Abraham 5

The Creation Brought to Pass

The Gods rest on the seventh time as they had counseled, come down and put the man in the garden, and a help meet is found for Adam.

Last revised October 7, 2026

Abraham chaptersChapter 5 of 5

Seen by Abraham in vision; Joseph Smith began translating the book in 1835, and this chapter was printed in the Times and Seasons on 15 March 1842. In the text, the seventh time and the Garden of Eden before the Fall. Also in Gen. 2:1–25 Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

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Background

Abraham 5 finishes the Creation that Abr. 4 begins. Inside the book, Abraham is telling what the Lord showed him: first the stars, then the spirits “organized before the world…

Abraham 5 finishes the Creation that Abr. 4 begins. Inside the book, Abraham is telling what the Lord showed him: first the stars, then the spirits “organized before the world was,” and one among them saying, “We will go down, for there is space there… and we will make an earth” (Abr. 3:24). Chapters 4 and 5 follow from those words, and the Gods are the speakers. Abraham himself appears in them only once, at verse 13: “Now I, Abraham, saw.”

The chapter runs beside Gen. 2 and Moses 3, and this commentary leaves to the notes on Genesis 2 what the accounts share: the Hebrew, the rivers of Eden, the rib, “one flesh,” and the breath of life, which in Abraham is “the man's spirit” (see the note on Gen. 2:7). The notes here keep to what Abraham's version adds: the counsel behind the work (verses 2–5), the Gods coming down (verse 4), the reckoning of Kolob (verse 13), and the help meet who is “found” (verse 21).

The book came forth in two steps. It was revealed to Joseph Smith beginning in 1835, when he was studying Egyptian papyri the Saints had purchased, and this chapter was first printed in the Times and Seasons on 15 March 1842. For what is known and not known of the translation, see Abr. 1.

The thread through the chapter

Abraham 5 is a plan being kept. The Gods “counseled” five times in its first five verses, and the work they finish is “according to all that which they had said” (verse 5).

Abraham 5 is a plan being kept. The Gods “counseled” five times in its first five verses, and the work they finish is “according to all that which they had said” (verse 5). Chapter 3 had announced the plan (“We will go down”), chapter 4 set forth six “times” of it (the note on Abr. 4:18 takes up how much of that chapter is told as planned), and chapter 5 comes to the seventh, to rest, and then to the garden.

The same word of counsel shapes the rest. The Gods come down, as they had said they would. They put a man into the body they had formed, give a commandment, and plan a help meet before they make one. Only one verse steps outside the Gods' speech: Abraham, reading the clock, sees that the time of the garden is not yet the time of this earth. And the account closes on what verse 14 proposed: for Adam “there was found an help meet for him.”

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

Verses 1–3

The seventh time

In plain words

The heavens and the earth and all their hosts are to be finished. The Gods say among themselves that on the seventh time they will end the work they have counseled and rest from it. They conclude upon the seventh time and sanctify it, because that was their decision when they counseled together to form the heavens and the earth.

1 And thus we will finish the heavens and the earth, and all the hosts of them.

2 And the Gods said among themselves: On the seventh time we will end our work, which we have counseled; and we will rest on the seventh time from all our work which we have counseled.

Latter-day Prophets #

Rest at the end of a counseled work

The rest of the seventh time comes in Abraham as the end of something planned.

The rest of the seventh time comes in Abraham as the end of something planned. The verbs of planning are close together: “counseled” occurs five times in verses 2, 3, and 5, and verse 3 ends, “thus were their decisions at the time that they counseled among themselves to form the heavens and the earth.” The Gods decide the rest before the work is finished, and they decide it together. Why God rested, and what a day made holy means, is in the notes on Gen. 2:2 and Gen. 2:3.

President Spencer W. Kimball described the planning in the terms of a builder: “Before this earth was created the Lord made a blueprint, as any great contractor will do before constructing. He drew up the plans, wrote the specifications, and presented them,” and he quoted Abr. 3:24–25 as the place where the plan is spoken. The Church’s heading for this chapter puts it in two steps: “The Gods finish Their planning of the creation of all things—They bring to pass the Creation according to Their plans.” Chapter 5 says as much of itself: the Gods form the heavens and the earth “according to all that which they had said” (verse 5).

