Mounting Evidence for

the Book of Mormon

By Daniel C. Peterson
Ensign, January 2000

Faithful scholarship continues to expand our understanding of the Book of

Mormon.

Serious study of the Book of Mormon by Latter-day Saints is flourishing today

as never before.1 And, with more study, the book’s sturdiness and richness
and the remarkable accomplishment of its translator, the Prophet Joseph
Smith, become more apparent for everyone to see.2
Of course, scholarship does not replace spiritual witness as a source of
testimony. As Elder B. H. Roberts (1857–1933) of the Seventy said: “The
power of the Holy Ghost … must ever be the chief source of evidence for the
Book of Mormon. All other evidence is secondary. … No arrangement of
evidence, however skillfully ordered; no argument, however adroitly made,
can ever take its place.”
Yet scholarship has a definite place even in spiritual matters. The Lord said in
an 1829 revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith to Oliver Cowdery,
“Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost”
(D&C 8:2; emphasis added). In 1832 the Lord said to the Prophet Joseph
Smith, “Seek learning, even by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118). As one
writer observed: “What no one shows the ability to defend is quickly
abandoned. Rational argument does not create belief, but it maintains a
climate in which belief may flourish.”3
For one thing, careful scholarship helps us to understand more fully, deeply,
and precisely. “To be known, the truth must be stated,” Elder Roberts said,
“and the clearer and more complete the statement is, the better opportunity
will the Holy Spirit have for testifying to the souls of men that the work is true.”4
The April 1986 general conference, in which President Ezra Taft Benson was
sustained as President of the Church, was a turning point for studying and
applying the teachings of the Book of Mormon. Citing Doctrine and
Covenants 84:54–57 [D&C 84:54–57], President Benson said that the Church
had neglected its charter scripture and that “now, in our day, the Lord has
revealed the need to reemphasize the Book of Mormon.” He blessed the
Saints with “increased understanding” of the book.5
That blessing has been and clearly continues to be fulfilled. Thankfully, a spirit
of attentiveness to the Book of Mormon had already begun working upon the
Church. As one indicator only, the publication of serious studies on or about
the Book of Mormon rose 50 percent in the late 1970s and exploded another
230 percent in the early 1980s. And the surge continues.6 This article
summarizes a few highlights of what research has taught us about the Book of
Mormon and its ancient setting.

