A Miscellany of Book of Mormon Word Usage

Loren Spendlove recently published an article entitled "Understanding Nephi with the Help of Noal Webster," It contains notes on a number of word usages in the Book of Mormon. Included are (in alphabetical order not necessarily the order in the article or in the Book of Mormon):

abode (as a verb)
about
arise
arrive
astonishment
at Jerusalem
attitude
awful
bands
begat
behold
big with child
blind
broken up
breathe out
brought down
carried up
caught away
chasten
choice (as an adjective)
comfort
compass (as a noun)
condescension
confounded
consuming
contentions
convincing
counsels
crucified
cunning arts
curious
daughters
deceive
deliverance
destroy
digged
dimmed
doubt
dreary
dust
easiness
err
estimeth
expedient
fair
faithful
faithfulness
family
favored
fell down
fool
foolish imaginations
forwards
fruits
gift
give
glory
goodly
gray
guilty
gulf
happy
harlots
have place
hearken
history
holy
in one
Jews
journey
judged
like unto
linen
loading
made mention
meat
methought
ministry
molten
mount
mine
must needs
nature
neither
no more
nourish
nourishmet
obscurity
obtain
of
partook of
pass away
pleasure
preserve
probation
proceedings
prophesying
publish
purity
put forth
raise up
rebel (as a verb)
rebellion
record (as a noun)
redeemer
redemption
rent (as a verb)
required
robe
rudeness
rumors
seek
set at naught
shake
sheddeth
shewn
sight
slow
somewhat
spake
special
standard (as a noun)
stature
statute
storm
straight
strange
stricken
stumble
stumbling blocks
suck (as a noun)
swallowed up
swift
swollen
tasks
tempest
that
the which
threatenings
tidings
timbers
touch
trample under
travel
turned aside
turn away
unto
vapor
very
visionary man
wade
weakness
whatsoever
wherewith
which
white
whoso
wrath
wroth
wrought

Book of Mormon Word Usage: To Cross Oneself

[This post originally appeared in 2001 and is also published here.]

Book of Mormon Word Usage: To Cross Oneself

Occasionally the Book of Mormon uses an un usual expression for English that calls for greater attention. One example is found in Alma 39:9, where Alma exhorts his son Corianton to “repent and forsake your sins, and go no more after the lusts of your eyes, but cross yourself in all these things; for except ye do this ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. Oh, remember, and take it upon you, and cross yourself in these things.”

The reflexive use of the verb to cross is unusual and awkward in modern English. The usage is also unique in the Book of Mormon, where the word is often used as a transitive verb taking as its object a body of water (1 Nephi colophon; 17:17; Alma 2:34; 16:6; 43:35, 40; 56:25; Ether 2:6, 22, 25; 3:4; 6:3).

Three times the Book of Mormon uses the verb to cross in an entirely different sense. The first is when King Noah’s priests interrogate Abinadi: “They began to question him, that they might cross him, that thereby they might have wherewith to accuse him” (Mosiah 12:19). The second use is when the lawyers of Ammonihah interrogate Amulek: “They began to question Amulek, that thereby they might make him cross his words, or contradict the words which he should speak” (Alma 10:16). The third use is when Nephi, son of Helaman, is accused by the judges of the people of Zarahemla: “They caused that Nephi should be taken and bound and brought before the multitude, and they began to question him in divers ways that they might cross him, that they might accuse him to death” (Helaman 9:19).

In these passages, the verb to cross is used as a synonym for to contradict, a point made explicit in Alma 10:16. All of these passages are in the context of legal interrogation. Alma, having been a judge himself for eight years (Mosiah 29:42–44; Alma 1:10–14; 4:15–20), uses a legal metaphor with his wayward son. He talks about how Corianton had “been guilty of so great a crime” and that his crimes “will stand as a testimony against [him] at the last day.” By repenting and forsaking his sins, Corianton can cross—contradict—the testimony of his crimes. Alma then urges his son “to counsel with [his] elder brothers” and to “give heed to their counsel,” thus using his brothers the way a defendant uses a legal counsel (Alma 39:7–10).

It is interesting to note that although in Joseph Smith’s day one sense of the verb to cross was “to contradict,”¹ that usage had been outmoded for more than a century,² and yet the unfamiliar term is particularly apt in its context. This is an instructive example of how seemingly awkward wording in the Book of Mormon can, upon closer examination of the text itself, prove to be not only correct but also effective and even poetic.

