Encyclopedia of Mormonism – Book of Mormon

The Prophet Joseph Smith called the Book of Mormon "the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion" and said that a person "would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book" (TPJS, p. 194), for it contains the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ (D&C 20:8-9). To members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Book of Mormon forms the doctrinal foundation of the Church and speaks the word of God to all the world.

The Book of Mormon both confirms and supplements the Bible: "Behold, this [the Book of Mormon] is written for the intent that ye may believe that [the Bible]; and if ye believe [the Bible] ye will believe [the Book of Mormon] also" (Morm. 7:9). The Bible is primarily a record of God's dealings with the forebears and descendants of Jacob or Israel in the ancient Near East. Latter-day Saints believe the Book of Mormon to be a record of God's dealings principally with another group of Israelites he brought to the Western Hemisphere from Jerusalem about 600 B.C. (see Lehi). They anticipated the birth and coming of Jesus Christ and believed in his Atonement and gospel. Their complex, lengthy records were abridged by a prophet named Mormon, inscribed on plates of gold, and buried by his son, Moroni 2, after internecine wars destroyed all of the believers in Christ in the New World except Moroni (A.D. 385).

4  And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.  Isaiah 29:4

15  The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

16  Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:

17  And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

18  And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?

19  Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.

20  And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.  Ezekiel 37:15 - 20