The Plates, the Translation, and the Witnesses

For a brief period in the late 1820s, the Prophet Joseph Smith did indeed
possess the gold plates. That is among the most securely established facts in
Latter-day Saint history. In addition to Joseph Smith, 11 official witnesses and
several unofficial witnesses testified to the existence of the plates and, in
some cases, to dramatic supernatural confirmation of their truth. Meticulous
research on these witnesses has confirmed their good character and the
veracity of their accounts.7
What is more, although the Prophet’s critics found his claim of angelic visits
and gold plates ridiculous, we now know that the writing of religious texts on
metal plates (sometimes on gold), was an authentic ancient practice. Indeed,
the ancient practice now is known to have occurred at precisely the era and
place from which Book of Mormon peoples came.8 In fact, with the Copper
Scroll and other materials from the Dead Sea, we have an almost exact
parallel: like the ancient Nephite plates, these materials were sealed up in a
hillside just prior to military disaster, to preserve them for a future time.
The Book of Mormon claims to have been written in “reformed Egyptian”
(Morm. 9:32). Most who have studied the subject conclude that this signifies
writing the Hebrew language in modified Egyptian characters. In recent years,
we have learned that several ancient documents were written in precisely that
fashion.9
The title page of the Book of Mormon declares that it was to come forth “by
the gift and power of God.” Recent evidence and scholarship indicates that
this is exactly what would have had to happen.10 In addition, the evidence
indicates that the translation and dictation of the book were accomplished in
roughly 63 working days—a torrid pace that, with neither rewrites nor
corrections, produced nearly 8.5 pages (of our current English edition) daily.11
Further, there is no evidence at all that Joseph Smith did any scholarly
research, or even that he read very much, before the Book of Mormon
appeared.12 In fact, he may not even have owned a Bible at the time of
translation.13 Joseph Smith had spent the bulk of his time as a youth cutting
trees, burning brush, clearing rocks, and plowing. He had received at most a
few months of formal schooling. His mother later recalled that, even into his
late teens, “he seemed much less inclined to the perusal of books than any of
the rest of our children.”14
His wife Emma reports that, in the late 1820s, Joseph “could neither write nor
dictate a coherent and well worded letter, let alone dictate a book like the
Book of Mormon. … The larger part of this labor [of translation] was done [in]
my presence and where I could see and know what was being done. …
During no part of it did Joseph Smith have any [manuscripts] or book of any
kind from which to read or dictate except the metalic [sic] plates which I knew
he had.”15 “If,” she said, “he had had anything of the kind he could not have
concealed it from me.”16
And, she added, writing to her son: “I am satisfied that no man could have
dictated the writing of the manuscripts unless he was inspired; for, when
acting as his scribe, your father would dictate to me hour after hour; and when
returning after meals, or after interruptions, he would at once begin where he
had left off, without either seeing the manuscript or having any portion of it
read to him. This was a usual thing for him to do. It would have been
improbable that a learned man could do this; and, for one so ignorant and
unlearned as he was, it was simply impossible.”17
In recent years, rigorous statistical analysis strongly indicates that neither
Joseph Smith nor any of his known associates composed the English text of
the Book of Mormon. In fact, research suggests that the book was written by
numerous distinct authors.18
And research shows that the book does not seem to fit the culture of early
19th-century America. There is little of the military romanticism of Joseph
Smith’s America. Instead, we see grimly realistic portrayals of war’s
devastation and suffering. And in the story of the Gadianton robbers we have
a detailed, realistic portrayal of a prolonged guerrilla struggle—lacking any
trace of fife and drum, uniforms, or parades—published well over a century
before the guerrilla theorists of the 20th century put pens to paper.19

From Jerusalem to the New World

The Book of Mormon does fit what we know of the ancient world. Its early
account of Jerusalem just before the Babylonian captivity gains in plausibility
as research continues to accumulate.20 For example, the name of Lehi’s wife,
Sariah, previously unknown outside the Book of Mormon, has been found in
ancient Jewish documents from Egypt.21 Likewise, the nonbiblical
name Nephi belongs to the very time and place of the first Book of Mormon
figure who bears it.22 Nephi’s slaying of Laban and the justification given to him
by the Lord for doing so can now be seen as instruction that focused on the
culture of Nephi’s era.23
The imagery in Nephi’s vision is deeply rooted in ancient Near Eastern
symbolism with which Joseph Smith could not have been familiar.24 Moreover,
its predictions are strikingly accurate. Consider 1 Nephi 13:12 [1 Ne. 13:12], a
passage generally applied to Christopher Columbus: “And I looked and beheld
a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren
by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and
wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto
the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.”
Many have been accustomed to see in Columbus merely an adventurer
seeking to open trade routes to the East Indies. But with the recent publication
of Columbus’s private Book of Prophecies, we see how accurate the Book of
Mormon’s description of him is. He said he was guided by the Holy Spirit, and
he was eager not only to spread Christianity but to fulfill biblical prophecies.
Among his favorite passages were John 10:16, with its reference to “other
sheep,” and the passages of Isaiah concerning the people on the “isles of the
sea.”25 These are the very passages that the Book of Mormon applies to
itself.26
In his 1952 essay “Lehi in the Desert,” Hugh Nibley illuminated Lehi’s land
journey from Jerusalem by placing it along the coast of the Arabian
peninsula.27 Since that time, Latter-day Saint scholars and explorers have
refined our understanding of that route through actual visits and systematic
surveys of the area, enabling us to identify likely Book of Mormon locations in
Arabia.28 The Book of Mormon account of Lehi’s Arabian sojourn is remarkably
accurate to numerous specific geographic conditions, but no scholar in the
19th century, let alone Joseph Smith, could have known of it.29
Lehi’s epic journey from Jerusalem to the New World endured in the memory
of his descendants, who saw it as a signal instance of God’s miraculous
power much like the Israelites’ earlier deliverance from Egyptian bondage.30 In
fact, careful modern readings show that the very terms in which Lehi’s journey
was described and remembered derive from the biblical account of the
Exodus. The literary crafting of the story is both very sophisticated and
authentically Near Eastern.31

