Internal Evidences of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon
The truthfulness of the Book of Mormon is established by inspiration and spiritual witness. There are, however, many internal evidences contained in the book itself that testify of it being a translated record from ancient documents. Following are some beautiful truths of that nature.
President Ezra Taft Benson: “All objections, whether they be on abortion, plural marriage, seventh day worship, etc., basically hinge on whether Joseph Smith and his successors were and are prophets of God receiving divine revelation. Here, then, is a procedure to handle most objections through the use of the Book of Mormon. First, understand the objection. Second, give a brief answer from modern revelation. Third, show how the correctness of the answer really depends on whether or not we have modern revelation through modern prophets. Fourth, explain that whether or not we have modern prophets and revelation really depends on whether the Book of Mormon is true. Therefore, the only problem the objector has to resolve for himself is whether the Book of Mormon is true. If the Book of Mormon is true, then Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith was His prophet, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, and it is being led today by a prophet receiving revelation.”
Following is an index of Hebrew and Semitic word forms that are found in the Book of Mormon. How does one explain the presence of these peculiar word forms in the Book of Mormon if it is anything other than what it claims to be, a translated work of scripture taken from ancient plates?
- Chiasmus
- Cognate accusatives
- Compound prepositions
- Construct state
- Dative impersonals
- Emphatic pronouns and verbs
- Parallelisms, antithetical
- Parallelisms, synonymous
- Parallelisms, synthetic
- Periphrastic did
- Plural amplification
- Qasids
- Repeated conjunctions
- Repetitions, emphatic
- Repetitions, progressive
Miscellaneous internal evidences:
- 1 Nephi 2:5 — Family which consisted of… What about Nephi’s sisters?? Male-dominant society.
- 1 Nephi 2:6 — River of water? What other kind of river is there? Dry bed rivers and sand rivers in the desert.
- 1 Nephi 2:7 — Altar of stones, not stone altar.
- 1 Nephi 2:10 — A valley described as firm and steadfast? Not a mountain? Arab custom.
- 1 Nephi 3:2 — Dreamed a dream? Semitic cognate. Joseph would have said “I had a dream”.
- 1 Nephi 3:3 — Plates of brass? Joseph would have said “brass plates”.
- 1 Nephi 3:9 — Go up to the land of Jerusalem? Would Joseph Smith have known when to say ‘up’ and when to say ‘down’?
- 1 Nephi 3:11 — Casting lots was a well-known Hebrew custom. Various references in Old Testament. Would Joseph Smith have known this?
- 1 Nephi 4:20 — Books in a treasury? Yes, if they are written on plates. Would Joseph Smith have known this or thought of it?
- 1 Nephi 4:37 — The binding effect of an oath was a well-established Old World custom. Joseph Smith?
- 1 Nephi 5:20 — I and my father? Common in Hebrew, no way in English. Joseph would have written ‘my father and I’.
- 1 Nephi 8:2 — Dreamed a dream? Same as 1 Nephi 3:2.
- 1 Nephi 7:21 — “..after they had done praying”?? Similar to “hacer una oracion” in Spanish. Very awkward in English.
- 1 Nephi 8:13 — River of water. Same as 1 Nephi 2:6
- 1 Nephi 8:26 — River of water. Same as 1 Nephi 2:6
- 1 Nephi 15:26 — River of water. See 1 Nephi 2:6
- 1 Nephi 16:23 — Why a new arrow? Only the bow was broken, not his arrows. Arrows for a steel bow would not work with a hand-crafted wooden bow.
- 1 Nephi 18:5 — My father? Who had built the ship? Lord followed priesthood patterns. Would Joseph Smith have written that?
- 2 Nephi 5:3 — Law of primogeniture. Would Joseph have known about this?
- 2 Nephi 26:7 — “For I, Nephi, have seen it, and it well nigh consumeth me…” Would Joseph Smith have written ‘well nigh’? No!
- Jacob 5 — Whole chapter. Joseph would have known nothing about the growing and nourishing and grafting of olive trees!
- Jacob 5:2 — “…and hear the words of me, a prophet…” Joseph would have written ‘and hear my words…”
- Jacob 5:5 — “…and digged about it…” Joseph would have used the word ‘dug’
- Jarom 1:13 — Two hundred and thirty and eight years? Joseph would not have written in this manner. The norm in Hebrew.
- Mosiah 1:2 — He called their names… Very awkward in English, but traditional in Semitic languages.
- Mosiah 1:4 — The use of the word ‘were’ is appropriate in Hebrew, but very awkward in English. Joseph Smith would have used the word ‘was’.
- Mosiah 1:9 — The phrase ‘waxed old’ is ancient. Joseph Smith would have said ‘grew older’ or ‘aged’.
- Mosiah 9:16 — ..and with..and with..and with.. similar to 1 Nephi 2:4
- Mosiah 9:17 — I and my people. Similar to 1 Nephi 5:20
- Mosiah 15:5, 8 — The term ‘bands of death’ is of Hebrew origin. See Psalms 73:4, Psalms 107:14, Deuteronomy 32:9.
