth that gives life and light to all things in the universe,” which “has always existed”; the “spirit children of God”; and “the spirit element that existed before we were begotten as spirit children.” The first is the Doctrine and Covenants’ wording: “Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be” (D&C 93:29). Which of these Abraham’s “intelligences” are is left open, and this note does not choose. What verse 18 states is that the two spirits “existed before” and “shall exist after,” for they are “gnolaum, or eternal.”

Sources: “Intelligence, Intelligences”, Guide to the Scriptures. Moses 1; Abraham 3, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

19 And the Lord said unto me: These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they; I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all.

Verses 20–23

The deliverer and the intelligences

In plain words

The Lord tells Abraham that He sent His angel to deliver him from the priest of Elkenah. He dwells in the midst of them all, and He rules over all the intelligences Abraham has seen; He came down in the beginning among them. Abraham was shown the intelligences organized before the world was, many of them noble and great. God saw that these souls were good, stood in their midst, and said, “These I will make my rulers.” He told Abraham that he was one of them, and was chosen before he was born.

20 The Lord thy God sent his angel to deliver thee from the hands of the priest of Elkenah.

21 I dwell in the midst of them all; I now, therefore, have come down unto thee to deliver unto thee the works which my hands have made, wherein my wisdom excelleth them all, for I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath, in all wisdom and prudence, over all the intelligences thine eyes have seen from the beginning; I came down in the beginning in the midst of all the intelligences thou hast seen.

Language #

To deliver unto thee the works

The 1921 edition, which is the text of this site, has the Lord come down “to deliver unto thee the works”; the current edition reads “to declare unto thee the works.”

In the 1921 wording the verb is the one verse 20 has just used in another sense. There the Lord “sent his angel to deliver thee from the hands of the priest of Elkenah,” the rescue of Abr. 1:15; here He comes down “to deliver unto thee the works which my hands have made,” that is, to give Abraham the knowledge of them. With “declare” the current edition says the same thing more plainly, and the repeated verb is gone.

Sources: The Pearl of Great Price, Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1921 edition (1929 printing), scanned at the Internet Archive. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

22 Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;

23 And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.

Related Scriptures #

Chosen before birth

God tells Abraham he was “chosen before thou wast born,” and the Church’s name for this is foreordination.

“In the premortal spirit world, God appointed certain spirits to fulfill specific missions on earth. This is called foreordination.” It is not a guarantee: “Foreordination does not guarantee that individuals will receive certain callings or responsibilities. Such opportunities come in this life as a result of the righteous exercise of agency, just as foreordination came as a result of righteousness in the premortal existence.” Nor is it only for prophets: the doctrine “applies to all members of the Church, not just to the Savior and His prophets.” Jeremiah was told, “before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee” (Jer. 1:5, and see the note there), and President Joseph F. Smith saw such spirits too, “among the noble and great ones who were chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the Church of God” (D&C 138:55).

Sources: “Foreordination”, Topics and Questions, Gospel Library. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Context #

A council with God in the midst

Verses 22–28 describe a council: God stands among the spirits, and one among them speaks to the rest.

The speaker of verse 24 is the Son: “Jesus Christ was the One who created the earth upon which the spirit children of Heavenly Father would dwell.” The Old Testament has council scenes too. In 1 Kgs. 22:19–22 the prophet Micaiah “witnessed a divine council scene of Yahweh sitting on a throne surrounded by advisors,” and one of them volunteers. How the councils of gods in other ancient Near Eastern writings relate to Abraham’s is an open question, and one proposal runs in both directions: “The polytheistic divine councils of the ancient Near East might well be echoes of the conception of the divine council portrayed in the Book of Abraham, or vice versa,” with “notable differences” as well as likenesses. That is a proposal, and the chapter does not rest on it. For what the council did next, see Abr. 4:1.