In Abraham the creative periods are called “times,” not days. The book does not say how long a “time” was; for the length of the days of Creation, see the note on Gen. 1:5.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Facsimiles 2–3; Abraham 4–5, Pearl of Great Price Student Manual (Church Educational System, 2017).

3 And the Gods concluded upon the seventh time, because that on the seventh time they would rest from all their works which they (the Gods) counseled among themselves to form; and sanctified it. And thus were their decisions at the time that they counseled among themselves to form the heavens and the earth.

Verses 4–13

The man in the garden

In plain words

The Gods come down and form the generations of the heavens and the earth, as they had said, before any plant was in the earth, with no rain and no man to till the ground. A mist rises and waters the ground. The Gods form man of the dust, take his spirit and put it into him, and breathe the breath of life, and he becomes a living soul. They plant a garden eastward in Eden and put the man there, whose spirit they had put into the body. They make every pleasant tree grow, with the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil in its midst. A river runs out of Eden and parts into four heads. The Gods put the man in the garden to dress and keep it and tell him he may eat freely of every tree but one; in the time he eats of it he will surely die. Abraham adds that he saw this was after the Lord's time, which was after the time of Kolob, since the Gods had not yet appointed Adam his reckoning.

4 And the Gods came down and formed these the generations of the heavens and of the earth, when they were formed in the day that the Gods formed the earth and the heavens,

Related Scriptures #

The Gods come down

Verse 4 carries out what Abr. 3:24 announced: the one “like unto God” says to those with him, “We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and…

Verse 4 carries out what Abr. 3:24 announced: the one “like unto God” says to those 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,” and the purpose follows in the next verse, “to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them” (Abr. 3:25). Chapter 4 opens with the going down, “Let us go down. And they went down at the beginning” (Abr. 4:1), and verse 4 of this chapter says it a second time: “the Gods came down and formed these the generations of the heavens and of the earth.”

Genesis 2:4 has no going down; there “the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.” In Abraham those who planned the earth come down to form it, and chapter 3 has already said what it is for: a place where the spirits who will dwell on it are proved.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

5 According to all that which they had said concerning every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew; for the Gods had not caused it to rain upon the earth when they counseled to do them, and had not formed a man to till the ground.

6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.

7 And the Gods formed man from the dust of the ground, and took his spirit (that is, the man’s spirit), and put it into him; and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

8 And the Gods planted a garden, eastward in Eden, and there they put the man, whose spirit they had put into the body which they had formed.

9 And out of the ground made the Gods to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life, also, in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

10 There was a river running out of Eden, to water the garden, and from thence it was parted and became into four heads.

11 And the Gods took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it.

12 And the Gods commanded the man, saying: Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat,

13 But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the time that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now I, Abraham, saw that it was after the Lord’s time, which was after the time of Kolob; for as yet the Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning.

Related Scriptures #

The reckoning not yet given to Adam

This verse is where Abraham steps out of the Gods' speech to say how the time in the garden was measured, and the answer is the time of Kolob.

This verse is where Abraham steps out of the Gods' speech to say how the time in the garden was measured, and the answer is the time of Kolob. In Abr. 3:4 the Lord had explained 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.” Here Abraham sees that the Lord's time governs the garden “for as yet the Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning,” so the word “time” in the warning (“in the time that thou eatest thereof”) is measured by the Lord's time, not by an earthly day. What this does for the warning of death is in the note on Gen. 2:17.

Joseph Smith's explanation of figure 1 of Facsimile 2 says of Kolob: “First in government, the last pertaining to the measurement of time… One day in Kolob is equal to a thousand years according to the measurement of this earth.” A facsimile is one of the three illustrations printed with the book in 1842, taken from images on the papyri, each with Joseph Smith's explanation of its figures. Most of the explanations do not match what Egyptologists say of the figures, though some parallels have been noted, and how the facsimiles relate to the text is not known. The explanation is quoted here as Joseph Smith's statement on the subject of the verse, and no more is built on it; Abr. 3:3 has more on Facsimile 2 and Kolob. The image and the full explanation are on this site at Facsimile 2.

The verse does not say how long the creative “times” of chapters 4 and 5 were, and nothing here dates the Creation.