- Mosiah 15:9 — It is HIGHLY unlikely that Joseph Smith, if he was writing a fake book, would have used the word ‘betwixt’. This word is found in Mosiah 15:9 and it means ‘between’. “… standing betwixt them and justice…”. The use of that term would have been nonexistent in Joseph Smith’s time and place.
- Mosiah 18:5-6 — It is HIGHLY unlikely that Joseph Smith, if he was writing a fake book, would have used the word ‘thither’ twice in these 2 verses. Thither is an unusual and seldom-used word in the English language.
- Alma 10:7 — “…and he is an hungered…”. What is the likelihood that Joseph Smith would have made up the phrase ‘an hungered’. Joseph Smith would have said, “…and he is hungry,…”!
- Alma 13:1 — Cite your mind forward and then talk about the past?? Citing forward in ancient times meant to look to the past.
- Alma 14:25 — Alma and Amulek “…stood upon their feet.” What else would they stand on? Joseph, if an imposter, would have said that they stood up, or arose, but not ‘stand on their feet’. Similar to the ‘river of water’ phrase in 1 Nephi 2:6. What other types of rivers are there?
- Alma 27:15 — I and my brethren? Same as 1 Nephi 5:20
- Alma 36:22 — Alma quotes Lehi directly! Joseph never backtracked during the translation. How could he have gotten the quote exactly right?
- Alma 49:22 — “…they were swept off by the stones and arrows which were thrown at them;” Arrows thrown at them? This is a very Semitic expression, and Joseph Smith would not have considered using the verb ‘thrown’ in referring to arrows.
- Helaman 3:33 — Fifty and first year? Same as Jarom 1:13
- 3 Nephi 28:3 — seventy and two years? Same as Jarom 1:13
- 3 Nephi 28:40 — ..to go no more out.. Very awkward in English
• Cement, steel, the name Alma, barley, land Bountiful, elephants, etc. etc. ? All these questions from the Book of Mormon have been validated, substantiated, and corroborated by scientific evidence. If there are remaining questions, they will also be resolved in due time.
• Possible ‘Hebrew’ influences in one of President Thomas S. Monson’s conference talks? From the October 2015 talk entitled “Keep the Commandments” — “…they include the plague of permissiveness, the plague of pornography, the plague of drugs, the plague of immorality, and the plague of abortion…” Also, “…we are surrounded by persuasive voices, beguiling voices, belittling voices, sophisticated voices, and confusing voices.”
• Click here to read some fascinating thoughts about the Egyptian/Arabic influences in the Book of Mormon.
• “Word print” scholars (word prints are similar to finger prints in that a certain writing style can be used to identify authors) have stated, “It is statistically impossible for Joseph Smith or Oliver Cowdery or any other single person to have written the Book of Mormon, based on the many different word prints found in the Book of Mormon. There were obviously many different authors that wrote the parts of the book.”
• None of the eleven witnesses of the Book of Mormon (twelve including Joseph) ever denied their testimonies, despite ample opportunities and situations to do so.
• Joseph translated the entire Book of Mormon in less than three months. This would be an average of about 8 pages per day. He never asked his scribes to repeat back prior sections before commencing anew to translate.
- ‘Up’ and ‘down’ regarding Jerusalem: Jerusalem is a city set on a hill, and the Bible has many scriptures that mention going ‘up’ when traveling toward Jerusalem, and ‘down’ when traveling away from Jerusalem. Not surprisingly, the Book of Mormon also has over 25 examples of correct uses of ‘up’ and ‘down’ when referring to Jerusalem. What is the likelihood that Joseph Smith, an unlearned young man in upstate New York in the early 19th century, would have guessed correctly all these times if he was writing a ‘fake’ book? Following are Biblical and Book of Mormon examples of these ‘ups’ and ‘downs’:
- 2 Samuel 19:34 — “…How long have I to live, that I should go UP with the king unto Jerusalem?”
- 1 Kings 12:27 — “If this people go UP to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem…”
- 1 Kings 14:25 — “…Shishak king of Egypt came UP against Jerusalem…”
- 2 Kings 18:17 — “…And they went UP and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come UP…”
- 2 Kings 24:10 — “… and the king of Babylon came UP against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged…”
- 2 Chronicles 2:16 — “…and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa; and thou shalt carry it UP to Jerusalem.”
- Luke 10:30 — “…A certain man went DOWN from Jerusalem to Jericho…”
- 1 Nephi 2:5 — “And he [Lehi] came DOWN by the borders of the Red Sea…”
- 1 Nephi 3:4 — “…thou and thy brothers should go unto the house of Laban, seek the records, and bring them DOWN hither into the wilderness.”
- 1 Nephi 3:10 — “…when we had gone UP to the land of Jerusalem…”
- 1 Nephi 3:16 — “…let us go DOWN to the land of our father’s inheritance…”
- 1 Nephi 3:22 — “…we went DOWN to the land of our inheritance…”
- 1 Nephi 3:23 — “…we went UP again unto the house of Laban…”
- 1 Nephi 4:1 — “…Let us go UP again unto Jerusalem…”
- 1 Nephi 4:4 — “…they did follow me UP until we came without the walls of Jerusalem…”
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