Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon

JOHN A TVEDTNES

John A. Tvedtnes is a teaching assistant in Hebrew  at the University of Utah and an instructor in anthropology at the BYU Salt Lake Center. A specialist in linguistics and the Semitic languages. Mr Tvedtnes is author of The Church of me the Old Testament and has also written a number of articles.

Though the Book of Mormon expressly states that it is written in the language of the Egyptians 1 I Nephi 12 nevertheless it quite clearly reflects a number of hebrew idioms and contains numerous hebrew words this isis no doubt due to the fact that the nephites Nephites retained the hebrew language albeit in an altered form (See Mormon 9:33). Moreover it is not impossible that the plates themselves contained hebrew words idioms and syntax written inin egyptian cursive script moroni s reformed egyptian see mormon.

In this present treatise we will not be concerned so much with the methodolo methodology odolo y involved inin the writing of the book of mormon as with the evidence for the use of hebrew expressions or of expressions akin thereto only the more important examples will be cited.

It should first of all be pointed out that the author will contend on the basis of the evidence to be given that the book of mormon inin its english form as provided by joseph smith isis inin many respects a nearly literal translation thus many of the expressions found therein do not properly belong to the english language but rather to the language from which the book was translated indeed in most cases thus far investigated book of mormon expressions which are ungrammatical in english are perfect hebrew grammar in view of the fact that joseph smith did not know hebrew in those early years this is good evidence for the authenticity of the translation for example in the 1830 edition of the book of mormon we read that when moroni had said these words he went forth among the people wavingb the rent of his garment in the air P 351.51 5 when the word rent is used as a noun in english it may refer to a hole caused by rending but not to my knowledge to a portion of rent cloth the unlikely usage of rent in english as a noun no doubt contributed to the fact that in subsequent editions of the book of mormon it was changed to read rent part alma 4619 but the hebrew would inin this instance use but one word qerac qera0 perac rent part coming from ara qarra he rent tore for nouns in hebrew are derived from roots as are hebrew verbs by the addition of certain vowel patterns that distinguish them from other parts of speech.

another example is that of the frequent usage of that or which inin the first edition where in english who whom properly belongs the change to the latter is of course warranted in the english lanouaguage but unfortunately a hebraism is lost by such a transsformation forin atlon for in hebrew the relative pronoun derfaer rhy rhi is used for both human and nonhuman non human as well as for place relativization

SINGULAR PLURAL

distinctions certain hebrew words are treated differently in regards to number than their english correspondences the plural form of god DFy for example is elob hohl eloh hobl elohim elohjm nohl Jmin which except where referring to pagan gods takes a singular verb see gen 1111 reminding us that joseph smith speaks of a council of the gods A council would be a single body and would therefore take a singular verb this would explain why the father son and holy ghost are said to be one god eioelo elou elohini elohbinil im in the book of mormon see 11II nephi 3121 mosiah 154 alma 1144 III 111 nephi 11112727 28 36 28281010 mormon 77.777

some hebrew words have no singular form at all but always appear in the dual or the plural one such is habyl hayytmayyl771 tllives iveslves which is generally translated as life though joseph smith said that it should always be rendered lives in the expression eternal life referring ferrin a to the eternal increase in posterity for those who attain exaltation two words that exist 52 only in the dual form are jamayim inayzln heavens and its related word hlayaj mlinim waters the author can find no examples of heaven singular in the book of mormon and water is most often rendered in the plural

the english word people except when used collectively takes a plural verb its hebrew equivalent cam however takes a singular verb inin most instances thus we read in alma 3024- 25 this people isis this is however weak evidence of a hebraism inasmuch as the verb to be is not used to reflect present tense inin hebrew nevertheless joseph smith s use of is instead of are and indeed of this instead of these could reflect the notion of singularity of the dil noun