Notes

1. Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (New York: Converse, 1828), s.v. “cross.”

2. The Oxford English Dictionary (s.v. “cross”) gives “to contradict” as definition 14c and lists that meaning as obsolete since 1702.

Book of Mormon Word Usage: Seal You His

This was published in Insights: An Ancient Window 22/1 (2002): 4, but since it is difficult to find, I am reproducing it here:

Book of Mormon Word Usage: "Seal You His"

The verb to seal occurs some 34 times in the Book of Mormon.¹ In most of these instances the verb takes (is followed by) a direct object referring to such things as the law, a book, records, words, an account, an epistle, an interpretation, revelation, the truth, and the stone interpreters.² Twice, however, the verb to seal takes a person as a direct object that is qualified by a possessive pronoun:

Therefore, I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his, that you may be brought to heaven, that ye may have everlasting salvation and eternal life, through the wisdom, and power, and justice, and mercy of him who created all things, in heaven and in earth, who is God above all. (Mosiah 5:15; emphasis added)

For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked. (Alma 34:35; emphasis added)

While use of the term to seal to mean "to mark as one's property, and secure from danger"³ was known in Joseph Smith's day, it was not usually used of persons. What, then, are we to make of the expression "seal you his" in the Book of Mormon? Hebrew seals from before the Babylonian exile (and thus in use during Lehi's time) provide helpful insight. Many of those seals contain a formulaic inscription reading "belonging to," followed by the owner's name.⁴ To seal a document or an object, a person would wrap string or twine around it, place a daub of mud on the knot, and press the seal into the mud. Affixing this sort of seal marked the object as the possession of the person in whose name it was sealed.

It is this cultural milieu that underlies the seemingly peculiar usage in the Book of Mormon and clarifies its meaning: our actions allow either Christ or the devil to place his seal on us to indicate to whom we belong.

Notes

1. Title Page (twice); 1 Nephi 14:26; 2 Nephi 18:16; 26:17; 27:7, 8 (twice), 10 (thrice), 11, 15, 17, 21, 22; 30:3, 17; 33:15; Mosiah 5:15; 17:20; Alma 34:35; Helaman 10:7 (twice); 3 Nephi 3:5; Ether 3:22, 23, 27, 28; 4:5 (thrice); 5:1; Moroni 10:2.

2. See 2 Nephi 18:16 (law); 2 Nephi 27:7, 10, 17, 22 (book); Moroni 10:2 (records); 2 Nephi 27:10, 11, 15 (words); 2 Nephi 26:17; Ether 3:22, 27; 4:5; 5:1 (account); 2 Nephi 3:5 (epistle); Ether 4:5 (interpretation); 2 Nephi 27:10 (revelation); Mosiah 17:20 (truth); Ether 3:23, 28 (stone interpreters).

3. Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (New York: S. Converse, 1828), s.v. "seal," definition 8, citing Song of Solomon 4:12: "A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed."

4. See Nahman Avigad and Bejamin Sass, Corpus of West Semitic Stamp Seals (Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, The Israel Exploration Society, and The Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1997), 470.

By John Gee

Book of Mormon Word Usage: Survive

Both uses of the term survive appear in the writings of Mormon. The first instance is in the Words of Mormon:

it is many hundred years after the coming of Christ that I deliver these records into the hands of my son; and it supposeth me that he will witness the entire destruction of my people. But may God grant that he may survive them, that he may write somewhat concerning them, and somewhat concerning Christ (Words of Mormon 1:2)

Here Mormon hopes that his son, Moroni, will outlast the destruction of his people. The second time the term is used is in a similar context though a slightly later date:

And when they had gone through and hewn down all my people save it were twenty and four of us, (among whom was my son Moroni) and we having survived the dead of our people, did behold on the morrow, when the Lamanites had returned unto their camps, from the top of the hill Cumorah, the ten thousand of my people who were hewn down, being led in the front by me. (Mormon 6:11)

Mormon got his desire: his son did outlive the destruction of his people and did write concerning Christ. Elsewhere Mormon explains to his son his rationale:

Behold, thou knowest the wickedness of this people; thou knowest that they are without principle, and past feeling; and their wickedness doth exceed that of the Lamanites.

Behold, my son, I cannot recommend them unto God lest he should smite me.