An Old World Culture in a New World Setting

In its smallest details, the Book of Mormon reveals its roots in the ancient
Near East. For example, the system of exchange set out in Alma 11:3–
19 recalls ancient Babylonian economic legislation.32 And, after Zemnarihah’s
execution (3 Ne. 4:28), the tree upon which he had been hanged was ritually
chopped down, just as ancient Jewish law required.33 The oath of allegiance
taken by Nephite soldiers in Alma 46:21–22 is almost identical in form to
military oaths among ancient Israelite and Hittite warriors.34 And the curse of
speechlessness placed upon Korihor in Alma 30:49 finds striking ancient
parallels.35
King Benjamin’s classic address in Mosiah 2–5 occupies roughly 11 pages in
the current English edition, which means that Joseph Smith may have dictated
this doctrinally rich text of nearly 5,000 words in a little more than one day.
Recent research shows that the sermon is intimately linked with the ancient
Israelite Feast of Tabernacles and the Day of Atonement, as well as with
archaic treaty and covenant formulas and early Near Eastern coronation
festivals.36 Even the physical setting of the speech—delivered while the king
stood upon a tower (see Mosiah 2:7)—is ritually appropriate to the occasion.
But the Prophet Joseph Smith could not have learned this from the English
Bibles or any other books available to him.37
Likewise, he could not have known that the ancient Hebrew
term moshia’ signifies a champion of justice against oppression, appointed by
God, whose mission it is to liberate a chosen people from oppression,
especially by nonviolent means. The term does not occur in the English of the
King James Bible. But such nonviolent deliverance is a major theme of the
book of Mosiah.38
The appearance of the two men named Alma in the Book of Mormon has
occasioned much comment from critics. They observe that Alma is a woman’s
name and Latin rather than Hebrew. (Many recognize the phrase alma
mater, which means “beneficent mother” and refers to the school from which
someone has graduated.) They are correct, of course. If Joseph Smith knew
the name Alma at all in the early 19th century, he would have known it as a
woman’s name in Latin. Recent documentary finds demonstrate, however,
that Alma also occurs as a Semitic masculine personal name in the ancient
Near East—just as it does in the Book of Mormon.39
Alma 7:10 predicts that Jesus “shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is
the land of our forefathers.” Is this a mistake? Everyone knows that Jesus was
born in Bethlehem, not in Jerusalem. But it is now plain from modern evidence
that Bethlehem could be, and indeed was, regarded anciently as a town in the
“land of Jerusalem.”
A recently released text from the Dead Sea Scrolls, for example—a text
claiming origin in Jeremiah’s days (and therefore in Lehi’s)—says that the
Jews of that period were “taken captive from the land of Jerusalem.” 40 Joseph
Smith could not have learned this from the Bible, though, for no such
language appears in it.
The recent discovery in the Book of Mormon of its characteristically ancient
literary structure or technique known as chiasmus—a rhetorical device
overlooked by biblical scholarship until decades after Joseph Smith’s death—
is another powerful indicator of the record’s antiquity.41 The same literary
structure has now been identified in pre-Columbian America.42 An
understanding of the chiastic construction of Alma 36 also impressively
deepens our understanding of the Christ-centered character of that entire
chapter and of the Book of Mormon’s witness as a whole.
Another intriguing example of chiasmus occurs in Helaman 6:10 [Hel. 6:10].
Here, the chiastic turning point rests on an equivalence between the
word Lord and the royal name Zedekiah. But those words are only equivalent
for readers who are aware that the term Lord probably stands (as it does in
the King James Bible) for the divine name Jehovah or Yahweh, and that the -
iah element in Zedekiah is the first portion of that same divine name. Also this
chiasm works better in Hebrew than in English, which is an important and
remarkable clue to the original language of the Book of Mormon.43
Many such clues appear among the book’s place names. Jershon, for
instance, designates a place that was given to the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi
as a “land … for an inheritance” (Alma 27:22). In Hebrew, Jershon means “a
place of inheritance.”44Joseph Smith simply would not have known this in the
late 1820s.
The allegory of the olive tree in Jacob 5 shows a clear knowledge of olive
cultivation far beyond what Joseph Smith, growing up in the American
Northeast, could have possessed. But it is entirely consistent, in impressive
detail, with what we learn from ancient manuals on olive cultivation.45 Likewise,
the account of the great destruction given in 3 Nephi 8 [3 Ne. 8] finds
remarkable parallels with what modern seismology and vulcanology show
about cataclysmic geological events and with historical reports of such
catastrophes. Yet Joseph Smith never saw a volcano and never experienced
a significant earthquake, nor is it likely he had read any substantial literature
on the subject.46
But the region of Mesoamerica—particularly southern Mexico and Guatemala,
where many suggest that much of the Book of Mormon story may have
happened—is a place of continuing volcanic and seismic activity. Painstaking
research of John L. Sorenson and others has demonstrated the plausibility of
the complex geographical data contained in the Book of Mormon. It suggests
many fascinating correlations with what we continue to learn about life in
ancient Mesoamerica.47