MOST COMMON IDIOMS

the most common hebraic idioms found in the book of mormon involve the frequent repetition of yea and of and the use of behold and the phrase it came to pass 11

the revised standard version uses the words yea and yes not in response to a question 81 times of these 353 are translations of the word ki sometimes translated that for because 12 from the word ramgam gain also I1 from a combination of both tand f ramgam gain 18 from the word u and and 11 fronimon grom groni groni the word ap often a sign of affirmation six occurrences currences represent the addition of the english word not translated from the hebrew while there are two occurrences each of a translation from aklak gak and hhmeh7nnf whether or not these words should have been translated yea or by another term truly surely indeed for and behold etc is unimportant they are it would seem used for emphasis in public discourses suckh usage appears frequently inin the book of mormon and often inin seriesl the following example isis taken from alma 591111

and again I1 ask were the bands of death broken and the chains of hell which encircled them about were they loosed I1 say unto you yea they were loosed and their souls did expand and they did sing redeeming love and I1 say unto you that they are saved and now I1 ask of you on what conditions are they saved yea what grounds had they to hope for salvation what isis the cause of their being loosed from the bands of death yea and also the chains of hell behold I1 can tell you

the word and italicized above could just as well have been translated yea in addition to this device alma uses the expression 1 I say unto you for emphasis the latter is a common hebraism denoting authority on the part of the speaker the reader will recall its frequent use by the savior verily verily I1 say unto you

hebrew uses the conjunction and uw much more frequently than english it is frequently used at the beginning of a sentence even when there is no reason for linking that sentence up with the precedingI1 sentence in english we use and to link up syntactically related words clauses and sentences only in hebrew it may sometimes be used for special emphasis the hebrew w may oftentimes be translated now or for instead of and in many instances in the book of mormon such as enos 13 it is translated and now an excellent example of its frequent use is found in alma 4316- 20

now the leader of the nephites Nephites or the man who had been appointed to be the chief captain over the nephites Nephites now the chief captain tcok cco the command of all the armies of the nephites Nephites and his name was moroni and moroni took all the command and he was only twenty and five years old and it came to pass that he met the lamanites Lamanites inin the borders of jershon bershon Jershon and his people were armed with swords and with cimeters cimeters and all manner of weapons of war and when the armies of the lamanites Lamanites saw that moroni had prepared his people with breastplates breast plates and with arm shields yea and also shields to defend their heads and also they were dressed with thick clothing now the army of zera hemnahd was not prepared with any such thing they had only their swords and their cimeters cimeters their bows and their arrows their stones and their slings and they were naked

the multiplicity of particles such as and with and and their inin the foregoing may seem to the lay reader a waste of precious space on the plates they are however necessary items inin hebrew moreover in both egyptian and hebrew they are treated as affixes to the noun and take up very little space in writing compared to their english counterparts the use of the pronominal suffix is discussed below in more detail hebraists will note that some of the glosses of and given above are no doubt examples of hatt waw wait bat conversive the occurrence of and also isis frequent in hebrew its use isis clearly reflected in this passage from jacob 45 54 behold they believed inin christ and worshipped worshipped the father in his name and also we worship the father inin his name

while this is perfect hebrew and also begam wegam being written as one word with the possible translation of yea also english would more properly render it and we also worship the father

the expression it camern caine to pass occurs so frequently in the book of mormon that in the present french edition it has been deleted in the translation from the english with the notation that wherever the asterisk appears the expression exists in the original the phrase is particularly elaborate inin alma 252511 where we read and behold now it came caniel to pass in jacob 56 it reads and it came to pass that after many days in the hebrew this would have said and it came caniel to pass in those many days

once again brevity is no excuse for deleting this expression in hebrew though we tire of it quickly in its lengthy english version the hebrew word hayah it was it became also lle iheli was became is our ever present it came to pass with the preceding conjunction by a process known as waw conversive the nature of which is much too complex for our present discussion cussion it becomes wityehiy waysfjiy and it was

pronominal SUFFIXES

in hebrew pronouns used for possession and direct object are ordinarily attached as suffixes to the noun in case of possession and verb in case of direct object in instances of possession therefore one cannot say his house and family and friends etc but rather one is obliged to say his house and his family aidndl his friends attaching the pronominal suffix his to each noun this too is clearly reflected in the book of mormon for example we find in I1 nephi 24

and it came to pass that he departedinto departed into the wilderness and he left his house and the land of his inheritance and his gold and his silver and his precious things the rest of the verse shows english usage however

such constructions in hebrew could properly though not grammatically as far as english is concerned be translated as noun of him this we find in jacob 52 where jacob says hear the words of me ine 1 instead of my words this then is an excellent example of the hebrew usage of the pronominal suffix

CONSTRUCT STATE

the possessive examples above bring us to what is called the construct state wherein two nouns are placed one after the other because they are in close grammatical relationship one to another an example in english would be the book of jack as opposed to jack s book in hebrew we find such expressions as these extracted from numerous verses in the book of mormon

