470 | November 14, 2024
Book of Mormon Evidence: Cognate Nouns and Verbs
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Scripture Central
Abstract
In several instances, noun-verb cognates in the Book of Mormon weren’t likely derived from Joseph Smith’s 19th-century linguistic environment, either because they reflect the nuances of biblical Hebrew or because they are rare or absent in the King James Version of the Bible.In Hebrew and other Semitic languages, nouns and verbs often share the same root. Words with this type of relationship are known as “cognates,” and the noun, in particular, is often referred to as the “cognate accusative.” Some cognate pairs are commonly found in English (e.g. “to sing a song” or “to walk the walk and talk the talk”), but these are relatively few compared to Semitic languages. English speakers generally don’t like the redundancy. As noted by Paul Hoskisson, “For stylistic reasons English syntax frowns on constructions using a cognate accusative.”1
When translating a text from a Semitic language into English, cognate pairs are sometimes preserved. However, because it may lead to poor or clunky English, the cognate relationship is often hidden in translation to make the text more readable. Donald Parry has noted the following examples in the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible where the cognate pairing between nouns and verbs becomes obscured:2
Passage | King James Version | Literal Hebrew Rendering |
“Let the earth bring forth grass” | “Let the earth grass [verb] grass [noun]” | |
“when I bring a cloud | “I will cloud a cloud” | |
“fell a lusting | “desired a desire” | |
“swear an oath | “swear a swearing” | |
“were they in great fear | “they feared a fear” | |
“It shall blossom abundantly | “it will blossom blossoming” | |
“O Lord . . . cast forth lightning | “O Lord . . . lightning [verb] a lightning [noun]” |
It is important to recognize that, when rendered in English, cognate relationships between a noun and verb can come in a variety of sentence constructions. Perhaps the most apparent—and sometimes the most jarring to English readers—is when a verb and its direct object are cognates, as seen in all the examples listed above. Yet the noun could also be the object of a preposition (e.g., “called us with an holy calling”; 2 Timothy 1:9). In other circumstances, the noun may come first and the verb second. For instance, in Ezra 7:25 a direct object (“judges”) is followed by a cognate verb (“judge”) in a relative clause: “And thou, Ezra … set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people” (Ezra 7:25). Other arrangements are also possible.
The important thing is that the verb and noun share the same root and show up in relatively close proximity. The more distant they are and the less similar they look or sound, the generally more acceptable they would be for English speakers.
Much like the Bible, the Book of Mormon contains many noun-verb cognate pairs which arise in a variety of syntactic arrangements.3 In the sections below, examples from each text will be compared, along with specific reported usage rates. Readers interested in a comprehensive list of cognates can view the Appendix.
Cognates with Frequent Biblical Usage
In some cases, cognate pairs in the Book of Mormon are also fairly common in the KJV. For instance, on more than a dozen occasions, the Book of Mormon uses the term work in cognate constructions, as in 2 Nephi 25:2: “their works were works of darkness.” Yet similar phrasing turns up on more than two dozen occasions in the KJV, as in Isaiah 59:6: “their works are works of iniquity.” The same is true for phrases like “commandments in all things that he shall command us” (Mosiah 5:5). This type of cognate pairing turns up only 8 times in the Book of Mormon but 23 times in the Bible.
Another example can be seen in Lehi’s declaration, “Behold I have dreamed a dream” (1 Nephi 3:2; 8:2). While this phrase only shows up twice in the Book of Mormon, it occurs at least 19 times in the KJV, especially in the famous story of Joseph who was sold into Egypt. Probably due to its significant frequency and prominence in the KJV, this particular cognate phrase has become fairly common in English.4 Even today, it is well known due to the song “I Dreamed a Dream” in the popular musical Les Misérables.