But behold, my son, I recommend thee unto God, and I trust in Christ that thou wilt be saved; and I pray unto God that he will spare thy life, to witness the return of his people unto him, or their utter destruction; for I know that they must perish except they repent and return unto him. (Moroni 9:20–22)

It may be of some significance that the word survive appears only twice in the Book of Mormon. For the most part, the Nephites were worried about whether they would prosper in the land (e.g. 1 Nephi 4:14) not whether they would survive at all. The term prosper does not occur in either the books of Mormon or Moroni. Neither writer sees it as a viable option for his people. Survival, not prosperity, is their hope and their concern.

Book of Mormon Word Usage: Wrestle

In Joseph Smith's day, the verb to wrestle meant

To strive with arms extended, as two men, who seize each other by the collar and arms, each endeavoring to throw the other by tripping up his heels and twitching him off his center.

The Book of Mormon, however, has a very different usage for the word.

The word wrestle occurs twice in the Book of Mormon, both times with similar usage. The plainest is in Alma. When Alma preached to the city of Ammonihah,

Alma labored much in the spirit, wrestling with God in mighty prayer, that he would pour out his Spirit upon the people who were in the city; that he would also grant that he might baptize them unto repentance. (Alma 8:10)

The usage in Enos is similar:

 I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God, before I received a remission of my sins. (Enos 1:2)

Enos then describes how

my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens. (Enos 1:4)

So in the Book of Mormon wrestling is always connected with prayer. It is a spiritual rather than a physical struggle.

Book of Mormon Word Usage: Yesterday

The term yesterday appears seven times in the Book of Mormon, but its usage is much more restricted than might otherwise be obvious. In the Book of Mormon it always appears in the same phrase: "the same yesterday, today, and forever." There are also a restricted number of things that are the same:

For he [God] is the same yesterday, today, and forever; (1 Nephi 10:18)

I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; (2 Nephi 27:23)

I [the Lord your God] do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; (2 Nephi 29:9)

And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that he is the same yesterday, today, and forever, (Moroni 10:19)

For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing? (Mormon 9:9)

for the Spirit is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. (2 Nephi 2:4)

Nephite usage was so consistent that the Zoramites even followed it:

thou [Holy God] art the same yesterday, today, and forever; (Alma 31:17)

Nephite usage consistently connects the phrase with arguments that God still does miracles and provides gifts of the Spirit to those who believe in him. The Zoramites, however, used the phrase to argue that there would be no Christ. Instead, they claimed,

we believe that thou art God, and we believe that thou art holy, and that thou wast a spirit, and that thou art a spirit, and that thou wilt be a spirit forever. (Alma 31:15)

In this they rejected the earlier teachings of Abinadi that

God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people. And because he dwelleth in flesh he shall be called the Son of God (Mosiah 15:1–2)

Thus they used a scriptural teaching that God was unchangeable to argue that

there shall be no Christ. (Alma 31:16)

Their reasoning seems to have been that if God was unchangeable, then having been a spirit yesterday, he would still be a spirit today and would be a spirit forever (Alma 31:15). So while the Zoramites concentrated on God's form, the Nephites concentrated on God's power: If God did miracles yesterday, he could still do them today and would be able to do them forever.

The same phrase is used in both cases, applied to the same subject, but understood in a slightly different way made the two groups come to opposite conclusions: one believing there was a Christ and one believing there was not.

 

Book of Mormon Word Usage: Fill the Seat of His Father

The expression to fill the seat of his father occurs twice in the Book of Mormon (Alma 50:40; 3 Nephi 6:19). The expression is not biblical and never occurs in the Bible. It seems to be a Mesoamerican expression. As John Sorenson points out:

Epigraphers who have studied lowland Maya inscriptions have identified a glyph that reads as “CHUM-wan (locative)” and means “seated.” Kaplan believes that this manner of representation first occurred at Kaminaljuyu about 150 BC and was transferred to the Maya lowlands not long afterward. So it is of interest to learn that both Pahoran (Alma 50:40) and Lachoneus (3 Nephi 6:19), each a Nephite chief judge (ruler) in his day, “did fill the seat of his father.” Noah, a Zeniffite (i.e., Nephite) king, sat on a throne at an earlier date (Mosiah 11:9), as did later Nephite judges (Alma 60:7, 11, 21).

(John L. Sorenson, Mormon's Codex [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2013], 371.)