                                      altar of stones                          mist of darkness
                                      state of probation                     skin of blackness
                                      words of plainness                   night of darkness
                                      land of promise                        rod of iron of iron
                                      plates of brass (gold)               bands of death
                                      chains of hell                           voice of the people

some of these are used in english but most are uncommon though not impossible the author can find no examples in the book of mormon of constructions such as stone altar black skin dark mist plain words iron rod brass gold plates etc though promised land does occasionally appear albeit fewer times than land of promise

ADVERBS

there are very few adverbs in hebrew at least one adjective harbv7 hrabaseh many exceeding is used adverbially but more often a prepositional phrase is used the book of mormon is replete with adverbial usage of the adjective exceeding as in exceeding great joy instead of exceedingly in I1 nephi 812.12 the use of a preposition to produce an adverb isis common inin hebrew and is likewise common in the book of mormon from which the following have been extracted as examples:

with harshness instead of harshly
with joy instead of joyfully
with gladness instead of gladly
with patience instead of patiently with diligence instead of diligently in diligence instead of diligently in abundance instead of abundantly in righteousness instead of righteously in the spirit instead of spiritually in truth NT verily instead of truly verily be with strength instead of strongly 11 of worth instead of worthy itof a surety instead of surely

all of these examples would reflect the hebrew proposition b in with by through sometimes of plus the noun the book of mormon has many more of these but it contains but few examples of true english adverbs

THE HEBREW BO

in connection with the above we should consider further evidence for the usage of the preposition b in the book of mornmon mornionion l with the appended pronominal suffix 0 him it I1 we have meanings such as in it by it with it through it etc these have their english correspondences in which 11 therein therewith and thereby in the book of mormon where these latter terms are quite prevalent for example 11II nephi 14 for behold said he I1 have seen a vision inin which I1 know that jerusalem is destroyed would read and behold said he I1 have seen a vision inin it I1 know that jerusalem is destroyed

the above examples therein therewith and thereby should not be combined with the common thereof of the book of mormon however the latter is part of the pronominal suffixes mentioned earlier and means of it or if human of him thus when a man was dead that was the end thereof aimalu alinam 3018 could properly read when a man was dead that was the end of himniin hili or his this end likewise I1 nephi 28 and the valley was in die thl borders near the mouth thereof could read and the valley was in the borders near its mouth joseph smith in his near literal rendition of the text has for the most part avoided english possessive pronouns and replaced them by the there plus preposition in of by with in I1 nephi 2214 moreover he has preserved the Heraism rather well yea that great and abominable church shall tumble to the dust and great shall be the fall of it in both hebrew and egyptian the underlined words would appear as but one word lahough though llhough two mor phernes phem chernes are involved in this latter exaample ni we see another common hebraism Nornia normallylyii we would expect the english text to read and its fall shall be great but here we find the predicate adjective a Co coteat great tea r appearing before the verb and theilil subject afterwards this too is proper hebrew usage for sentences in which the predicate isis an adjective

there exists in the Sein selnmitic seinitic it languages a construction called the cognate connate coonate coconate accusative it consists of a verb immediately followed by a noun derived from the samern root and is often used for emphasis the book of mormon has examples of this

they are cursed foyed wilb a sore cursing ie cursed sorely
                                                                               jacob 33
work all manner of fine work uork ivork ie work well
                                                                            mosiah 1110
and he did judge righteous judgments ieie judge righteously
                                                                              mosiah 2943

in these examples it should be noted that as isis usual in hebrew except where predicate the adjectives sore fine and 11 righteous would follow their nouns

perhaps the most well known cognate accusative in the book of mormon isis found inin lehi s conversation with his son nephi behold I1 have fred drea frfd dreamed dreavied a dream inin the which ie inin it 1 I nephi 32

in enos 13 we find a hebrew construction similar to though not identical to the cognate accusative in whichhid1 the noun isis derived fromni its accompanying verbal root and now behold this was the desire which I1 desired of him

miscellaneous IDIOMS

in I1 nephi 28 the following appears and it came to pass that helil i called the name of the river lamannt in english we would ordinarily expect to read he called the river laman or by the name of La laman nian or lie named the river lamannt if we assume that the original text used the 58 semitic imin to name we would have a construction similar to the cognate accusative reading lle ilieh nanmed le the name but mm though extant inin arabic does not appear in the biblical texts thoughc it most certainly existed inin hebrew at one time as is evidenced by the existence of its noun leauin 30w name the bible uses the term qatarariil bem he called by the name naine eitherl way the expression stands out as a hebraism

