What happened to the 116 lost pages?

10. And, behold, Satan hath put it into their hearts to alter the words which you have caused to be written, or which you have translated, which have gone out of your hands. 11. And behold, I say unto you, that because they have altered the words, they read contrary from that which you translated and caused to be written; 12. And, on this wise, the devil has sought to lay a cunning plan, that he may destroy this work; 13. For he hath put into their hearts to do this, that by lying they may say they have caught you in the words which you have pretended to translate. 14. Verily, I say unto you, that I will not suffer that Satan shall accomplish his evil design in this thing. 15. For behold, he has put it into their hearts to get thee to tempt the Lord thy God, in asking to translate it over again. 16. And then, behold, they say and think in their hearts—We will see if God has given him power to translate; if so, he will also give him power again; 17. And if God giveth him power again, or if he translates again, or, in other words, if he bringeth forth the same words, behold, we have the same with us, and we have altered them; 18. Therefore they will not agree, and we will say that he has lied in his words, and that he has no gift, and that he has no power; 19. Therefore we will destroy him, and also the work; and we will do this that we may not be ashamed in the end, and that we may get glory of the world.

30. Behold, I say unto you, that you shall not translate again those words which have gone forth out of your hands; 31. For, behold, they shall not accomplish their evil designs in lying against those words. For, behold, if you should bring forth the same words they will say that you have lied and that you have pretended to translate, but that you have contradicted yourself. 32. And, behold, they will publish this, and Satan will harden the hearts of the people to stir them up to anger against you, that they will not believe my words. 33. Thus Satan thinketh to overpower your testimony in this generation, that the work may not come forth in this generation.

38. And now, verily I say unto you, that an account of those things that you have written, which have gone out of your hands, is engraven upon the plates of Nephi; 39. Yea, and you remember it was said in those writings that a more particular account was given of these things upon the plates of Nephi. 40. And now, because the account which is engraven upon the plates of Nephi is more particular concerning the things which, in my wisdom, I would bring to the knowledge of the people in this account— 41. Therefore, you shall translate the engravings which are on the plates of Nephi, down even till you come to the reign of king Benjamin, or until you come to that which you have translated, which you have retained; 42. And behold, you shall publish it as the record of Nephi; and thus I will confound those who have altered my words. 43. I will not suffer that they shall destroy my work; yea, I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil. 44. Behold, they have only got a part, or an abridgment of the account of Nephi. 45. Behold, there are many things engraven upon the plates of Nephi which do throw greater views upon my gospel; therefore, it is wisdom in me that you should translate this first part of the engravings of Nephi, and send forth in this work.

3. And now, I speak somewhat concerning that which I have written; for after I had made an abridgment from the plates of Nephi, down to the reign of this king Benjamin, of whom Amaleki spake, I searched among the records which had been delivered into my hands, and I found these plates, which contained this small account of the prophets, from Jacob down to the reign of this king Benjamin, and also many of the words of Nephi. 4. And the things which are upon these plates pleasing me, because of the prophecies of the coming of Christ; and my fathers knowing that many of them have been fulfilled; yea, and I also know that as many things as have been prophesied concerning us down to this day have been fulfilled, and as many as go beyond this day must surely come to pass— 5. Wherefore, I chose these things, to finish my record upon them, which remainder of my record I shall take from the plates of Nephi; and I cannot write the hundredth part of the things of my people. 6. But behold, I shall take these plates, which contain these prophesyings and revelations, and put them with the remainder of my record, for they are choice unto me; and I know they will be choice unto my brethren. 7. And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will.

1. The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught. 2. For God doth not walk in crooked paths, neither doth he turn to the right hand nor to the left, neither doth he vary from that which he hath said, therefore his paths are straight, and his course is one eternal round. 3. Remember, remember that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men; 4. For although a man may have many revelations, and have power to do many mighty works, yet if he boasts in his own strength, and sets at naught the counsels of God, and follows after the dictates of his own will and carnal desires, he must fall and incur the vengeance of a just God upon him. 5. Behold, you have been entrusted with these things, but how strict were your commandments; and remember also the promises which were made to you, if you did not transgress them. 6. And behold, how oft you have transgressed the commandments and the laws of God, and have gone on in the persuasions of men. 7. For, behold, you should not have feared man more than God. Although men set at naught the counsels of God, and despise his words— 8. Yet you should have been faithful; and he would have extended his arm and supported you against all the fiery darts of the adversary; and he would have been with you in every time of trouble. 9. Behold, thou art Joseph, and thou wast chosen to do the work of the Lord, but because of transgression, if thou art not aware thou wilt fall. 10. But remember, God is merciful; therefore, repent of that which thou hast done which is contrary to the commandment which I gave you, and thou art still chosen, and art again called to the work; 11. Except thou do this, thou shalt be delivered up and become as other men, and have no more gift. 12. And when thou deliveredst up that which God had given thee sight and power to translate, thou deliveredst up that which was sacred into the hands of a wicked man, 13. Who has set at naught the counsels of God, and has broken the most sacred promises which were made before God, and has depended upon his own judgment and boasted in his own wisdom. 14. And this is the reason that thou hast lost thy privileges for a season— 15. For thou hast suffered the counsel of thy director to be trampled upon from the beginning.

1. Now, behold, I say unto you, that because you delivered up those writings which you had power given unto you to translate by the means of the Urim and Thummim, into the hands of a wicked man, you have lost them. 2. And you also lost your gift at the same time, and your mind became darkened. 3. Nevertheless, it is now restored unto you again; therefore see that you are faithful and continue on unto the finishing of the remainder of the work of translation as you have begun. 4. Do not run faster or labor more than you have strength and means provided to enable you to translate; but be diligent unto the end. 5. Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work. 6. Behold, they have sought to destroy you; yea, even the man in whom you have trusted has sought to destroy you. 7. And for this cause I said that he is a wicked man, for he has sought to take away the things wherewith you have been entrusted; and he has also sought to destroy your gift.

The lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript

Bibliography J. B. Haws, "The Lost 116 Pages Story: What We Do Know, What We Don’t Know, and What We Might Know," in The Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon: A Marvelous Work and a Wonder , ed. Dennis L. Largey, Andrew H. Hedges, John Hilton III, and Kerry M. Hull (Provo, UT: BYU Religious Studies Center, 2015), 81-102

If this scenario is correct, how do critics explain the lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon? Wasn't that dictated in 1828, months before Joseph Smith met Oliver Cowdery?