Summing Up

As Latter-day Saints, we must never take the Book of Mormon for granted. Its
sheer existence is astonishing. That it was produced by an almost completely
uneducated young man constitutes a challenge to the entire world. Yet its
historical narrative is sober and realistic. Its content is rich, profound, and
subtly complex.48 And though dictated at a rapid pace, it tells a highly
consistent and very complex story involving scores of place and personal
names and internal quotations.49
Persons who choose to dismiss the Book of Mormon must find their own ideas
for explaining it and the mounting evidence for its authenticity. And while we
will never “prove” the Book of Mormon true, the trajectory of the evidence
strongly suggests that it is exactly what it claims to be, a book worthy of our
deep study, reflection, and serious personal prayer. Thousands of hours of
research have produced the current blossoming of Book of Mormon studies
that bless the lives of Latter-day Saints. They cannot be lightly brushed aside.
The conclusion of the matter is that much modern evidence supports the more
powerful witness of the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true. Joseph
Smith, who translated it, had to be what he said he was, a prophet of God.
The Church of Jesus Christ has been restored. Most important, the Book of
Mormon and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints affirm that Jesus
is the Christ, the divine Savior of the world, and that He will come someday in
the future in the manner that the scriptures herald.
[illustrations] Above: More than 100 examples of ancient writing on metal plates have been discovered, including this gold
plate of Darius, buried in a stone box in 516–515 B.C. Right: Research on the 11 official witnesses to the golden plates has
confirmed their good character. (Joseph Smith Translating; Eight Witnesses View the Book of Mormon Plates,both by Dale
Kilbourn.)
[illustration] Columbus in America, 1492, © Superstock
[illustration] Frontier Prophet, by Dee Jay Bawden
[illustration] Painting by Gary E. Smith, courtesy of Robert Garff