Book of Mormon Word Usage: Sharpness

The word sharpness is used six times in the Book of Mormon. It is consistently used in similar contexts. It is not used, however, to describe Nephite arrows or swords but words:

In the time of King Benjamin, for example:

there were many holy men in the land, and they did speak the word of God with power and with authority; and they did use much sharpness because of the stiffneckedness of the people (Words of Mormon 1:17)

Lehi tells his sons, Laman and Lemuel:

And ye have murmured because he [Nephi] hath been plain unto you. Ye say that he hath used sharpness; ye say that he hath been angry with you; but behold, his sharpness was the sharpness of the power of the word of God, which was in him; and that which ye call anger was the truth, according to that which is in God, which he could not restrain, manifesting boldly concerning your iniquities. (2 Nephi 1:26)

So sharpness is a synonym for plain and can be mistaken for being angry. It is also associate with the power of the word of God.

Mormon laments:

Behold, I am laboring with them continually; and when I speak the word of God with sharpness they tremble and anger against me; and when I use no sharpness they harden their hearts against it; wherefore, I fear lest the Spirit of the Lord hath ceased striving with them. (Moroni 9:4)

While sharpness might be mistaken for anger, among the wicked it causes anger. Speaking the word of God plainly is hard for them to take, as the Book of Mormon amply demonstrates.

Book of Mormon Word Usage: Attend

Although the English word attend has many meanings, the two uses in the Book of Mormon only really cover one of them, the second meaning in Webster's 1928 dictionary: "To be present; to accompany." This can be seen in the two appearances (both in Alma):

Now these are the circumstances which attended them in their journeyings, for they had many afflictions; they did suffer much, both in body and in mind, such as hunger, thirst and fatigue, and also much labor in the spirit. (Alma 17:5)

And there were some who said that Ammon was sent by the Great Spirit to afflict them because of their iniquities; and that it was the Great Spirit that had always attended the Nephites, who had ever delivered them out of their hands; and they said that it was this Great Spirit who had destroyed so many of their brethren, the Lamanites. (Alma 19:27)

It may be of some significance that the subject of these verbs is never a mortal, instead being less tangible things such as "hunger, thirst, and fatigue," or what the Lamanites described as "the Great Spirit." But of all the things that could attend someone, the Great Spirit is certainly one of the most desirable.

Book of Mormon Word Usage: Pretend

The English word pretend comes from the Latin, praetendo meaning to hold forth. Even in Latin, the term held the connotation of holding forth something that is not actually the case. Thus, in Joseph Smith's day, Webster's dictionary defined the term as meaning:

To hold out, as a false appearance; to offer something feigned instead of that which is real; to simulate, in words or actions. . . . To show hypocritically; . . . To exhibit as a cover for something hidden. . . . To claim. . . .To put in a claim, truly or falsely; to hold out the appearance of being, possessing or performing.

The six uses of the term pretend in the Book of Mormon follow this pattern. In all cases, those who use the term imply that what is pretended is actually false, although they are not always accurate in their assessment.

Thus Abinadi's accusers say:

he saith thou shalt be as the blossoms of a thistle, which, when it is fully ripe, if the wind bloweth, it is driven forth upon the face of the land. And he pretendeth the Lord hath spoken it. (Mosiah 12:12)

In this case, his accusers are mistaken.

Korihor, likewise promotes the accusation:

Yea, they durst not make use of that which is their own lest they should offend their priests, who do yoke them according to their desires, and have brought them to believe, by their traditions and their dreams and their whims and their visions and their pretended mysteries, that they should, if they did not do according to their words, offend some unknown being, who they say is God—a being who never has been seen or known, who never was nor ever will be. (Alma 30:28)

Again, Korihor is mistaken in his accusations.

Abinadi himself uses the term:

And now Abinadi said unto them: Are you priests, and pretend to teach this people, and to understand the spirit of prophesying, and yet desire to know of me what these things mean? (Mosiah 12:25)

Abinadi notes that Noah's priests, who held themselves out as understanding the spirit of prophesying, could not understand the prophecies. Abinadi, however, was not mistaken.

Nephi uses the term ironically:

Has Nephi, the pretended prophet, who doth prophesy so much evil concerning this people, agreed with thee, in the which ye have murdered Seezoram, who is your brother? And behold, he shall say unto you, Nay. (Helaman 9:27–28)

Nephi knows quite well that the people he is talking to do not believe that he actually is a prophet. He is in custody and those who have put him in custody have been trying to refute his prophecies and are trying to frame him for murder.

