Avesta people. The term "Avesta" is from the 9th/10th-century works of Zoroastrian tradition in which the word appears as Zoroastrian Middle Persian "abestāg", Book Pahlavi "ʾp(y)stʾkʼ". In that context, "abestāg" texts are portrayed as received knowledge, and are distinguished from the exegetical commentaries (the "zand") thereof. The literal meaning of the word "abestāg" is uncertain; it is generally acknowledged to be a learned borrowing from Avestan, but none of the suggested etymologies have been universally accepted. The widely repeated derivation from *"upa-stavaka" is from Christian Bartholomae ("Altiranisches Wörterbuch", 1904), who interpreted "abestāg" as a contraction of a hypothetical reconstructed Old Iranian
Book of the Law of the Lord forgery from 1852 that was never received or approved by Joseph Smith. Book of the Law of the Lord The Book of the Law of the Lord is a sacred book of scripture used by the Strangites, a sect of the Latter Day Saint movement. It is alleged to be a translation by the Strangite prophet James Strang of the Plates of Laban, which originally acquired by Nephi, a leading character in the early portion of the Book of Mormon. Strang claimed to have translated them using the Urim and Thummim, which Mormons believe was used by Joseph Smith to