[photo] Courtesy of Yigael Yadin and Shrine of the Book Museum, Jerusalem

[illustration] Detail from Alma and Amulek in Prison, by Gary L. Kapp

Show References

Notes

1. 1.
Surveys include John L. Sorenson and Melvin J. Thorne,
eds., Rediscovering the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and
FARMS, 1991); John W. Welch, ed.,Reexploring the Book of Mormon (Salt
Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1992), hereafter Reexploring; also
theJournal of Book of Mormon Studies, hereafter JBMS. The
acronym FARMS refers to Brigham Young University’s Foundation for
Ancient Research and Mormon Studies;Insights is the Foundation’s
newsletter.
2. 2.
 Even critics occasionally recognize the vigor of current Latter-day Saint
scholarship on the Book of Mormon and related topics. For example, see
Carl Mosser and Paul Owen, “Mormon Scholarship, Apologetics, and
Evangelical Neglect: Losing the Battle and Not Knowing It?” Trinity
Journal, fall 1998, 179–205.
3. 3.
Austin Farrar, “The Christian Apologist,” in Light on C. S. Lewis, ed. Jocelyn
Gibb, (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1965), 26. Compare John W.
Welch, “The Power of Evidence in the Nurturing of Faith,” in Jeffrey R.
Holland and others, Nurturing Faith through the Book of Mormon: The 24th
Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1995),
149–86.
4. 4.
New Witnesses for God, 3 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1909), 2:vi–
vii.
5. 5.
“A Sacred Responsibility,” Ensign, May 1986, 78.
6. 6.
See Noel B. Reynolds, “The Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon in the
Twentieth Century,” BYU Studies 38, no. 2 (1999): 6–47.
7. 7.
See Richard Lloyd Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon
Witnesses (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1981). Also Richard L. Anderson,
“Personal Writings of the Book of Mormon Witnesses,” in Book of Mormon
Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins, ed. Noel B.
Reynolds (Provo: FARMS, 1997), hereafter BMAR, 39–60; Lyndon W.
Cook, ed., David Whitmer Interviews: A Restoration Witness (Orem:
Grandin Book, 1991); Rhett James, The Man Who Knew: Dramatic
Biography on Martin Harris (Cache Valley, Utah: Martin Harris Pageant
Committee, 1983); Eldin Ricks, The Case of the Book of Mormon
Witnesses (Salt Lake City: Olympus, 1961). Compare Milton V. Backman
 Jr., Eyewitness Accounts of the Restoration (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book,
1986); Susan Easton Black, ed., Stories from the Early Saints: Converted
by the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1992). A comprehensive
collection of Oliver Cowdery documents, from which his consistency and
integrity unmistakably emerge, is Richard Lloyd Anderson and Scott H.
Faulring, eds., Witness of the Second Elder: The Documentary History of
Oliver Cowdery, 4 vols. (Provo: FARMS, 1999). For Emma Smith’s
experience with the plates, see Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith and the
Beginnings of Mormonism(Urbana: University of Illinois, 1984), 96.
8. 8.
H. Curtis Wright, “Ancient Burials of Metal Documents in Stone Boxes,”
in By Study and Also by Faith, ed. John M. Lundquist and Stephen D.
Ricks, 2 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1990), 2:273–
334; William J. Hamblin, “Sacred Writings on Bronze Plates in the Ancient
Mediterranean” (Provo: FARMS, 1994); William J. Adams Jr., “Lehi’s
Jerusalem and Writing on Metal Plates,” JBMS,spring 1994, 204–6; William
J. Adams Jr., “More on the Silver Plates from Lehi’s Jerusalem,” JBMS, fall
1995, 136–37.
9. 9.
John A. Tvedtnes and Stephen D. Ricks, “Jewish and Other Semitic Texts
Written in Egyptian Characters,” JBMS,fall 1996, 156–63; William J.
Hamblin, “Reformed Egyptian” (Provo: FARMS, 1995). See also John Gee,
“Two Notes on Egyptian Script,” JBMS, spring 1996, 162–76.
10. 10.
See Richard Lloyd Anderson, “The Credibility of the Book of Mormon
Translators,” in Book of Mormon Authorship, ed. Noel B. Reynolds (Provo:
BYU Religious Studies Center, 1982), 213–37, hereafter BMA; Richard L.
Bushman, “The Recovery of the Book of Mormon,” inBMAR, 21–38; Royal
Skousen, “Translating the Book of Mormon: Evidence from the Original
Manuscript,” inBMAR, 61–93.
11. 11.
 See John W. Welch and Tim Rathbone, “The Translation of the Book of
Mormon: Basic Historical Information” (Provo: FARMS, 1986).

