Beginning and Ending Repetitions

Some types of repetition in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon can be found at the beginnings or endings of phrases, clauses, sentences, and even paragraphs. Hebrew scholar Donald Parry notes that the purpose of such repetition is to emphasize “particular concepts.”¹ Parry categorizes these parallelisms as Like Sentence Beginnings, Like Sentence Endings, and Like Paragraph Endings.

Like Sentence Beginnings

One well-known example of repetition at the beginning of sentences can be seen in the Beatitudes taught by Jesus in Matthew 5:3–11:²

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Similar sets of repetitive opening statements can be seen throughout the Book of Mormon, such as this example from Mormon 9:26:

… who can stand against the works of the Lord? 

Who can deny his sayings?

Who will rise up against the almighty power of the Lord?

Who will despise the works of the Lord?

Who will despise the children of Christ?

Like Sentence Endings

An example of concluding repetition from the Bible can be seen in Paul’s statements in 1 Corinthians 13:11:³

When I was a child,

I spake as a child,

I understood as a child,

I thought as a child:

but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

A similar example from the Book of Mormon is found in Ether 2:17:

… even that they would hold water like unto a dish;

and the bottom thereof was tight like unto a dish;

and the sides thereof were tight like unto a dish;

and the ends thereof were peaked; and the top thereof was tight like unto a dish;

and the length thereof was the length of a tree; and the door thereof, when it was shut, was tight like unto a dish.

Like Paragraph Endings

In some cases, repetition can be found in intervals at the conclusions of larger literary structures, such as paragraphs. For instance, in Amos 4:6–11, we find the phrase “yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord” repeated five times:⁴

And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.

A similar example can be seen in 3 Nephi 9:3–11. As explained by Parry, the concluding refrain in this sample (element D) is embedded in the following repeated alternate parallelism:

A Identification of the City

    B Type of Destruction

        C Mention of the Inhabitants of the City

            D Purpose of the Destruction

To avoid confusion with the other parallel elements in this structure, only element D will be repeated in the passages below, so that the instance of Like Paragraph Endings is clearly visible without distraction:

Behold, that great city Zarahemla have I burned with fire, and the inhabitants thereof. And behold, that great city Moroni have I caused to be sunk in the depths of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof to be drowned. And behold, that great city Moronihah have I covered with earth, and the inhabitants thereof, to hide their iniquities and their abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come any more unto me against them. And behold, the city of Gilgal have I caused to be sunk, and the inhabitants thereof to be buried up in the depths of the earth; Yea, and the city of Onihah and the inhabitants thereof, and the city of Mocum and the inhabitants thereof, and the city of Jerusalem and the inhabitants thereof; and waters have I caused to come up in the stead thereof, to hide their wickedness and abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come up any more unto me against them. And behold, the city of Gadiandi, and the city of Gadiomnah, and the city of Jacob, and the city of Gimgimno, all these have I caused to be sunk, and made hills and valleys in the places thereof; and the inhabitants thereof have I buried up in the depths of the earth, to hide their wickedness and abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints should not come up any more unto me against them. And behold, that great city Jacobugath, which was inhabited by the people of king Jacob, have I caused to be burned with fire because of their sins and their wickedness, which was above all the wickedness of the whole earth, because of their secret murders and combinations; for it was they that did destroy the peace of my people and the government of the land; therefore I did cause them to be burned, to destroy them from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints should not come up unto me any more against them. And behold, the city of Laman, and the city of Josh, and the city of Gad, and the city of Kishkumen, have I caused to be burned with fire, and the inhabitants thereof, because of their wickedness in casting out the prophets, and stoning those whom I did send to declare unto them concerning their wickedness and their abominations. And because they did cast them all out, that there were none righteous among them, I did send down fire and destroy them, that their wickedness and abominations might be hid from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints whom I sent among them might not cry unto me from the ground against them.

Conclusion

The Book of Mormon features numerous examples of repetition at the beginnings or endings of phrases, clauses, and sentences (see Appendix). While less numerous, it also features several examples of repetition at the conclusion of paragraphs. These literary patterns reveal one aspect of the Book of Mormon’s Hebrew origins and textual complexity.

Carl J. Cranney, “The Deliberate Use of Hebrew Parallelisms in the Book of Mormon,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 23, no. 1 (2014): 140–165.

Donald W. Parry, Poetic Parallelisms in the Book of Mormon: The Complete Text Reformatted (Provo, UT: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2007).

Donald W. Parry, “Hebraisms and Other Ancient Peculiarities in the Book of Mormon,” in Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon (Provo, UT: FARMS, 2002), 155–189.

Hugh J. Pinnock, Finding Biblical Hebrew and Other Ancient Literary Forms in the Book of Mormon (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1999).

Like Sentence Beginnings

1 Nephi 2:22

1 Nephi 4:24

1 Nephi 7:9–12

1 Nephi 12:4

1 Nephi 15:21–23

1 Nephi 22:12

2 Nephi 9:31–37

2 Nephi 9:50

2 Nephi 10:16

2 Nephi 24:14

2 Nephi 25:26

2 Nephi 29:7–8

2 Nephi 33:6–9

Mosiah 4:9–10

Mosiah 10:7

Mosiah 12:21

Mosiah 12:31

Mosiah 13:21–24

Alma 1:30

Alma 5:14

Alma 7:6

Alma 10:3

Alma 10:13

Alma 11:44

Alma 12:6

Alma 13:29

Alma 13:30

Alma 21:6

Alma 21:8

Alma 22:16

Alma 23:10–12

Alma 26:16

Alma 26:24

Alma 30:47

Alma 31:15

Alma 34:18–25

Alma 37:3

Alma 37:33–34

Alma 56:24–25

Alma 60:20

Helaman 3:1

Helaman 7:10

Helaman 11:10–16

Helaman 13:8

Helaman 13:29

3 Nephi 9:15

3 Nephi 20:40

Mormon 5:23

Mormon 6:17

Mormon 7:2–5

Mormon 8:31–32

Mormon 9:26

Ether 10:25–27

Ether 12:13–15

Moroni 7:3

Like Sentence Endings

1 Nephi 10:7–8

1 Nephi 10:9–10

1 Nephi 14:23

1 Nephi 16:7

1 Nephi 16:10–12

2 Nephi 21:2–3

2 Nephi 25:26

2 Nephi 28:29

2 Nephi 32:8

2 Nephi 33:6

Jacob 6:5–6

Mosiah 4:9

Mosiah 10:10

Mosiah 15:27

Mosiah 18:30

Alma 11:42

Alma 20:4

Alma 21:4

Alma 32:30

Alma 37:5

Alma 39:6

Alma 46:22

Alma 62:18

3 Nephi 10:1–2

Ether 2:17

Ether 3:26

Moroni 7:4

Like Paragraph Endings

1 Nephi 3:16

1 Nephi 4:27

1 Nephi 10:13

1 Nephi 11:35–36

1 Nephi 18:22–23

2 Nephi 9:7–8

3 Nephi 8:5–7