Moses 4

How Satan Became the Devil

Before the serpent speaks in Eden, God tells Moses where the serpent’s master came from, how he fell, and what he was after; then the Fall unfolds, ending with God’s words that cannot return void.

Last revised October 6, 2026

Moses chaptersChapter 4 of 8

God’s words to Moses on the mount (Moses 1:1); received by Joseph Smith between June and October 1830. Also in Genesis 3 Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

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Background

Moses 4 is part of the words God spoke to Moses “at a time when Moses was caught up into an exceedingly high mountain” (Moses 1:1), so the voice throughout is the Lord’s own: “I,…

Moses 4 is part of the words God spoke to Moses “at a time when Moses was caught up into an exceedingly high mountain” (Moses 1:1), so the voice throughout is the Lord’s own: “I, the Lord God.” It follows the Creation (Moses 2) and the garden (Moses 3) and carries the story into the Fall.

The chapter has two parts. Verses 5–31 tell the story Genesis tells in chapter 3: the serpent, the fruit, the questions, the sentences, the clothing, and the exile. The site’s notes on Gen. 3 treat that story at length, and this chapter links to them rather than repeating them. Verses 1–4 have no Genesis counterpart: “These are verses that are missing from the Genesis account.” They answer a question Genesis leaves open, since in Genesis the serpent “comes out of nowhere.”

The first verse points back to Moses’ own experience. Moses had already met the adversary and commanded him to leave in the name of the Only Begotten (Moses 1:12–22); now the Lord tells him who that adversary was “from the beginning.” The chapter was received in 1830, around the time of the September 1830 revelation that tells of the same rebellion (D&C 29:36).

The thread through the chapter

Moses 4 tells the Fall as the work of a liar, and then shows God answering with questions and a promise.

Verses 1–4 give the liar’s history. He came before God and offered to redeem everyone, “surely I will do it,” and wanted God’s honor in return. He rebelled, was cast down, and became “the devil, the father of all lies.” The rest of the chapter shows him at that work: he speaks through the serpent, seeks to beguile Eve “for he knew not the mind of God,” and tells her, “Ye shall not surely die” (verse 10), the opposite of what God had said (verse 17).

God meets the Fall first with questions (“Where goest thou?”, “What is this thing which thou hast done?”), then with a sentence in which the word cursed falls on the serpent and the ground (verses 20, 23), a promise that the woman’s seed will bruise the serpent’s head (verse 21), a name for Eve (verse 26), and coats of skins made by God (verse 27). He speaks to “mine Only Begotten” (verse 28) and drives the man out with a guard set “to keep the way of the tree of life” (verse 31). Between the sentence and the exile He says that His words “cannot return void” (verse 30). The chapter ends with a charge to Moses to show these words only to those who believe.

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

Verses 1–4

Satan’s rebellion

In plain words

The Lord tells Moses about the Satan he had commanded in the name of the Only Begotten. Satan is the one who was there from the beginning. He came before the Lord and said, “Here I am, send me. I will be your son, and I will redeem all mankind, so that not one soul is lost. I will certainly do it. Give me your honor.” But the Lord’s Beloved Son, chosen from the beginning, said, “Father, your will be done, and the glory be yours forever.” Because Satan rebelled and sought to destroy the agency God had given people, and to have God’s own power, the Lord cast him down by the power of the Only Begotten. He became Satan and the devil, the father of all lies, who deceives and blinds people and leads captive those who will not listen to the Lord.

1 And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.

Context #

Why the chapter begins with Moses’ own encounter

The chapter opens by pointing back to Moses’ own meeting with Satan in chapter 1, where the adversary had posed as the Only Begotten.

The phrase “refers to the events in Moses 1 in which the adversary had come to Moses claiming to be the Only Begotten (see v. 19).” Moses had asked, “Who art thou? For behold, I am a son of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten; and where is thy glory, that I should worship thee?” and had sent him away: “Get thee hence, Satan; deceive me not” (Moses 1:13; Moses 1:16). The encounter “struck Moses with fear for the adversary, who was posing as the Only Begotten.” Now the Lord tells Moses who that adversary had been “from the beginning,” and the first thing He reports of him is the offer, “I will be thy son.”