Due to their higher frequency in the KJV and especially when viewed in isolation, phrases such as “works were works” or “commandments which I have commanded” or “dreamed a dream” may not be particularly meaningful as evidence of Hebraic influence in the Book of Mormon (since they are comparatively more likely to have been part of Joseph Smith’s natural language patterns). Other Book of Mormon cognates still show up multiple times in the KJV but are less frequent. Examples of cognate pairs with 6 or more analogous KJV examples are given in the chart below, with respective counts for each text.5
Cognates | Bible | Book of Mormon |
“commandments, which I have commanded” | 23 | 8 |
“cover with a covering” | 6 | 1 |
“dreamed a dream” | 19 | 2 |
“judge shall judge” | 10 | 10 |
“works were works” | 27 | 13 |
“wrote … a writing” | 6 | 6 |
Cognates with Minimal Biblical Usage
In other circumstances, the biblical examples mirror Book of Mormon usage, but their frequency is quite limited:6
Topic | Bible | Book of Mormon |
“called with a holy calling” | 3 | 5 |
“covenant that he hath covenanted” | 2 | 5 |
“cursed with a sore cursing” | 2 | 4 |
“decreeth unto them decrees” | 1 | 2 |
“the desire which I desired” | 1 | 3 |
“fear exceedingly, with fear” | 3 | 2 |
“suffered exceedingly great sufferings” | 1 | 1 |
Cognates without Biblical Usage
Finally, there are some noun-verb cognates in the Book of Mormon that don’t show up at all in the Bible:
Topic | Bible | Book of Mormon |
“build buildings” | 0 | 6 |
“peopled with a people” | 0 | 1 |
“shielded by their shields” | 0 | 1 |
“succor those … in need of your succor” | 0 | 2 |
“taxed with a tax” | 0 | 2 |
More research would be needed to determine how frequently these non-biblical cognate phrases were used in English during Joseph Smith’s day, compared to alternative ways to say the same thing. It shouldn’t be hastily assumed that such phrases were never used, and some of them, such as “build buildings,” don’t sound especially non-standard.
Other cognate pairs which are either absent or rare in the KJV—particularly “taxed with a tax,” “peopled with a people,” “shielded by their shields,” “decreeth unto them decrees,” “desire which I desired,” “fear … with fear,” and “suffered … great sufferings”—seem more unusual. These definitely sound awkward, redundant, or non-standard, and they could easily be stated in a different way. For instance, it is sufficient in English simply to state that a people “were taxed” rather than adding that they “were taxed with a tax.” These types of non-standard phrases provide the strongest cognate-related evidence for a more literal translation from an underlying Hebrew-like text.
Possible Hidden Cognates
It is possible that some noun-verb cognates are present in the Book of Mormon but haven’t yet been identified. Some of them may be discernable in English but have simply been overlooked. Others, however, may be hidden in the Book of Mormon’s English translation, much like the examples identified previously by Parry.
One possible instance, proposed by John A. Tvedtnes, occurs when Lehi’s says to Sariah, “I know that I am a visionary man; for if I had not seen the things of God in a vision I should not have known the goodness of God” (1 Nephi 5:4). Tvedtnes notes that the underlying Hebraic phrase would involve the root ḥôzeh, which could be used as a noun to form the words “seer” or “vision,” or as a verb to mean “to see (in vision).”7 Cognate accusatives of ḥôzeh are elsewhere found in Isaiah 1:1 and Ezekiel 12:27; 13:7, 16, further strengthening this possibility.8
Nuances of Hebrew
In some instances, the Book of Mormon’s use of cognates matches the nuances of their use in the Hebrew Bible. Dana Pike has observed that “Lehi’s claim, ‘Behold, I have dreamed a dream; or, in other words, I have seen a vision’ (v 2; also v 36), reflects an overlap in terminology that is also apparent in the Bible, wherein the terms dream and vision sometimes occur in parallel.”9
Pike further notes that “the claim to have ‘dreamed a dream’ occurs in the Bible only in relation to symbolic dreams, such as those of Joseph (see Genesis 37:5–9) and the Pharaoh (see Genesis 41:15).”10 These passages also involve troubled feelings when the dreamer awakes, include invitations for others to “behold” their dreams, often incorporate wordplay, follow a general narrative structure, and an interpretation of the dream is usually offered shortly after it is shared.11
Each of these points is found in 1 Nephi 8, as well as the interpretation of the dream offered in 1 Nephi 11–15. Thus, the Book of Mormon matches not only the Hebraic style of this phrase, but its Hebrew context as well. Such details make it harder to suppose that Joseph Smith simply borrowed the phrase from the Bible or his own linguistic environment and more likely that it derives from a genuinely ancient Semitic source text.
