In this episode, Brian Hales interviews Don Bradley about his decades-long research into missing parts of Book of Mormon narrative. Ever since he was a youngster, Don’s wondered about the content of the 116 pages of the Book of Lehi transcript that Martin Harris lost in 1828. Most Primary children know the story of how the Lord said “no” three times, but then relented and someone subsequently stole the pages from Martin. God told Joseph not to retranslate that portion of the golden plates so the stories and teachings scribed onto those pages remain lost forever . . . or are they?

Martin Harris initially thought that his wife, Lucy, had taken the manuscript, but unlike a popular rumor, he didn’t think she burned or destroyed it. Then on her deathbed in 1836, she absolutely denied having anything to do with the manuscript theft. She was a devout Quaker— who are supposed to be absolutely honest. It appears Lucy Harris’s deathbed testimony convinced Martin that she had nothing to do with the robbery.

When asked, “Do you think the lost pages might be rediscovered? Don replied: “I sure hope so.” But then he cautioned: “I would think that after 189 years, if it were still out there, it would have surfaced.” Don speculates: “It would be the biggest find ever in Mormon history and one of the biggest finds ever in religious history if that turned up, so I definitely hold out hope that it’s out there.”

One person who believed that it would surface was the Prophet’s father, Joseph Smith Sr. He gave an interview in 1830 in which he said to the interviewer that that manuscript would someday come forth. Don isn’t sure if that was just his opinion or if he was quoting his son Joseph Jr.

Don believes that the number 116 might be far less than the actual total of pages that disappeared. Scholars have known for some time that 116 is the number of pages of the printer’s manuscript that covers the period of the small plates, which is the same span of time as the lost pages. Joseph may have simply borrowed that number rather than having actually counted the pages before releasing them to Martin.

The lost manuscript chronologically covered a full half of Mormon’s total abridgment that started 600 years from Lehi to Christ and ended in 320 AD. The remaining pages starting with Mosiah represent the second half of Mormon’s abridgment and are much greater than 116. Don asks: “Why would the first half be so short?”

Over the past decades, Don sought to discover the missing meanings and narratives of the 116 pages through research. But how does one go about discovering lost words, lost pages, and lost content? He explains there are a couple of ways. There are “internal evidences” like how the “small plates” of 1 Nephi through Omni or Words of Mormon cover the same period as the lost pages. Even though these small plates are rather light on history, they give us at least a thumbnail sketch of what was in the lost 116 pages.

Another internal evidence is comprised of echoes or flashbacks where later Book of Mormon accounts refer back to an earlier narrative that we don’t have. One example of this would be in Mosiah 11 that mentions King Noah building a tower on this hill that was north of the land Shilom, “which had been a resort for the children of Nephi at the time they fled out of the land.” The current Book of Mormon does not mention any details about this “resort” or the time they “fled out of the land,” but it assumes that we already know about this story, indicating that it had been in the part of the Book of Mormon that is now lost.

Don also speaks of “external evidences” like statements or other sources outside of the available text of the Book of Mormon, like Joseph Smith’s earliest revelations. The most obvious of those is in section 10 of the Doctrine and Covenants where it actually says to Jose...