Sources: Aaron P. Schade and Matthew L. Bowen, “Moses 4: The Council in Heaven”, In The Book of Moses: From the Ancient of Days to the Latter Days (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2021), 163–74. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Witness of Christ #

Send me, and thy will be done

Moses 4 gives what each of the two who said “send me” went on to say, and the two answers point in opposite directions.

Abraham’s vision of the same scene has the Lord ask, “Whom shall I send?” and two answer, “Here am I, send me” (Abr. 3:27). Abraham stops there; Moses 4 continues. Satan’s words are about himself: he will be the son, he will redeem all, “surely I will do it,” and “give me thine honor.” His response “focuses inordinately on the man himself, seeking to draw the attention of those present.” The Lord’s own telling of it in D&C 29:36 has him say, “Give me thine honor, which is my power.”

Such a response “stands in stark contrast to the answer of Jesus Christ”: “Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.” The Son asks for nothing. On what the council was deciding, and what Satan’s offer amounted to, see the note on Moses 4:3.

Sources: Scripture Central, “How Does the Parable of the Willing and Unwilling Sons Teach about Christ?”, KnoWhy #671, Apr. 18, 2024. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

2 But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.

3 Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down;

Latter-day Prophets #

What destroying agency meant

The verse says what Satan sought and not how he meant to do it. His offer in verse 1 was made in rebellion: he “proposed an alternative to the Father’s already established plan.”

The verse says what Satan sought and not how he meant to do it.

His offer in verse 1 was made in rebellion: he “proposed an alternative to the Father’s already established plan.” How he would have carried it out the text leaves unsaid: “these verses of scripture do not clearly state how Satan proposed to carry out this lie.” J. Reuben Clark named two possibilities, “Either the compulsion of … man, or else saving men in sin,” and doubted both: “I question whether the intelligence of man can be compelled. Certainly men cannot be saved in sin.” So the offer to lose not one soul was never a workable rival to the Father’s plan: “What Satan proposed was a lie. It would not have worked.”

Nor had a rival been invited. The Father “did not ask for volunteers to invent and present different and competing plans of salvation, as some have assumed.”

Sources: Genesis 3–4; Moses 4–5, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025). Mark A. Mathews, “Satan’s Rebellion”, Ensign, Mar. 2015, 66–69.

4 And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice.

Related Scriptures #

From Lucifer to Satan

The verse says Satan “became” what he is called, so he was something else first.

A revelation of February 1832 names him: “he was Lucifer, a son of the morning,” who “was called Perdition, for the heavens wept over him” (D&C 76:25–27). What he became was Satan, a Hebrew word meaning “adversary.” He was not cheated of his place: he fell “because of his rebellion against God and the choices he himself had made.” Joseph Fielding Smith taught that “the adversary knew exactly what he was doing and he became perdition.” Isaiah’s taunt over the fallen king of Babylon is read as a comparison that describes this fall; for that reading and for the name Lucifer, see the note on Isa. 14:12.

Verses 5–13

The serpent and the woman

In plain words

The serpent was more clever than any beast of the field. Satan put it into the serpent’s heart, since he had drawn away many after him, to beguile Eve, for he did not know the mind of God and so tried to destroy the world. He spoke through the serpent: “Did God say you could not eat of every tree of the garden?” The woman said they could eat the fruit of the trees, but of the tree in the middle God had said, “Do not eat it or touch it, or you will die.” The serpent said, “You will not surely die. God knows that when you eat, your eyes will be opened and you will be as gods, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise. She ate and gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Their eyes were opened, they knew they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves into aprons.

5 And now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which I, the Lord God, had made.

6 And Satan put it into the heart of the serpent, (for he had drawn away many after him,) and he sought also to beguile Eve, for he knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world.

Latter-day Prophets #

Two ways to read Satan’s ignorance of God’s mind

“Knew not the mind of God” can be read as Satan’s ignorance of the plan or as his refusal of it, and Latter-day Saint sources offer both.

On the first reading the phrase “could mean that the adversary simply did not understand the plan of God and that he was unwittingly destroying himself and defeating his own diabolical designs by tempting Adam and Eve to partake of the fruit.” James E. Talmage, quoting this verse, taught that Satan’s “diabolical effort, far from being the initiatory step toward destruction, contributed to the plan of man’s eternal progression.”