For others, the term is used not so much ironically as cynically:

Nevertheless, they durst not lie, if it were known, for fear of the law, for liars were punished; therefore they pretended to preach according to their belief; and now the law could have no power on any man for his belief. (Alma 1:17)

The most egregious example of this cynical use has to be the traitor Amalickiah, who, having failed to seize power over the Nephites, is in the process of seizing power over the Lamanites. He has already betrayed the Lamanite king by handing his army over to another general, whom he in turn betrayed by poisoning him, and he has just had the Lamanite king assassinated:

And it came to pass that Amalickiah commanded that his armies should march forth and see what had happened to the king; and when they had come to the spot, and found the king lying in his gore, Amalickiah pretended to be wroth, and said: Whosoever loved the king, let him go forth, and pursue his servants that they may be slain. (Alma 47:27)

As the word usage shows, the Book of Mormon condemns those who pretend to be something that they are not.

Book of Mormon Word Usage: Merry

Considering all the injunctions to be of good cheer (e.g. 3 Nephi 1:13), one might expect the Book of Mormon to have a positive use of the word merry. In the Book of Mormon, the term merry is always used in a negative way.

The term merry is used five times in the Book of Mormon. It is used of unbelieving Lamanites twice (Mosiah 20:1; Alma 55:14), the wicked twice (2 Nephi 28:7-8), and of Laman and Lemuel once (1 Nephi 18:9). So in the Book of Mormon unbelievers are merry.

The Book of Mormon also associates the term with a variety of specific behaviors. It is associated with singing and dancing twice (1 Nephi 18:9; Mosiah 20:1), with drinking (especially wine) and drunkenness three times (2 Nephi 28:7-8; Alma 55:14), as well as rudeness (1 Nephi 18:9).

So the Book of Mormon uses the term merry for a certain type of light-heartedness, associated with the wicked, who drink and get drunk. It is the enjoyment of the wicked in their wickedness so that "they did forget by what power they had been brought thither" (1 Nephi 18:9).

This is a contrast with Joseph Smith's day, when, according to Webster's dictionary of his day, to be merry was to be "Pleasant; agreeable; delightful" or "jovial."

So while the Book of Mormon might encourage us to be of good cheer, it does not want us to make merry. 

Book of Mormon Word Usage: Opposition

The word opposition is used in the Book of Mormon to contrast things that are opposed to each other. Lehi illustrates this with a number of word pairs that are opposed or contrary to each other. His list includes:

• punishment vs. happiness (2 Nephi 2:10)


• righteousness vs. wickedness (2 Nephi 2:11)


• holiness vs. misery (2 Nephi 2:11)


• good vs. bad (2 Nephi 2:11)


• life vs. death (2 Nephi 2:11)


• corruption vs. incorruption (2 Nephi 2:11)


• sense vs. insensibility (2 Nephi 2:11)


• the forbidden fruit vs. the tree of life (2 Nephi 2:15)

Indeed, Lehi argues that "there is an opposition in all things" (2 Nephi 2:11). But it is not so in the Book of Mormon. The term opposition appears only in 2 Nephi, in Lehi's speech to his son Jacob (2 Nephi 2:10-11, 15).

Book of Mormon Word Usage: Neglect

The word neglect, occurring only seven times in the Book of Mormon, is easy to neglect. All of the occurrences are in Alma, and all but one of them come from a single chapter, Moroni's petition to Pahoran (Alma 60). The other occurrence is in one of Alma's discourses (Alma 32).

Four times the noun neglect is modified by the adjective great (Alma 60:4, 5, 6, 14) and twice is described as "exceedingly great neglect" (Alma 60:6, 14). Moroni complains to the Pahoran, the chief judge, and asks:

Is it that ye have neglected us because ye are in the heart of our country and ye are surrounded by security, that ye do not cause food to be sent unto us, and also men to strengthen our armies? (Alma 60:19)

Moroni can classify this as neglect because

ye yourselves know that ye have been appointed to gather together men, and arm them with swords, and with cimeters, and all manner of weapons of war of every kind, and send forth against the Lamanites, in whatsoever parts they should come into our land. (Alma 60:2)

The two challenges facing Moroni and his armies were

myself, and also my men, and also Helaman and his men, have suffered exceedingly great sufferings; yea, even hunger, thirst, and fatigue, and all manner of afflictions of every kind (Alma 60:3)

 and

great has been the slaughter among our people; yea, thousands have fallen by the sword, while it might have otherwise been if ye had rendered unto our armies sufficient strength and succor for them (Alma 60:5).

