The Book of Mormon and the King James Bible
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The Book of Mormon contains many linguistic similarities to the King James Bible. In some cases, entire passages of scripture are duplicated in the Book of Mormon. Sometimes the source is acknowledged, as in the book of 2 Nephi, where 18 chapters of Isaiah are quoted. The English text is copied nearly verbatim from the Authorized Version, with minor changes in the majority of verses. In other cases, the source is not acknowledged, especially in the case of seemingly anachronistic borrowings.
Other significant connections between the two books include Book of Mormon words and phrases that only appear in their KJV usage, perpetuation of Bible passages considered by most scholars to have been mistranslated in the King James Version, and the apparent use of English homophones. Additionally, one LDS scholar has made the observation that the Book of Mormon uses an archaic vocabulary that seems to reflect 16th- and 17th-century usage rather than the 19th-century usage one would expect if it had been authored by Joseph Smith (Skousen 2005).
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[edit] Anachronistic Borrowings
Those who dispute the authenticity of the Book of Mormon point out word-for-word similarities with portions of the Bible that did not exist in Book of Mormon times (both post-exile parts of the Old Testament as well as sections of the New Testament). For example, a couple of verses from 1 Corinthians 13 read, "And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things," is remarkably identical to Moroni 7. Those who maintain the Book of Mormon's authenticity explain such commonalities as cases of common origin; for example, both Paul and Mormon could be quoting ideas and language from a much older text that they held in common and that is lost from present knowledge.
A lengthy list of some possible unattributed, anachronistic quotations can be found in the Skeptic's Annotated Book of Mormon. However, Mormon scholars contend that such anachronisms of wording are not very compelling given that the Book of Mormon is a translation. That is, the words in the book as it exists today are an English approximation of the words written by ancient scribes. If a phrase from some source extant in Joseph Smith's day appears, that is to be expected, so long as they attempt to convey the ideas intended by the original authors.
It has also been pointed out that if, as Joseph Smith contends, he received angelic visitations by ancient prophets as a common source for his revelations, other prophets might well have had similar experiences. This is given as one possible explanation of how New Testament writing came into the Book of Mormon, by cross-continental angelic ministration. Christian L. Palmer notes [citation needed] the Book of Revelation, when John was told by the angelic messenger he was about to worship: "...See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God." (Revelation 22:9) Palmer sees this verse as an example of the use of prophets as angelic messengers to other prophets. If such a trend did exist, it would also explain the existence of similar wordings.
Latter Day Saints have further argued [citation needed] that the presumably divine author of both books (God) may simply not change his wording every time he sends a message to different peoples. Proponents of this idea quote 2 Nephi 29:8, "Know ye that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another".
[edit] Unique Words and Phrases
There are many words and phrases which, when found in the Book of Mormon, exist only in a KJV context, suggesting that the words were not part of the author's daily vocabulary, but were used only in borrowings from the Authorized Version. For example, "fervent" and "elements" each appear twice, both times together in the same phrase, and in the same context as 2 Peter 3:10 (3 Nephi 26:3, Mormon 9:2). Also, "talent" is used only once, in the same context as Matthew 25:28 (Ether 12:35).[1]
[edit] Mistranslations
This is an issue where the KJV contains mistranslations perpetuated in the Book of Mormon, implying that the Book of Mormon used the KJV as a source. A few examples are 2 Nephi 19:1, 2 Nephi 21:3, and 2 Nephi 16:2. The Book of Mormon also references "dragons" and "satyrs" in 2 Nephi 23:21-22, matching the KJV, whereas more modern bible translations do not include these mythological beasts.
The Book of Mormon also quotes Isaiah 7, particularly: "a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (2 Nephi 17:14]). Some biblical scholars consider this to be a mistranslation of the Hebrew bible into the KJV, since the Hebrew word for "virgin" is "bethulah", whereas Isaiah uses the word "almah", meaning "young woman". The Greek text of the Bible uses a word nearly always translated as virgin, which is used in Matthew 1:22–23. See Dispute regarding Isaiah 7:14.
However, proponents point out [citation needed] that New Testament speakers such as Jesus and Paul frequently quote from the Greek Septuagint. More accurate renderings of the original Hebrew text might have been possible, but biblical prophets seemed to be content to use the language of the accepted scripture version of the day, regardless of specific phrases that might not be the best translation. Such seems to be the case for Joseph Smith's translation of the Book of Mormon—quotations from the Bible were given in the language of the accepted scripture version of the day: the KJV.
The quotation of Isaiah 2:16 by 2 Nephi 12:16, "And upon all the ships of the sea, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures" is sometimes used as evidence of an ancient source for the Book of Mormon. The KJV contains only half the phrase, while the Septuagint contains the other half. Some Book of Mormon scholars conclude that an ancient text contained the phrase intact, which the Book of Mormon used as a source, while the Septuagint and the KJV each lost a different half. However, modern scholarship suggests that Isaiah 2:16 is part of a poetic section and is a rhyming couplet; the Book of Mormon contains three phrases at this section where the meter dictates there should be only two, though which two is apparently up for debate. A detailed discussion of the evidence for and against is 2 Nephi 12 and the Septuagint.
[edit] Use of English homophones
A few passages in the Book of Mormon appear to use phrases from the King James Bible, but with certain words changed to English homophones. For example, 3 Nephi 25:2 reads, "But unto you that fear my name, shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves in the stall." This is identical to Malachi 4:2, except that the word Son is used in place of Sun. The two words are homophones in English but not similar at all in Hebrew or Egyptian.
This association of son with sun suggests that the book was written by someone familiar with the English language. Another interpretation is that the amanuensis (or "scribe", primarily Oliver Cowdery) wrote a homophone of the word he heard. Early Nineteenth-century American spelling was not standardized, so this would have been a usual and expected occurrence. However, the distinction in spelling between "son" and "sun" was relatively well established in the 18th century. The Church has left this spelling intact while it has regularized many other spellings since the first edition.
[edit] Archaic Vocabulary
Royal Skousen of Brigham Young University has suggested that the Book of Mormon uses an archaic vocabulary that seems to reflect 16th- and 17th-century usage rather than the 19th-century usage one would expect if it had been authored by Joseph Smith. If correct, the implication of this assertion would be that God, in revealing the text of the Book of Mormon to Joseph Smith, revealed something that roughly approximated the language of the most popular Bible translation of the time, the King James Version. Skousen gives several examples, such as the use of the word require to mean 'to request' in Enos 1:18 (compare to KJV Ezra 8:22) and use of 'to cast arrows' to mean 'to shoot arrows' in Alma 49:4 (compare to KJV Proverbs 26:18).
The Book of Mormon also appears, according to Skousen, to use archaic phrases that are not found in the King James Bible but were in current usage at or around the time of its first publication in 1611. For example, the original text of Alma 37:37 reads "counsel the Lord in all thy doings," using 'counsel' to mean 'counsel with.' The current LDS edition of the Book of Mormon reads "counsel with the Lord in all thy doings" in order to avoid misunderstanding by modern readers. This sense of the word 'counsel' became obsolete about 250 years prior to Joseph Smith's birth. Another example is but if in the original text of Mosiah 3:19: "but if he yieldeth" compared to the current reading; "unless he yieldeth." The use of but if to mean unless ended around the beginning of the 17th century, predating Joseph Smith by 200 years (Skousen 2005.)
[edit] References
- Royal Skousen, "The Archaic Vocabulary of the Book of Mormon," FARMS Insights 25:5. 2005. Available online at [1]