Internal Consistencies
Interestingly, some cognate phrases within the Book of Mormon are used with startling consistency, either because they are used exclusively by a single author or because they only turn up in a particular context. For instance, the phrase “I dreamed a dream” is only used on two occasions in the Book of Mormon, both by Lehi about five chapters apart (1 Nephi 3:2; 1 Nephi 8:2). Likewise, the following five cognate phrases were all used by Alma, and in each case the cognate accusative (“calling”) is preceded by the word “holy”:12
- “are called with a holy calling” (Alma 13:3)
- “they have been called to this holy calling” (Alma 13:4)
- “And thus being called by this holy calling” (Alma 13:6)
- “being called with a holy calling” (Alma 13:8)
- “and that same God hath called me by a holy calling (Alma 29:13)
An example of contextual consistency is found in a prophecy given by the Lord that he would place a curse upon Laman and Lemuel if they rebelled against him. Impressively, the specific noun-verb cognates found in the Lord’s initial phrasing never turn up together again in the text, except three times in relation to this very same prophecy and its fulfillment:13
- “I will curse them even with a sore curse” (1 Nephi 2:23)
- “That ye may not be cursed with a sore cursing” (2 Nephi 1:22)
- “they shall be cursed even with the same cursing” (2 Nephi 5:23)
- “they are cursed with a sore cursing” (Jacob 3:3)
Another consistency can be seen in the covenant phrasing used by King Benjamin in Mosiah 4:16: “succor those that stand in need of your succor.” Not only does the unique cognate accusative “succor” turn up in a later Nephite text, but it appears as a nearly verbatim quotation: “succoring those who stood in need of their succor” (Alma 4:13).14
A final example of consistency comes from the phrase “peopled with a people” in Mosiah 8:8. Although this cognate pair is never used again in the text, the use of “peopled” as a verb is very unique, only showing up on three occasions in the Book of Mormon. Notably, each instance contains similar phrasing and involves the Jaredites:
Mosiah 8:8 | Mosiah 21:26 | Alma 22:30 |
having traveled in a land among many waters, having discovered a land which was covered with bones of men, and of beasts, and was also covered with ruins of buildings of every kind, having discovered a land which had been peopled with a people | Nevertheless, they did find a land which had been peopled; yea, a land which was covered with dry bones; yea, a land which had been peopled and which had been destroyed | it being so far northward that it came into the land which had been peopled and been destroyed, of whose bones we have spoken, which was discovered by the people of Zarahemla, it being the place of their first landing. |
Conclusion
Altogether, the Book of Mormon’s repeated and diverse use of noun-verb cognates is quite impressive. If the text simply mimicked a few of the more prominent examples found in the KJV—such as “work a work” or “dreamed a dream”—it might be easy to assume they were just part of his own 19th century vocabulary.
Yet we find nearly twenty types with different syntactic variations scattered throughout the text. A dozen of these show up either rarely or not at all in the Bible, and several don’t seem likely to have been common English in Joseph’s day. Even those examples which are found in the KJV, such as “dreamed a dream,” sometimes reflect the nuances of biblical usage in ways that seem difficult to ascribe to Joseph Smith. A comprehensive list of the Book of Mormon’s cognate pairs, along with comparable biblical usage rates, can be found in the Appendix. Together, they contribute to a growing body of evidence suggesting the Book of Mormon was translated from underlying Hebrew-like source texts.15
The remarkable internal textual consistency of certain cognates—either in authorial or contextual usage—also needs to be accounted for. Recognizing the details of when and how particular cognate phrases were first used, and then being able to reproduce those nuances in scattered locations amidst so many other layers of textual complexity would be no small feat. Considering Joseph Smith’s limited education and the uniquely constraining circumstances of the translation, this textual feature is likewise difficult to ascribe to his intellect.16
Donald W. Parry, Preserved in Translation: Hebrew and Other Ancient Literary Forms in the Book of Mormon (Brigham Young University, Religious Studies Center; Deseret Book, 2020), 105–108.
John A. Tvedtnes, “Notes and Communications: ‘A Visionary Man’,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 6, no. 2 (1997): 260–261.
Paul Y. Hoskisson, “Textual Evidences for the Book of Mormon,” in First Nephi, The Doctrinal Foundation, edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr. (Brigham Young University, Religious Studies Center, 1988), 288.
John A. Tvedtnes, “Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon: A Preliminary Survey,” BYU Studies 11 (Autumn 1970): 57.
All instances of cognate pairs in the following charts were identified by Scripture Central staff using WordCruncher. Note that in many cases, verb-noun cognates turned up in fairly close textual proximity but still weren’t counted for various technical reasons.
For instance, we read the following in Deuteronomy 6:1: “Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you.” In this case, because “commandments” shows up in a list of other things that were “commanded” (including “statutes” and “judgments”), the use of “commanded” seems less unnatural in English.
Other types of syntactic arrangements for various cognate pairs were likewise disqualified, based on the judgment of the Scripture Central staff responsible for this article. Thus, counts may vary depending on the criteria used for including or excluding cognates in various syntactic situations. Finally, it should be noted that there may be unidentified verb-noun cognates in the Book of Mormon that weren’t included in this study.
