The lords words will hiss forth unto the ends of the earth, 2 ne. It was first published in march 1830 by joseph smith as the book of mormon. Words of comfort and encouragement from isaiah book of. Book of mormon population statistics meridian magazine. Whereas we often look upon 2 nephi as the place we get stuck when reading the book of mormon because of the dreaded isaiah chapters, nephi offered us the option of rejoicing in them. Since the book of mormons publication in 1830, a number of different theories have been proposed concerning its authorship. For example, he notes that three lines are necessary to form a plane figure, that is, the triangle. It is used 19,203 times in the book of mormon, making it 7. These words are not in common use in the english language, aside from a few cities and towns which were founded by mormons and. Thus the lds contends that the book of mormon is another testament of jesus christ.
Thats right, i looked at detailed information regarding the entire 1,417,809 characters, 267,931 words, 7,679 sentences, and 369,797 syllables found in the book of mormonpages and pages of information just waiting to provide insight and new perspective. The data is presented by book as well as by author. They compared twentyfour book of mormon authors each having at least 1,000 words to each other, and concluded on the basis of three separate statistical tests that these authors were distinct from each other and oliver cowdery, joseph smith, jr. Why joseph smiths dictation of the book of mormon is. To the prayerful and the sincere, the book of mormon bears a powerful testimony. The idea for the book of mormon reference companion originated in spring 1996. Heres the book of mormon chapters categorized by length. Blue shortest purple average about 27 verses red longest jacob chapter 5 is definitely the longest. Each of the anachronisms is a word, phrase, artifact, or other concept that critics, historians. The number of pages in the book of mormon will be determined by several factors. Gospel cougar has posted a list of book of mormon word counts.
The choice of the number of different words as a counting unit allows the. There are a number of words and phrases in the book of mormon that are anachronistic their existence in the text of the book of mormon is at odds with known linguistic patterns or archaeological findings. Book of mormon numerology rational faiths mormon blog. Top 400 words by frequency for the book of mormon in a variety of languages. The show tells the story of two young mormon missionaries sent off to spread the word in a dangerous part of uganda while gently lampooning organized religion and traditional musical theatre. Variations of this theory only include that the text is a divinely inspired narrative, regardless of. Some of the revelations that appear in the doctrine and covenants have had hundreds of words added to them. Wordprint studies of the book of mormon fairmormon. In the 1830s book of mormon, you have 268,709 words. Most of the unique words in the book of mormon are proper names. Words of mormon 1 the church of jesus christ of latterday saints. Book of mormon central evidences of the book of mormon. Because the book of mormon reference companion is one of the most useful teaching reference books in recent years, we asked the general editor of this volume to describe the purpose of this book as well as some things he learned while compiling it.
The book of mormon is a sacred text of the latter day saint movement, which, according to. This is a very good question and one that has been asked a number of times, mostly by people trying to discredit the veracity of the book of mormon. Within these chapters, alma referred to the plan of redemption precisely ten times. As john hilton put the matter, if wordprinting is a valid technique, then this analysis suggests that it is statistically indefensible to claim that joseph, oliver, or solomon spaulding wrote the 30,000 words in the book of mormon attributed to nephi and alma. The book of mormon has a number of original and distinctive doctrinal. Byu professor royal skousen, the foremost expert on the book of mormon original manuscripts, surmises the number of words in the blocks of recited text was 20 to 30. According to hugh nibley, the father of contemporary mormon scriptural and theological scholarship, the book of mormon can and should be tested. In every set comparing the book of mormon texts against these three writers, at least seven and often many more rejections were measured. In many ancient civilizations, including among the israelites, certain numbers were considered to hold sacred meaning or importance. In addition to this focus on doing, many personalizing words shine. Those books with at least one occurrence per 250 words are shown in red.
