The Book of Mormon’s Unholy Linguistic Problems

08 August

Nehemiah 13:24 “And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews’ language, but according to the language of each people.”

bom.jpgOver the next few days we’re taking a look at various problems in the Book of Mormon. Today and tomorrow our focus will be on the never ending linguistic issues that seem to plague Mormon canon no matter how many times they try to change it.

A few years back we highlighted sentence structures in our Grammar Problem series. While it may seem mundane, the mere fact this is an issue serves as proof God did not ordain, nor did He inspire the authors to write this book!

For example, we found there were 1,238 words in the 12 sentences we looked at in 1st Nephi alone. This means the average sentence was 103 words long, and 2nd Nephi wasn’t any better. The eight sentences we looked at in this book averaged 103 words as well. You can read more info at Grammar Problems and Questionable Teachings In the Book of Mormon Part 1.

This time we’re looking at sentence structures again, and asking why their sentences are so long without saying anything. This is especially strange based on what we read from their prophet Jacob who made the following claim –

Jacob 4:1 “Now behold, it came to pass that I, Jacob, having ministered much unto my people in word, (and I cannot write but a little of my words, because of the difficulty of engraving our words upon plates) and we know that the things which we write upon plates must remain”.

If it was so cumbersome to engrave their message on the plates, why was his message so wordy? He hammered out 50 words to tell us he can’t write a whole lot! This isn’t the only time they seem to have this problem. Also see two other examples we’ve found.

4 Nephi 1:6 “And thus did the thirty and eighth year pass away, and also the thirty and ninth, and forty and first, and the forty and second, yea, even until forty and nine years had passed away, and also the fifty and first, and the fifty and second; yea, and even until fifty and nine years had passed away.”

57 words in one sentence, verse 4 Nephi 1:6

1 Nephi 1:1-3  “I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days. 2 Yea, I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians. 3 And I know that the record which I make is true; and I make it with mine own hand; and I make it according to my knowledge.”

68 words in one sentence, verse 1 Nephi 1:1

Helaman 3:14 “But behold, a hundredth part of the proceedings of this people, yea, the account of the Lamanites and of the Nephites, and their wars, and contentions, and dissensions, and their preaching, and their prophecies, and their shipping and their building of ships, and their building of temples, and of synagogues and their sanctuaries, and their righteousness, and their wickedness, and their murders, and their robbings, and their plundering, and all manner of abominations and whoredoms, cannot be contained in this work.”

81 words in one sentence, verse Helaman 3:14

As we pointed out in the series, the proper length of a sentence is typically 25 to 30 words. You can make it longer if it’s a really interesting subject, but it needs to hold the attention of its reader, and the next sentence needs to be relatively short.

The problem in our examples today is twofold. The sentences are far too long, and there’s also the issue of these people who are supposedly Israelites using a foreign tongue.

As you can see in our biblical reference above, God condemned the use of anything, including language, that wasn’t centered around the nation of Israel. Certainly, speaking any dialect of Egyptian wasn’t condoned by the Lord.

It’s a well established historical fact, the Israelites were using Hebrew in the time era for the Book of Mormon. While we want to be kind to Mormons, we also want to be true to the Lord.

When you’re speaking with a Mormon, insist they explain the problems in the text we’ve looked at today. God wouldn’t condone the use of Egyptian, and He certainly wouldn’t condone such atrocious grammar!

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