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

Verses 14–21

A help meet for the man

In plain words

The Gods say it is not good for the man to be alone, and that they will form a help meet for him. They cause a deep sleep to fall on Adam, take one of his ribs, close the flesh, and form a woman from it. Adam says she is bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh, and she shall be called Woman. Therefore a man leaves his father and mother, cleaves to his wife, and they are one flesh; they are naked and not ashamed. The Gods form every beast and fowl and bring them to Adam to be named, and whatever he calls each creature is its name. Adam names all the cattle, birds, and beasts, and for Adam there is found a help meet for him.

14 And the Gods said: Let us make an help meet for the man, for it is not good that the man should be alone, therefore we will form an help meet for him.

15 And the Gods caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and he slept, and they took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in the stead thereof;

16 And of the rib which the Gods had taken from man, formed they a woman, and brought her unto the man.

17 And Adam said: This was bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; now she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man;

18 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.

19 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

20 And out of the ground the Gods formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that should be the name thereof.

21 And Adam gave names to all cattle, to the fowl of the air, to every beast of the field; and for Adam, there was found an help meet for him.

Related Scriptures #

Found, where Genesis says not found

Abraham ends with a help meet “found” for Adam, where Genesis and Moses say there was “not found” one, and the difference follows from the order of the accounts.

Abraham ends with a help meet “found” for Adam, where Genesis and Moses say there was “not found” one, and the difference follows from the order of the accounts. In Genesis 2:19–20 and Moses 3:19–20 the animals are named first, and the verse closes, “there was not found an help meet for him,” before the woman is made. In Abraham the Gods plan a help meet (verse 14), form the woman from the rib (verses 15–16), and only then bring the animals for naming (verses 20–21). The reading is as old as the first printing: the Times and Seasons of 15 March 1842 has “and for Adam there was found an help meet for him.”

None of the sources read for this chapter says why the two orders differ. What can be seen in the text is the sequence Abraham keeps: the help meet is proposed (verse 14), formed (verses 15–16), and found (verse 21). The meaning of “help meet” and the rib are in the notes on Gen. 2:18 and Gen. 2:21.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Joseph Smith Papers, Book of Abraham and Facsimiles, 1 March–16 May 1842, Times and Seasons 3 (1842), p. 722, Joseph Smith Papers.

Seeing Christ in Abraham 5

The Creator's plan in this chapter has the Son in it, though Abraham does not name Him. The Lord's words in Moses 3:18, on the same event as Abr. 5:14, are spoken to someone: “I, the Lord God, said unto mine Only Begotten, that it was not good that the man should be alone.” Of the Creation generally, “From Abraham's account and other prophetic sources, we have reason to believe that others may have assisted Jesus Christ with the Creation.”

Kolob, whose time verse 13 names, has also been read as a figure of Him: it is “symbolic of Jesus Christ, the central figure in God's plan of salvation.” That is a symbol drawn from Joseph Smith's explanation of Facsimile 2, where Kolob is “first in government”; verse 13 itself speaks only of time.

Worth exploring next

The same chapter in Genesis and Moses. Gen. 2 for the Hebrew of the shared verses, and Moses 3 for the spiritual creation that comes before the natural.
The plan this chapter completes. Abr. 3:22–28 and Abr. 4:1.
Kolob's time. Abr. 3:1–5 and Facsimile 2 in the Gospel Library.
The Church's treatment of the Creation. Scripture Helps, “Genesis 1–2; Moses 2–3; Abraham 4–5.”

This chapter elsewhere in scripture

Gen. 2:1–25 — The same account, told as the work of the Lord God. Abraham has the Gods counsel, come down, and put a spirit into the body; it ends with the help meet “found.”
Moses 3:1–25 — The account as the Lord told it to Moses, with the spiritual creation first.

Sources & further reading

The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Facsimiles 2–3; Abraham 4–5, Pearl of Great Price Student Manual (Church Educational System, 2017).
“Origins of the Book of Abraham”, Topics and Questions, Gospel Library.
The Joseph Smith Papers, Book of Abraham and Facsimiles, 1 March–16 May 1842, Times and Seasons 3 (1842), p. 722, Joseph Smith Papers.
Genesis 1–2; Moses 2–3; Abraham 4–5, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025).