Thus Moroni asked for food and men.

Moroni blames the situation first on "your thoughtless state" (Alma 60:6), second because perhaps "ye yourselves are seeking for authority. We know not but what ye are also traitors to your country."
(Alma 60:18). The real reason is a rebellion (Alma 61:3), which is a possibility that Moroni mentions but does not consider as the present problem (Alma 60:16-17).



Moroni, seeing the dire consequences of neglect and thoughtlessness, classifies those who neglect their duties as "wax[ing] strong in your iniquities" (Alma 60:31) and bringing the judgment of God on them (Alma 60:32).

Given this sort of background on the use of neglect, consider now the other use of the term:

But if ye neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will not get any root; and when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it, because it hath no root it withers away, and ye pluck it up and cast it out. Now, this is not because the seed was not good, neither is it because the fruit thereof would not be desirable; but it is because your ground is barren, and ye will not nourish the tree, therefore ye cannot have the fruit thereof. (Alma 32:38–39)

The two uses form a curious, and telling, parallel.

It Came to Pass in Moroni

Years ago I read an observation that Moroni never uses the phrase "it came to pass." The individual seemed to think that it was not part of Moroni's style. This is not quite true.

The phrase "it came to pass" never appears in the book of Moroni, but Moroni uses it elsewhere in his writings, in Mormon 8:2 for example.

In the Book of Mormon, the phrase "it came to pass" appears only in historical contexts. The phrase "it shall come to pass" occurs only in prophetic contexts. By the time that the book of Moroni comes, Moroni has narrated all the history he cares to. The wars of the wicked who are not his people are no longer of much concern. Instead he tells about various facets of the Nephite church and how it worked and what the ordinances were like. Then he includes a sermon and two letters from his father, and finally concludes with some observations for a future day. These require no historical narrative and present no reason to use the phrase "it came to pass." That, and not some idiosyncrasy of Moroni's style accounts for its absence in the book of Moroni.

Book of Mormon Word Usage: Trouble

The word trouble occurs sixteen times in the Book of Mormon, seven times as a noun and nine times as a verb.

As a noun, trouble is sometimes paired with "care and sorrow" (Alma 40:12), and more often in the plural with trials and afflictions (Mosiah 29:33; Alma 36:3, 27; 38:5). In the Isaiah passages, it is paired with "darkness, [and] dimness of anguish" (2 Nephi 18:22), where it translates the Hebrew ṣārāh, which is the feminine abstract of ṣār, meaning enemy, oppressor, persecutor, and would thus mean something like enmity, oppression, persecution.

The root of the Book of Mormon use of the word seems to be the verbal form, which is used in the sense of the earliest English use of the word meaning "To put into a state of (mental) agitation or disquiet; to disturb, distress, grieve, perplex" (according to the Oxford English Dictionary). The Book of Mormon expression reflecting this most clearly is "I have been somewhat troubled in mind" (Alma 22:3) or "Alma was troubled in his spirit" (Mosiah 26:10; cf. 26:13). It is used differently in such places as "being troubled no more for a time with their enemies." (Alma 3:24), but the main usage is being vexed in mind.

Various things could cause people to be troubled. One might, for example be "troubled because of the wickedness of the people of the house of Israel." (3 Nephi 17:14), or one could be troubled with "all the trials and troubles of a righteous king" (Mosiah 29:33). But one can also be troubled with intellectual issues, such as when Lamoni's father was "troubled in mind because of the generosity and the greatness of the words of thy brother, Ammon" (Alma 22:3). Alma's son was troubled by a number of intellectual issues which either were caused or exacerbated by his sins. His father sought to allay the intellectual issues, but counseled: "I desire that ye should let these things trouble you no more, and only let your sins trouble you, with that trouble which shall bring you down unto repentance." (Alma 42:29).

Productive trouble leads to revelation or repentance.

Word Index

I have put together an index of discussions of Book of Mormon word usage that have appeared on this blog and elsewhere. It is available as a separate page and also here.