the hebrew backckground backaround b around of the book of mormon would most certainly be suspect if the text did not include that one 11must lust 6 go up to jerusalem and 46go downu therefromin eg 1I nephi 7233 jerusalem was considered to be the holy place where god came down to manifest himself in the temple and was thus closer to the heavens than other points on the earth hence one ascends in going to the holy city

in the book of mormon direct quotations are often introduced by statements such as this one from I1 nephilil nepr 219

and it caine came to pass that the lord spake untoi we m saying the narrative portions of the book of mornion mormon containing dialogue are replete with this introduction this common hebraism amar mar lelenarnw mart means literally he spake to speak

another commonrn hebraismi found in the book of mormon isis lle iheli said in his heart meaning lle ilieh thought

SPECIAL WORDS

A number of words in the book of mormon text seem to reflect a hebrew rather than an english usage inin the original 0 and thus provide additional evidence for the authenticity of the book witness the use of anger as a verb inin 11II nephi 429 while one hebrew word ocan a kcacan fcan qcan mean to anger in english enalish we must use be angry become angry etc

the hebrew particle I1 an inseparable preposition prefixed to nouns pronouns and verbs means not only to its usual meaning but also for and belonging to thus inin mo roni s preface to the book of mormon the statement and also to the convincing of the jew and gentile should read for the convincing for clarity nevertheless both renditions are valid translations of the hebrew

verse 22 of 11II nephi 4 reads he hath confounded mine mine enemies muto unto the causing of them to quake before me the enenglish glish text isis lengthy for such a simple statement but inin hebrew all of the italicized portion can be handled by one verg verb z and its affixes this is no doubt why the rendering in english isis awkward

in hebrew other than in prepositional phrases the indirect object is merely a second direct object thus one may say we desired aimhnz arm that liehl i would give unto us the records 1 I nephi 324 instead of we desired of him as in english in this example we have properly speaking two direct objects 1 1 hlinhim and 2 that helil i would give

As lehil prayed unto the lord there came a pillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock before himrn 1 I nephi 16 the use of the verb dwelt rather than the usual sat may seem peculiar to those unacquainted with the fact that one word jfe in hebrew has both the lne i meaning of dwell and of sit

likewise the hebrew word issah zssah plural nanasam nastman5n means both woman and wife thus when nephi speaks of our women 1 I nephi 1720 liehl i isis not being disrespectful but is merely displaying proper hebrew usage of the term by the saillameie token we learn that amuleks my women was a polygamist alma 1011

nephi s statements about the wicked who seek to hide thenir counsel from gromrorn born the lord 11II11 nephi 2727 289 while not totally illogical is somewhat vague in meaning this situation can be clarified by pointing out that the hebrew word for conversing consulting or counselingb laal sod f laai I1 also means secret one can more readily imagine the wicked attempting to hide their secrets from the lord with this meaning another rendition of amos 37 would be surely the lord god will do nothing but liehl i revealeth revealeth his COUNSEL instead of secret unto his servants the prophets in many ways this isis preferable on the other hand the secret would have to be the secret of his being

in the book of Mo mormon rinon the word towards is often used where we would expect the word to the former in english usage generally indicates in the direction of but without indicating whether or not the traveler has or will arrive at the place indicated he may have as his destination an intermediate point to on the other hand would indicate arrival at the destination in hebrew the old accusative ending ah added to a definite noun clives ives the meaning of towards or to without distinction as to whether or not the desination designation desination is the noun used eg micrayini w1craylin egypt becomes inicrayiniah micrayhnah toward 60 to egypt this ending isis quite commonly used to mean simply to even though it may be indefinite thus in joseph smith s near literal translation we read that nephi 0went o forth towards tawards loicartls instead of to the house of laban 1 I nephi 45

in the foregoing we have detailed but a few of the he braislnis braisms nis evident in the eno Ena english lisla text of the book of mormon only the more important of those thus far noted have been given here the author has not yet completed his systematic survey of the book of mormon in a search for evidences of a hebrew origin and time precludes the possibility of completing this task at present the project will not lie dormant however for the work is not only interesting but fruitful more importantly portantly it serves to strengthen an already strong testimony of the divine authenticity of the book of mormon.