Sources: Abraham 3:1–28, Pearl of Great Price Student Manual (Church Educational System, 2017). Scripture Central, “Why are Other People with God When He is Planning the Creation?”, KnoWhy #832, Jan. 1, 2026. Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, and John S. Thompson, “The Divine Council”, BYU Studies Quarterly 61, no. 4 (2022): 150. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Verses 24–28

The council, and whom to send

In plain words

One among them who was like God said to those with him that they would go down, for there was space, and make an earth from the materials there, on which the spirits could live. There they would be tried to see whether they would do whatever the Lord their God commanded. Those who keep their first estate will be added upon; those who do not will not have glory in the same kingdom. Those who keep their second estate will have glory added upon their heads forever. The Lord asks, “Whom shall I send?” One like the Son of Man answers, “Here am I, send me.” Another also answers. The Lord says He will send the first. The second is angry and does not keep his first estate, and many follow him.

24 And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;

25 And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;

26 And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.

Language #

What an estate is

“Estate” in verse 26 most likely means a condition or state, and the verse names two of them.

Webster’s dictionary of 1828 gives as one sense of the word “Condition or circumstances of any person or thing, whether high or low,” and that is probably the sense here. The “first estate” is “our premortal life,” and our “mortal existence on earth is known as our ‘second estate.’ We keep our second estate by choosing to follow Jesus Christ and receiving the ordinances of His gospel.” The verse’s three clauses follow: those who keep the first are “added upon”; those who do not “shall not have glory in the same kingdom”; those who keep the second have “glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.”

Sources: Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828. Moses 1; Abraham 3, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

27 And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first.

Related Scriptures #

What Abraham’s account of the call adds

Abraham gives the call and the two who answered without naming either, and ends with what became of the second.

The Lord asks, “Whom shall I send?” and one answers, “like unto the Son of Man,” while “another” also says “Here am I, send me.” The Lord chooses “the first.” The chapter does not use the name Satan or Lucifer; “the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him” (Abr. 3:28). Moses names the two and gives their words. Satan said, “Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son” (Moses 4:1); the Beloved Son said, “Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever” (Moses 4:2). See the note on Moses 4:1. On how many followed: “A third part of the spirit children of Heavenly Father followed Lucifer and rebelled against God and the plan of salvation, thereby failing to keep their first estate.”

Sources: Moses 1; Abraham 3, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

28 And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him.

Seeing Christ in Abraham 3

The chapter points to Christ in the stars and in the council. Kolob, “nearest unto the throne of God” (Abr. 3:2), “can be a symbol of Jesus Christ,” as the greatness of God’s children depends on their nearness to God. In the council, the one “like unto God” who says “we will make an earth” (Abr. 3:24) is the Son (see the note on Abr. 3:23), and He “was also chosen and sent to earth to be the Savior”: the One “like unto the Son of Man” says, “Here am I, send me,” and the Lord answers, “I will send the first” (Abr. 3:27).

Worth exploring next

The vastness behind the vision. Moses 1:27–39, where the Lord speaks of “worlds without number” (Moses 1:33).
The council in the Lord’s own voice. Moses 4:1–4, and its notes.
What the council set in motion. Abr. 4:1–5.
Noble and great ones. D&C 138:53–56; and on intelligence, D&C 93:29–36.
A close reading of the chapter. The Religious Studies Center’s “Encircling Astronomy and the Egyptians: An Approach to Abraham 3” reads the vision as a lesson built from the stars.

This chapter elsewhere in scripture

Moses 4:1–4 — The same council and the call to send, told in the Lord’s voice, with the words of the two who answered.

Sources & further reading

The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Moses 1; Abraham 3, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025).
“Origins of the Book of Abraham”, Topics and Questions, Gospel Library.
“Foreordination”, Topics and Questions, Gospel Library.
“Intelligence, Intelligences”, Guide to the Scriptures.
Kerry Muhlestein, “Encircling Astronomy and the Egyptians: An Approach to Abraham 3”, Religious Educator 10, no. 1 (2009): 33–50 (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University).
Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, and John S. Thompson, “The Divine Council”, BYU Studies Quarterly 61, no. 4 (2022): 150.
Scripture Central, “Why are Other People with God When He is Planning the Creation?”, KnoWhy #832, Jan. 1, 2026.
Abraham 3:1–28, Pearl of Great Price Student Manual (Church Educational System, 2017).
The Pearl of Great Price, Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1921 edition (1929 printing), scanned at the Internet Archive.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828.