Book of Mormon Word Usage: Elect

Interestingly enough, all four uses of the verb elect are found in just two verses in the Book of Mormon, in the prayer uttered every week by the Zoramites:

Holy God, we believe that thou hast separated us from our brethren; and we do not believe in the tradition of our brethren, which was handed down to them by the childishness of their fathers; but we believe that thou hast elected us to be thy holy children; and also thou hast made it known unto us that there shall be no Christ.

But thou art the same yesterday, today, and forever; and thou hast elected us that we shall be saved, whilst all around us are elected to be cast by thy wrath down to hell; for the which holiness, O God, we thank thee; and we also thank thee that thou hast elected us, that we may not be led away after the foolish traditions of our brethren, which doth bind them down to a belief of Christ, which doth lead their hearts to wander far from thee, our God.(Alma 31:16–17)

The verb means to choose which is more common in the Book of Mormon. Its usage in this particular passage would seem to mean that it was used for the Zoramites for a particular meaning. The verb to choose has a Germanic etymology, while the verb to elect comes from Latin. Latin words tend to have a higher register in English than Germanic ones. The use of a higher register comes across as more elitist than using the verb to choose thus reinforcing the snobbery of the Zoramites.

The Zoramites view themselves as elitist because they have been chosen to know "that there shall be no Christ" as opposed to the unwashed masses who are "led away after the foolish traditions of our brethren, which doth bind them down to a belief of Christ." As a result, the Zoramites believed that they were chosen "that we shall be saved, whilst all around us are elected to be cast by thy wrath down to hell."

Interestingly enough, the Zoramites, who were elitist, apparently showed no interest in missionary work.

Book of Mormon Word Usage: Priesthood

It would probably come as a surprise to most members of the Church to learn that the term priesthood, as such, never occurs in the Book of Mormon. The word priesthood appears eight times in the Book of Mormon, all in the book of Alma, and always preceded by the adjective high. The Book of Mormon term is therefore not priesthood, but high priesthood.

All the uses of the term high priesthood save one occur in the thirteenth chapter of Alma. The exceptional occurrence, in the fourth chapter is interesting because it actually defines what Alma means by the term high priesthood. In Alma 4:20, it states: “Alma delivered up the judgment seat to Nephihah, and confined himself wholly to the high priesthood of the holy order of God.” Earlier in the chapter it states that “Alma did not grant unto him [Nephihah] the office of being high priest over the church, but he retained the office of high priest unto himself; but he delivered the judgment-seat unto Nephihah” (Alma 4:18). For Alma, the term high priesthood means the office of being high priest over the church.

Thus men prepared from the foundation of the world were “called by this holy calling, and ordained unto the” office of high priest over the church (Alma 13:6). And this office of high priest over the church was "after the order of his Son, which order was from the foundation of the world." (Alma 13:7). High priests "were ordained after this manner—being called with a holy calling, and ordained with a holy ordinance, and taking upon them the" office of being high priest "of the holy order" (Alma 13:8). In sum:

Now, as I said concerning the holy order, or this high priesthood, there were many who were ordained and became high priests of God; and it was on account of their exceeding faith and repentance, and their righteousness before God, they choosing to repent and work righteousness rather than to perish;

Therefore they were called after this holy order, and were sanctified, and their garments were washed white through the blood of the Lamb.

Now they, after being sanctified by the Holy Ghost, having their garments made white, being pure and spotless before God, could not look upon sin save it were with abhorrence; and there were many, exceedingly great many, who were made pure and entered into the rest of the Lord their God. (Alma 13:10–12)

In the Book of Mormon, high priest was a special office. We first hear of the office when Alma founds the church in the land of Helam (Mosiah 23:16). The office is passed to his son, Alma (Mosiah 29:42). We originally read of only one high priest, but then Alma claims that he is "a high priest over the church of God" (Alma 5:3). But perhaps he is referring to high priests chronologically as a bit later he is "the high priest over the church of God throughout the land" (Alma 8:23), and was acknowledged as such:

we know that thou art high priest over the church which thou hast established in many parts of the land, according to your tradition; and we are not of thy church, and we do not believe in such foolish traditions. (Alma 8:11).

Some time later, we hear of other high priests:

they took him, and bound him, and carried him before Ammon, who was a high priest over that people.

And it came to pass that he caused that he should be carried out of the land. And he came over into the land of Gideon, and began to preach unto them also; and here he did not have much success, for he was taken and bound and carried before the high priest, and also the chief judge over the land. (Alma 30:20–21)

After 3 Nephi 6:22 we hear no more of high priests. After the coming of Christ they disappear and the church seems to be led by "disciples" rather than high priests.