On the second, the phrase says that “the adversary does not see as God sees, know as God knows, or desire what God desires”: he need not have misunderstood the plan, and may have chosen to reject it. The sources offer both as possibilities, not as settled. For who the serpent was, see the note on Gen. 3:1.

Sources: Moses 4:1–19, Pearl of Great Price Student Manual (Church Educational System, 2017). Aaron P. Schade and Matthew L. Bowen, “Moses 4: The Fall—Doctrinal Perspectives and Insights”, In The Book of Moses: From the Ancient of Days to the Latter Days (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 175–92.

7 And he said unto the woman: Yea, hath God said—Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? (And he spake by the mouth of the serpent.)

8 And the woman said unto the serpent: We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden;

9 But of the fruit of the tree which thou beholdest in the midst of the garden, God hath said—Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

10 And the serpent said unto the woman: Ye shall not surely die;

11 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

12 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it became pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make her wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and also gave unto her husband with her, and he did eat.

13 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they had been naked. And they sewed fig-leaves together and made themselves aprons.

Verses 14–19

The Lord God calls

In plain words

They heard the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid among the trees. The Lord called, “Where are you going?” Adam said, “I heard your voice and was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” The Lord asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree I commanded you not to eat from, saying you would surely die?” Adam answered, “The woman you gave me, and commanded to remain with me, gave me the fruit and I ate.” The Lord asked the woman, “What have you done?” She said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.”

14 And they heard the voice of the Lord God, as they were walking in the garden, in the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife went to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

15 And I, the Lord God, called unto Adam, and said unto him: Where goest thou?

16 And he said: I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I beheld that I was naked, and I hid myself.

17 And I, the Lord God, said unto Adam: Who told thee thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, if so thou shouldst surely die?

18 And the man said: The woman thou gavest me, and commandedst that she should remain with me, she gave me of the fruit of the tree and I did eat.

Related Scriptures #

Adam and the command to remain with Eve

Moses 4:18 has Adam say that God had commanded Eve to remain with him, which Genesis does not say.

The added words have been read as Adam’s reason for eating: “Adam concluded that God’s command to remain with his wife (see Moses 4:18) was more important than His command to abstain from the fruit,” and so, in Lehi’s words, “Adam fell that men might be” (2 Ne. 2:25). On this reading “the emphasis on God’s commandment that Eve remain with him accentuates why Adam chose his wife over refraining from partaking of the fruit.” It is a reading of Adam’s answer, and is offered as one. On whether his answer and Eve’s shift the blame or explain their choices, see the note on Gen. 3:13.

Sources: Jess L. Christensen, “The Choice That Began Mortality”, Ensign, Jan. 2002, 36. Aaron P. Schade and Matthew L. Bowen, “Moses 4: Partaking of the Fruit—Knowledge, Accountability, and Redemption”, In The Book of Moses: From the Ancient of Days to the Latter Days (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 193–212.

19 And I, the Lord God, said unto the woman: What is this thing which thou hast done? And the woman said: The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Verses 20–25

The Lord’s words to the serpent, the woman, and Adam

In plain words

To the serpent the Lord said that he would be cursed above all cattle and beasts, would go on his belly and eat dust, and that there would be enmity between his seed and the woman’s seed; the woman’s seed would bruise his head, and he would bruise its heel. To the woman He said He would greatly multiply her sorrow and her conception; in sorrow she would bring forth children, her desire would be to her husband, and he would rule over her. To Adam He said that because he listened to his wife and ate, the ground was cursed for his sake; in sorrow he would eat of it all his days, it would bring thorns and thistles, and by the sweat of his face he would eat bread until he returned to the ground from which he was taken.

20 And I, the Lord God, said unto the serpent: Because thou hast done this thou shalt be cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life;

21 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed; and he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

22 Unto the woman, I, the Lord God, said: I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

23 And unto Adam, I, the Lord God, said: Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the fruit of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying—Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed shall be the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.

24 Thorns also, and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.

25 By the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, until thou shalt return unto the ground—for thou shalt surely die—for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou wast, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Verses 26–32

Eve, the coats of skins, and the way out

In plain words

Adam named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living; the Lord had called her the first of all women, who are many. The Lord made coats of skins for Adam and his wife and clothed them. He told His Only Begotten that the man had become as one of them, knowing good and evil, and that lest he eat of the tree of life and live forever, He would send him out of Eden to till the ground. God’s words cannot return void; they must be fulfilled. So He drove out the man and placed cherubim and a flaming sword at the east of Eden to keep the way of the tree of life. A closing note says these are the words spoken to Moses, that they are true, and that he should show them to no one until the Lord commands, except to those who believe.