12. 12.
See, for example, David A. Palmer, “A Survey of Pre-1830 Sources
Relating to the Book of Mormon,” BYU Studies, autumn 1976, 101–7;
Robert Paul, “Joseph Smith and the Manchester (New York) Library,” BYU
Studies,summer 1982, 333–56.
13. 13.
See John Gee’s discussion in Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 6,
no. 1 (1994): 99–101.
14. 14.
Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith, by His Mother(Salt Lake City:
Bookcraft, 1979), 82.
15. 15.
Cited by Backman, Eyewitness Accounts of the Restoration, 126–27.
16. 16.
Cited by Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism, 96.
17. 17.
Cited by Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism, 96.
18. 18.
Wayne A. Larsen and Alvin C. Rencher, “Who Wrote the Book of Mormon?
An Analysis of Wordprints,” in BMA,157–188; John L. Hilton, “On Verifying
Wordprint Studies: Book of Mormon Authorship,” in BMAR, 225–53; G.
Bruce Schaalje, John L. Hilton, and John B. Archer, “Comparative Power of
Three Author-Attribution Techniques for Differentiating
Authors,” JBMS, spring 1997, 47–63. Roger R. Keller, Book of Mormon
Authors: Their Words and Messages (Provo: BYU Religious Studies
Center, 1996), also identifies multiple writers.
19. 19.
See Daniel C. Peterson, “The Gadianton Robbers as Guerrilla Warriors,”
in Warfare in the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and
 FARMS), 146–73. Other examples of the Book of Mormon’s premodern
nature appear in Richard L. Bushman, “The Book of Mormon and the
American Revolution,” in BMA, 189–212; Royal Skousen, “The Original
Language of the Book of Mormon: Upstate New York Dialect, King James
English, or Hebrew?” JBMS, spring 1994, 28–38; also Daniel C. Peterson,
“Authority in the Book of Mosiah” (Provo: FARMS, 1991).
20. 20.
See, for instance, Hugh Nibley, “Two Shots in the Dark: Dark Days in
Jerusalem: The Lachish Letters and the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi),”
in BMA, 103–21.
21. 21.
Jeffrey R. Chadwick, “Sariah in the Elephantine Papyri,”JBMS, fall 1993,
196–200.
22. 22.
John Gee, “A Note on the Name Nephi,” JBMS, fall 1992, 189–91.
23. 23.
“Better That One Man Perish,” Insights, June 1998, 2.
24. 24.
See, for example, C. Wilfred Griggs, “The Book of Mormon as an Ancient
Book,” in BMA, 75–101; “The ‘Lamb of God’ in Pre-Christian
Texts,” Insights, Aug. 1998, 2; Daniel C. Peterson, “Nephi and His Asherah:
A Note on 1 Nephi 11:8–23,” [1 Ne. 11:8–23] in Mormons, Scripture, and
the Ancient World: Studies in Honor of John L. Sorenson, ed. Davis Bitton
(Provo: FARMS, 1998), 191–243.
25. 25.
See Arnold K. Garr, Christopher Columbus: A Latter-day Saint
Perspective (Provo: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1992). The Libro de las
profecías appeared in English in 1991.
26. 26.
As at 3 Nephi 15:21 [3 Ne. 15:21]; also 1 Nephi 19:10 [1 Ne. 19:10]; 1 Ne.
22:4; 2 Ne. 10:8, 20; 2 Ne. 21:11; 2 Ne. 29:7, 11.
27. 27.
 Now available in Hugh Nibley, Lehi in the Desert/The World of the
Jaredites/There Were Jaredites (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS,
1988), 1–149.
28. 28.
Warren P. Aston and Michaela K. Aston, “The Place Which Was Called
Nahom: The Validation of an Ancient Reference to Southern Arabia”
(Provo: FARMS, 1991); Warren P. Aston and Michaela K. Aston, “And We
Called the Place Bountiful: The End of Lehi’s Arabian Journey” (Provo:
FARMS, 1991); Warren P. Aston and Michaela Knoth Aston, In the
Footsteps of Lehi: New Evidence for Lehi’s Journey across Arabia to
Bountiful (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1994); Eugene E. Clark, “A
Preliminary Study of the Geology and Mineral Resources of Dhofar, the
Sultanate of Oman” (Provo: FARMS, 1995); Warren P. Aston, “The Arabian
Bountiful Discovered? Evidence for Nephi’s Bountiful,” JBMS, spring 1998,
4–11, 70; S. Kent Brown, Terry B. Ball, Arnold H. Green, David J. Johnson,
and W. Revell Phillips, “Planning Research on Oman: The End of Lehi’s
Trail,” JBMS, spring 1998, 12–21, 70; Lynn M. Hilton and Hope Hilton, In
Search of Lehi’s Trail (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1976). For Lehi’s
ocean voyage, see John M. Lundquist’s appendix to Raphael Patai, The