Thus the high priesthood was a specific office used for at least a century among the Nephites.

Book of Mormon Word Usage: Repair

Among the more constructive uses for words in the Book of Mormon is the use of the word repair. The word occurs six times in the Book of Mormon, but one has been accidentally deleted from recent editions.

Twice the word repair is used to refer to physical construction. Thus Zeniff and his people

began to build buildings, and to repair the walls of the city (Mosiah 9:8).

Likewise, before the destruction in Third Nephi,

there were many cities built anew, and there were many old cities repaired. (3 Nephi 6:7).

But the term repair was more often used in the Book of Mormon in a metaphorical sense. Thus the sons of Mosiah, after their conversion,

traveled throughout all the land of Zarahemla, and among all the people who were under the reign of king Mosiah, zealously striving to repair all the injuries which they had done to the church, confessing all their sins, and publishing all the things which they had seen, and explaining the prophecies and the scriptures to all who desired to hear them. (Mosiah 27:35)

This repair was part of the repentance process. The sons of Mosiah strove to repair the injuries they had inflicted by confessing their sins, publishing all the things they had seen including the appearance of an angel, and explaining the scriptures to anyone who wanted to hear them.

So also the Lamanites converted by the sons of Mosiah vowed:

If the Lord saith unto us go, we will go down unto our brethren, and we will be their slaves until we repair unto them the many murders and sins which we have committed against them. (Alma 27:8)

Becoming slaves turned out not to be an option so it is not clear how much time one would have to be a slave in order to repair a murder, but the converted Lamanites seem to have thought that even if it took the rest of their lives, that restitution was in order.

Later in the Book of Mormon account

many of those dissenters who had gone over from the Nephites . . . came forth and did confess their sins and were baptized unto repentance, and immediately returned to the Nephites to endeavor to repair unto them the wrongs which they had done. (Helaman 5:17)

Repairing is thus part of repentance. Like the physical instances of repairing, it requires fixing the problems created by the actions and returning things to their proper function. It is also interesting that repairing wrongs is something that repentant souls "strive" or "endeavor" to do or are considered at least hypothetically. It is not clear that mortals are fully capable of repairing their wrongs, but they ultimately must try to do so.

The last instance of repair in the Book of Mormon fits these latter usages. Royal Skousen has already told the story of how the word was deleted through a copying error. The 1830 edition had retain instead of repair by mistake. Since the word made no sense, it was dropped. Here it is in its original context:

Therefore I command you, my son, in the fear of God, that ye refrain from your iniquities; That ye turn to the Lord with all your mind, might, and strength; that ye lead away the hearts of no more to do wickedly; but rather return unto them, and acknowledge your faults and repair that wrong which ye have done. (Alma 39:12–13)

Here Alma outlines steps of repentance for his son:

• Refrain from repeating his sins.
• Turn to the Lord.
• Do not encourage others to commit iniquity.
• Acknowledge his faults.
• Repair the wrong done.

These procedures constitute the repentance that Alma's son must do. Acknowledging his faults and repairing the wrong are essential requirements in repentance. Like the walls of a city, failure to repair the damage done is incomplete repentance and leaves the soul in a weak position.

An Odd Use of Language

Alma begins his talk to the people of Gideon saying something that seems, at first, rather strange:

Behold my beloved brethren, seeing that I have been permitted to come unto you, therefore I attempt to address you in my language (Alma 7:1)

Why does Alma use this expression? A little background makes some things a bit clearer. The people of Gideon were those who dwelt in the valley of Gideon:

the valley being called after that Gideon who was slain by the hand of Nehor with the sword (Alma 2:20).

and it was he who was an instrument in the hands of God in delivering the people of Limhi out of bondage. (Alma 1:8).

Alma himself, was the son of Alma who had been a priest of Noah, Limhi's father. So Alma and the people of Gideon had the same origin, but were only a generation later. So they would have spoken the same language. Alma, however, is attempting to address them in his language. It appears to have been rusty. So the people in Zarahemla, where Alma had previously been, must have spoken a different language and Alma must have grown accustomed to speaking in the language of Zarahemla, or whatever official language held the Nephite territories together.

This brings a different understanding to the original description of Alma as "a man of many words" (Mosiah 27:8).


It also brings up the possibility that if we had the originals of Alma 5 and 7 that they might not even be in the same language.