I highly recommend his book to anyone who wants a deeper appreciation for the authenticity of the book of mormon. Jul 16, 20 heres the book of mormon chapters categorized by length. Mormon was the chief abridger and editor of the full book of mormon. The implication here is that the author of the book of mormon read the phrase in the bible, and either unconsciously or consciously worked the surrounding phrases into the text. I was searching for articles that discussed the possible connections between the amlicites and the amalekites in the book of mormon when i ran across an interesting blog entry from blognitive dissonance. And now i write some of the words of isaiah, that whoso of my people shall see these words may lift up their hearts and rejoice for all men.
How many words does the book of mormon have answers. Miraculous origins theories generally accept joseph smiths own account, that he translated an ancient record compiled and abridged by mormon, a precolumbian resident of the western hemisphere. Ive tried to find someone besides joseph smith who has produced a book of 273,725 words while in their midtwenties. The mostused book of mormon word, unto, signifies to me the very. Why three is important in mesoamerica and in the book of. I just read stan carmacks bad grammar in the book of mormon found in early english bibles in interpreter. Table 1 provides statistics for the use of the word yea in the book of mormon. It seems singular, but i wondered if anyone else had identified. Introduction to 3,9 changes utah lighthouse ministry. Book of mormon central archive number of pages in books of the book of mormon. Why three is important in mesoamerica and in the book of mormon. The book of mormon as the keystone of church administration.
Mormon writes the words of mormon during or just prior to 385 ad, the year of the great and last battle he was about age 74 at the time, see mormon 2. Some readers wonder why these words occur so often in the book of mormon compared with the bible. Mormon also wrote two books within the book of mormon that bear his name the words of mormon and the book of mormon. The book of mormon is a sacred text of the latter day saint movement, which adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the american continent from approximately 2200 bc to ad 421. Hi guys, ive never posted here but im working on a proposal for an article and it deals with word count of the book of mormon. Just like god spoke to moses and noah in the bible, he also spoke to people in the americas. Number of pages in books of the book of mormon book of.
Although there have been thousands of changes made in the book of mormon, the changes made in some of the other mormon books are of a more serious nature. Today, mormons use the book of mormon in much the same way that christians use and study the bible. A feature of almas exhortation to corianton that may be easy to overlook is the symbolic use of the number ten. First of all, oliver continued to spell words the same way when those words appeared in the book of mormon text proper. It occurred to me there is a fifth possible reason why the text of the book of mormon was originally dictated in early modern english. The book of mormon was translated by joseph smith the prophet from ancient records and gives an account of people who used to live in north and. Cbs, book of mormon llc, the harry fox agency, warner chappell. I needed to know the chapter size so i could plan reading sections for a bookofmormonreadathon. This morning, as i studied 2 nephi 1620 isaiah 610, a number of phrases caught my attention.
I am excited to announce the publication of my paper on hebrew numerology in the book of mormon in the most recent issue of byustudies, 53. The book of mormon also contains work written by more than one author. The thesis of the paper is that the same type of numerology used by hebrews in the ancient world shows up in the book of mormon. These would be word count, size of type, kind of font, layout of page, added features, and edition. In particular, that book explicitly states that the lord commanded moroni to divide the plates of mormon into three parts which would each come out at a different time. The number of times the phrase is used expressed as a total and as a percentage and the rate of occurrence expressed as one occurrence every so many words are listed for each individual book, varying considerably. The initial book of mormon wordprint studies were carried out by larsen, rencher, and layton. Hugh nibley also states that many nonbiblical names found in the book of mormon resemble words from ancient. As will be seen, seven is an important number in the book of mormon. There are differing views on the origin of the book of mormon.
There also have been many important changes in the pearl of great price. Greek and latin words and other problems in the book of mormon part 1 this is the first of several articles dealing with the problems in the book of mormon. Learning to read using the book of mormon, vol 1 camille funk on. A number of scientific tests have been devised to examine the authenticity of the book of mormon. The word yea in the bible and in the book of mormon. Two tests which deal with writing styles have produced some largely ignored results which our critics cannot explain. Of those verses, im wondering how many were copied in part or in whole from the bible. Evidence that the new testament phrases in the book of. Book, music and lyrics by robert lopez, trey parker, matt stone. Each of its unique names has now been looked at by scholars with linguistic training, and it turns out that a good number of them have plausible links with words or names in ancient near eastern languages, especially with hebrew and egyptian. To help you gain perspective of the number of pages of the book of mormon that are devoted to various time periods, see the chart nephite record keepers in the appendix page 408.