Children of Noah: Jewish Seafaring in Ancient Times (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1998), 171–75.
29. 29.
See Eugene England, “Through the Arabian Desert to a Bountiful Land:
Could Joseph Smith Have Known the Way?” in BMA, 143–56.
30. 30.
Louis Midgley discusses the very Hebraic importance of “memory” in the
Book of Mormon in his “The Ways of Remembrance,” in Rediscovering the
Book of Mormon, 168–76, and in “‘O Man, Remember, and Perish
Not,’”Reexploring, 127–29.
31. 31.
 George S. Tate, “The Typology of the Exodus Pattern in the Book of
Mormon,” in Literature of Belief: Sacred Scripture and Religious
Experiences, ed. Neal E. Lambert (Provo: BYU Religious Studies Center,
1981), 245–62; Terrence L. Szink, “To a Land of Promise (1 Ne. 16–18),”
inStudies in Scripture: Volume Seven, 1 Nephi to Alma 29, ed. Kent P.
Jackson (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1987), 60–72; S. Kent Brown, “The
Exodus Pattern in the Book of Mormon” BYU Studies, summer 1990, 112–
26; Bruce J. Boehm, “Wanderers in the Promised Land: A Study of the
Exodus Motif in the Book of Mormon and Holy Bible,”JBMS, spring 1994;
Mark J. Johnson, “The Exodus of Lehi Revisited,” JBMS, fall 1994, 123–26.
Recent literary appreciations of the Book of Mormon include Marilyn
Arnold, Sweet Is the Word—Reflections on the Book of Mormon—Its
Narrative, Teachings, and People (American Fork: Covenant, 1996);
Eugene England, “A Second Witness for the Logos,” in By Study and Also
by Faith: Essays in Honor of Hugh W. Nibley, 2:91–125; Richard Dilworth
Rust, Feasting on the Word: The Literary Testimony of the Book of
Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1997).
32. 32.
“The Laws of Eshnunna and Nephite Economics,”Insights, Dec. 1998, 2.
33. 33.
Reexploring, 250–52.
34. 34.
Terrence L. Szink, “An Oath of Allegiance in the Book of Mormon,”
in Warfare in the Book of Mormon, 35–45; Mark J. Morrise, “Simile Curses
in the Ancient Near East, Old Testament, and Book of
Mormon,” JBMS, spring 1993, 124–38.
35. 35.
“Cursing a Litigant with Speechlessness,” Insights, Oct. 1998, 2.
36. 36.
John A. Tvedtnes, “King Benjamin and the Feast of Tabernacles,” in By
Study and Also by Faith, 2:197–237; “On the Right or Left: Benjamin and
 the Scapegoat,” Insights,Jan. 1995, 2; Stephen D. Ricks, “The
Treaty/Covenant Pattern in King Benjamin’s Address” (Provo: FARMS,
1983); John W. Welch and Stephen D. Ricks, eds., King Benjamin’s
Speech: “That Ye May Learn Wisdom” (Provo: FARMS, 1998).
37. 37.
“Upon the Tower of Benjamin,” Insights, Aug. 1995, 2; “Benjamin’s Tower
and Old Testament Pillars,” Insights,Oct. 1995, 2.
38. 38.
John Sawyer, “What Was a Môsiac?” in Vetus Testamentum 15 (1965):
475–86. Reexploring, 105–7, summarizes and applies Sawyer’s article.
39. 39.
Paul Y. Hoskisson, “Alma as a Hebrew Name,” JBMS,spring 1998, 72–73.
40. 40.
For the original text and a translation of 4QApocryphon of Jeremiah C
(4Q385b [4QapocrJer C]), see Robert Eisenman and Michael Wise, The
Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered (Shaftesbury: Element, 1992), 57–58.
Florentino García Martínez, The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The Qumran
Texts in English, trans. Wilfred G. E. Watson (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1994), 285,
inadequately renders the Hebrew. See, too, Daniel C. Peterson, William J.
Hamblin, and Matthew Roper, “On Alma 7:10 and the Birthplace of Jesus
Christ” (Provo: FARMS, 1995); John A. Tvedtnes, “Cities and Lands in the
Book of Mormon,”JBMS, fall 1995, 147–50.
41. 41.
The literature on chiasmus is extensive. Consult John W. Welch and Daniel
B. McKinlay, eds., Chiasmus Bibliography (Provo: Research Press, 1999).
See also John W. Welch, Chiasmus in Antiquity: Structures, Analyses,
Exegesis (Hildesheim: Gerstenberg Verlag, 1981 [reprinted by FARMS in
1999]); Noel B. Reynolds, “Nephi’s Outline,” inBMA, 53–74; John W. Welch,
“Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon,” in BMA, 33–52; Donald W. Parry, The
Book of Mormon Text Reformatted according to Parallelistic
Patterns(Provo: FARMS, 1992).
42. 42.
Allen J. Christenson, “The Use of Chiasmus in Ancient Mesoamerica”
(Provo: FARMS, 1988); Allen J. Christenson, “The Use of Chiasmus by the
Ancient Quiché-Maya” (Provo: FARMS, 1989).

