Weak Things · Doctrine and Covenants data · 1823 to 1918
Revelations, counted.
In a log house, a farmhouse, a jail and a printing office, the revelations came, were copied out by hand and carried to the Saints. 138 sections later, this is the book measured: when the words came, where, to whom, and which ones the Church still quotes most.
Verse and word counts are our own, from the current English text. Years and places follow each section heading. Sources are listed in How we counted.
Chapter 1 · 138 sections
The shape of the book
Each column is one section, in order. Some are a single verse long. Section 124, about Nauvoo and its temple, runs to 145 verses. Switch between verses and words to see which revelations fill the most pages.
Chapter 2 · 1823 to 1918
When the revelations came
Nearly every section came in a span of fifteen years. The heaviest year was 1831, when the Church moved to Ohio, the first elders went to Missouri, and new questions about bishops, consecration and Zion needed answers almost every week.
Chapter 3 · 23 places
Where they were received
Kirtland alone gave 46 sections. Each dot is a place named in a section heading, sized by how many sections came there. Tap a dot or a name in the list to see which sections.
By state, as named in the headings
Chapter 4 · Named in the headings
To whom the Lord spoke
Many sections were given for one person: a scribe, a missionary, a printer, a wife. Oliver Cowdery is named in more section headings than anyone but Joseph Smith. Bars count the headings that name each person.
What kind of document each section is
“Hearken unto the voice of the Lord your God, while I speak unto you, Emma Smith, my daughter.”Doctrine and Covenants 25:1, given to Emma Smith at Harmony, Pennsylvania, July 1830
Chapter 5 · 1833 to 2013
A book that kept growing
The revelations were first printed in Missouri in 1833, until a mob destroyed the press. Since then, each edition has added, arranged or corrected. These are the milestones that changed what the book holds.
Chapter 6 · 111,930 words
The words that fill it
The Doctrine and Covenants speaks in the voice of the Lord, and it shows: “behold” and “verily” are everywhere. The bars count whole words in the current text, ignoring capitals. Then search any word or phrase yourself.
Search every verse
Chapter 7 · April 2000 to October 2026
The sections the Church quotes most
The Doctrine and Covenants is the single book cited in the most General Conference talks since 2000: 1,489 of them. Section 88, the “olive leaf,” leads the chapters. The sacrament prayer in 20:77 leads the verses.
Verses cited in the most talks
Sections cited in the most talks
Share of conference scripture citations that point to the Doctrine and Covenants
Chapter 8 · All 138 headings
Find any section
Every section heading, with its year and place. Search a name, a place or a topic, such as “temple,” “Missouri” or “Word of Wisdom,” and open the section on the Church’s site.
How we counted
Sources and notes
- Sections, verses and words. We counted the current English text of all 138 sections, as published by the Church and shared in the open scriptures-json dataset. Words are counted where spaces separate them. Official Declarations 1 and 2 are not in the verse and word totals.
- Years and places. Each section’s year, month and place follow its heading, as used in The Restoration by the Numbers. Where a heading names a county or a river, we placed the dot at that area. Map distances are straight-line.
- People named. Counts are the section headings that name each person, read from each section on the Church’s site. A person can be named because the revelation was given to them, at their request, or about them. Joseph Smith, who received nearly all of them, is not ranked.
- Document types. Sorted from the first words of each heading: “Revelation given…,” “A vision…,” “Prayer…,” “An epistle…” and so on. Section 89, which begins “A Word of Wisdom,” is counted as a revelation.
- Editions. The Book of Commandments, 1835, 1844, 1876, 1921 and 1981 editions are described in the Explanatory Introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants. The 1880 canonization and the 1908 addition of Official Declaration 1 are summarized by the Joseph Smith Papers and the Church’s Church History Topics.
- General Conference. Talk counts are from the Weak Things conference index, April 2000 to October 2026, the same index behind Conference by the Numbers. A verse counts once per talk. The share line divides Doctrine and Covenants citations by all scripture citations that year.
- What the numbers can't say. A count shows size, pace and reach. It cannot measure faith, service or a changed heart. For those, read, serve and see.
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