A journal of latterday saint faith and scholarship 36 2020, pp. The individual books that compose the book of mormon vary significantly in length. And in one year were thousands and tens of thousands of souls sent to the eternal world, that they might reap their rewards according to their works, whether they were good or whether they were bad, to reap eternal happiness or eternal misery, according to the spirit which they listed to obey, whether it. Reading its words can help us understand our purpose in life, answer important questions, and draw closer to jesus christ. There are actually two lists, one alphetical and one sorted by frequency.
A biblical scholar looks at the book of mormon mormons. The words of mormon contains editorial commentary by mormon. This entry alone saved the gospel cougar blog from my endofyear sidebar culling sorry. Mormon abridges the large plates of nephihe puts the small plates with the other platesking benjamin establishes peace in the land. Using his background as an ecologist, kent analyzes all of the ecologicallysignificant words in the book of mormon to give us new insights into the book itself. These results yield strong statistical evidence that the wordprints of joseph smith, oliver cowdery, and solomon spaulding are not measurable in the book of mormon. One of the best ways to test the book of mormons historical authenticity is to look at its names. On a number of occasions, we find that when the book of mormon quotes a biblical passage, other quotations from the same passage are clustered near the original quotation. The following are several examples from various editions in print.
The words of moroni in the sealed book of mormon explain much about just what is contained in the sealed portion of the plates of mormon. Number of pages in books of the book of mormon book of mormon. When isaiah heard that help was needed, he volunteered immediately and enthusiastically. The book of mormon was written for the intent that we may. It is interesting to note that joseph is not the person responsible for the grammatical errors nor the linguistic variants. Why does alma mention the plan ten times in his words to. The lord covenanted with enos to bring forth the book of mormon to the lamanites, enos 1. Smith and the genesis of the book of mormon, has become. Bullingers book, number in scripture, is very informative on the use of the number three. As stated in its title, this entry contains a very long list of words from the book of mormon.
Royal skousen, the history of the text of the book of mormon, part 3. The book of mormons most spectacular recorded event was a postresurrection appearance of jesus christ himself among the nephite people 3 nephi 11. Its no surprise that the mostused word in the book of mormon is the mostused word in almost any work of literature. Periodically, he added editorial commentaries of his own that were skillfully woven into the texts of the primary authors in that record. The italicized words in the king james version of the holy bible were not in the original greek text but added by the translators to give greater clarity of thought. Yes, it is a list of about 3500 words found in the book of mormon just eyeballing it, along with the number of occurences. Make sure you check back often to see other issues that we see as problematic. The book of mormon contains sacred writings from followers of jesus. Second, the king james chapter specifications are ignored.
Why didnt joseph smith translate the book of mormon right. An account written by the hand of mormon upon plates taken from the plates of. The book of mormon has a number of original and distinctive doctrinal discussions on subjects such as the fall of adam and eve, the nature of the christian atonement, eschatology, redemption from physical and spiritual death, and the organization of the latterday church. The book of mormon reference companion religious studies. The book of mormon and the bible will grow together, 2 ne. There are 5,630 unique words in the book of mormon. The number of times the phrase is used expressed as a total and as a percentage and the rate of occurrence expressed as one occurrence every so many words. Book of mormon central archive number of pages in books of the book of. When i saw this, i immediately wondered how many times each word appears in the book of mormon, so i searched for freeware or open source. He declares that he has witnessed almost all the destruction of his people.
1275 2 1303 306 254 625 838 1266 1554 1481 280 626 190 707 1149 1467 895 1336 123 650 1208 1098 22 1068 1330 1285 201 364 477 199