43. 43.
Reexploring, 230–32.
44. 44.
Stephen D. Ricks and John A. Tvedtnes, “The Hebrew Origin of Some
Book of Mormon Place Names,” JBMS, fall 1997, 255–59.
45. 45.
Stephen D. Ricks and John W. Welch, eds., The Allegory of the Olive Tree:
The Olive, the Bible, and Jacob 5 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and
FARMS, 1994).
46. 46.
Russell H. Ball, “An Hypothesis concerning the Three Days of Darkness
among the Nephites,” JBMS, spring 1993, 107–23; John A. Tvedtnes,
“Historical Parallels to the Destruction at the Time of the
Crucifixion,” JBMS, spring 1994, 170–86; John Gee, “Another Note on the
Three Days of Darkness,” JBMS, fall 1997, 235–44; Bart J. Kowallis, “In the
Thirty and Fourth Year: A Geologist’s View of the Great Destruction in 3
Nephi,” BYU Studies 37, no. 3 (1998): 136–90.
47. 47.
See, for example, John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the
Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1985); John L.
Sorenson, “Animals in the Book of Mormon: An Annotated Bibliography”
(Provo: FARMS, 1992); John L. Sorenson, ed., “Metals and Metallurgy
Relating to the Book of Mormon Text” (Provo: FARMS, 1992); John L.
Sorenson, “The Book of Mormon as a Mesoamerican Record,”
in BMAR, 391–521; John L. Sorenson, Images of Ancient America:
 Visualizing Book of Mormon Life (Provo: Research Press, FARMS, 1998);
also portions of Warfare in the Book of Mormon.
48. 48.
See Melvin J. Thorne, “Complexity, Consistency, Ignorance, and
Probabilities,” in BMAR, 179–93.
49. 49.
Thus, Alma 36:22 cites 1 Nephi 1:8 [1 Ne. 1:8], and Helaman 14:12 [Hel.
14:12] cites Mosiah 3:8.
 Daniel C. Peterson is director of the Center for the Preservation of Ancient
Religious Texts at Brigham Young University.

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2000/01/mounting-evidence-for-the-book-of-mormon?lang=eng