26 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living; for thus have I, the Lord God, called the first of all women, which are many.

27 Unto Adam, and also unto his wife, did I, the Lord God, make coats of skins, and clothed them.

28 And I, the Lord God, said unto mine Only Begotten: Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil; and now lest he put forth his hand and partake also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever,

29 Therefore I, the Lord God, will send him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken;

30 For as I, the Lord God, liveth, even so my words cannot return void, for as they go forth out of my mouth they must be fulfilled.

Related Scriptures #

Words that cannot return void

God says that what He has spoken must be fulfilled, and He says it between the decision to send Adam out and the driving out itself.

The words that cannot return void are the ones just spoken: the sentence on Adam (verses 23–25) and the exile (verse 29). “When the command was transgressed, God let the consequences follow.” The same reading of verses 30–31 does not stop at the consequences: “this was not the end; it was a beginning, and redemption would come upon all who would be affected by the partaking of the fruit.”

Sources: Aaron P. Schade and Matthew L. Bowen, “Moses 4: The Fall—Doctrinal Perspectives and Insights”, In The Book of Moses: From the Ancient of Days to the Latter Days (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 175–92.

31 So I drove out the man, and I placed at the east of the Garden of Eden, cherubim and a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life.

32 (And these are the words which I spake unto my servant Moses, and they are true even as I will; and I have spoken them unto you. See thou show them unto no man, until I command you, except to them that believe. Amen.)

Seeing Christ in Moses 4

The chapter names “mine Only Begotten” three times (verses 1, 3, 28). Satan says, “I will be thy son”; the Son, “Beloved and Chosen from the beginning,” answers, “thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever” (verse 2). By His power Satan is cast down (verse 3), and the Father speaks to Him about Adam and Eve in verse 28.

Verse 21 promises the adversary’s defeat: “The seed of the woman refers to Jesus Christ, who was a descendant of Eve and Adam,” and He will bruise Satan’s head while Satan is able only to bruise His heel. For the seed of the woman see the note on Gen. 3:15; for the first sacrifice, which an angel tells Adam is “a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father,” see Moses 5:7.

Worth exploring next

The council in other scripture. Abr. 3:22–28; D&C 29:36–39; D&C 76:25–27.
The Fall in the Book of Mormon. 2 Ne. 2:15–27 and Alma 42:2–9.
What Adam and Eve learned after the Fall. Moses 5:4–12.
Moses’ own encounter with Satan. Moses 1:12–22.
A close reading. The Religious Studies Center’s The Book of Moses: From the Ancient of Days to the Latter Days has three chapters on Moses 4: “The Council in Heaven,” “The Fall—Doctrinal Perspectives and Insights,” and “Partaking of the Fruit—Knowledge, Accountability, and Redemption.”

This chapter elsewhere in scripture

Genesis 3 — Verses 5–31 are the same account as Genesis 3, with verses 1–4 added before it.

Sources & further reading

The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Aaron P. Schade and Matthew L. Bowen, “Moses 4: The Council in Heaven”, In The Book of Moses: From the Ancient of Days to the Latter Days (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2021), 163–74.
Aaron P. Schade and Matthew L. Bowen, “Moses 4: The Fall—Doctrinal Perspectives and Insights”, In The Book of Moses: From the Ancient of Days to the Latter Days (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 175–92.
Aaron P. Schade and Matthew L. Bowen, “Moses 4: Partaking of the Fruit—Knowledge, Accountability, and Redemption”, In The Book of Moses: From the Ancient of Days to the Latter Days (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 193–212.
Genesis 3–4; Moses 4–5, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025).
Moses 4:1–19, Pearl of Great Price Student Manual (Church Educational System, 2017).
Mark A. Mathews, “Satan’s Rebellion”, Ensign, Mar. 2015, 66–69.
Scripture Central, “How Does the Parable of the Willing and Unwilling Sons Teach about Christ?”, KnoWhy #671, Apr. 18, 2024.
Jess L. Christensen, “The Choice That Began Mortality”, Ensign, Jan. 2002, 36.