Comparing Verb-Noun Cognates (Total Counts) | ||
Bible | Topic | Book of Mormon |
0 | Buildings | 6 |
3 | Calling | 5 |
23 | Commandment | 8 |
2 | Covenant | 5 |
6 | Cover | 1 |
2 | Curse | 4 |
1 | Decree | 2 |
1 | Desire | 3 |
19 | Dream | 2 |
3 | Fear | 2 |
10 | Judgments | 10 |
0 | People | 1 |
0 | Shields | 1 |
0 | Succor | 2 |
1 | Sufferings | 1 |
0 | Tax | 2 |
27 | Work | 13 |
6 | Writing | 6 |
0 | Yoke | 1 |
Comparing Verb-Noun Cognates (Textual Data) | |||
Bible | Passage | Passage | Book of Mormon |
0 | BUILDINGS | 6 | |
And I did teach my people to build buildings | 2 Nephi 5:15 | ||
And we began to build buildings | Mosiah 9:8 | ||
king Noah built many elegant and spacious buildings | Mosiah 11:8 | ||
he caused many buildings to be built | Mosiah 11:13 | ||
and began to build buildings | Mosiah 23:5 | ||
with the taxes he did build many spacious buildings | Ether 10:5 | ||
3 | CALLING | 5 | |
1 Corinthians 7:20 | Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called | are called with a holy calling | Alma 13:3 |
Ephesians 4:4 | even as ye are called in one hope of your calling | they have been called to this holy calling | Alma 13:4 |
2 Timothy 1:9 | Who hath … called us with an holy calling | And thus being called by this holy calling | Alma 13:6 |
being called with a holy calling | Alma 13:8 | ||
and that same God hath called me by a holy calling | Alma 29:13 | ||
23 | COMMANDMENT | 8 | |
Leviticus 27:34 | These are the commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses | I and my father had kept the commandments wherewith the Lord had commanded us | 1 Nephi 5:20 |
Deuteronomy 4:2 | that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you | ye should keep the commandments of the Lord, in all things which he hath commanded you | Mosiah 2:13 |
Deuteronomy 4:40 | Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day | to be obedient to his commandments in all things that he shall command us | Mosiah 5:5 |
Deuteronomy 6:25 | if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us | keep his commandments in all things whatsoever he commanded him | Mosiah 6:6 |
Deuteronomy 8:1 | All the commandments which I command thee this day | But I must fulfil the commandments wherewith God has commanded me | Mosiah 13:4 |
Deuteronomy 11:8 | Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day | he gave Amalickiah the command of that part of his army which was obedient unto his commands | Alma 47:3 |
Deuteronomy 11:13 | if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day | if ye shall keep my commandments, which the Father hath commanded me | 3 Nephi 18:14 |
Deuteronomy 11:22 | For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you | Behold now I finish the commandment which the Father hath commanded me | 3 Nephi 20:10 |
Deuteronomy 11:27 | A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day | ||
Deuteronomy 13:18 | to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day | ||
Deuteronomy 15:5 | to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day | ||
Deuteronomy 19:9 | If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day | ||
Deuteronomy 26:13 | according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me | ||
Deuteronomy 27:1 | Keep all the commandments which I command you this day | ||
Deuteronomy 28:1 | do all his commandments which I command thee this day | ||
Deuteronomy 28:13 | if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day | ||
Deuteronomy 31:5 | that ye may do unto them according unto all the commandments which I have commanded you | ||
Judges 3:4 | they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers | ||
1 Samuel 13:13 | thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee | ||
1 Kings 13:21 | not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee | ||
2 Kings 17:34 | or after the law and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob | ||
2 Kings 18:6 | but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses | ||
Jeremiah 35:16 | performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them | ||
2 | COVENANT | 5 | |
Genesis 17:13 | my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant | the covenant which ye have made is a righteous covenant | Mosiah 5:6 |
Genesis 17:19 | I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant | the covenant wherewith he hath covenanted with the house of Jacob | 3 Nephi 5:25 |
restoring all the house of Jacob unto the knowledge of the covenant that he hath covenanted with them | 3 Nephi 5:25 | ||
Then shall this covenant which the Father hath covenanted with his people be fulfilled | 3 Nephi 20:46 | ||
the covenant of the Father may be fulfilled which he hath covenanted with his people | 3 Nephi 21:4 | ||
6 | COVER | 1 | |
Exodus 37:16 | his covers to cover withal, of pure gold | they were covered with a shallow covering | (Alma 16:11) |
Numbers 4:7 | and covers to cover withal | ||
Numbers 4:8 | and cover the same with a covering of badgers’ skins, | ||
Numbers 4:11 | and cover it with a covering of badgers’ skins | ||
Numbers 4:12 | and cover them with a covering of badgers’ skins | ||
Isaiah 30:1 | and that cover with a covering | ||
2 | CURSE | 4 | |
1 Kings 2:8 | which cursed me with a grievous curse | I will curse them even with a sore curse | 1 Nephi 2:23 |
Malachi 3:9 | Ye are cursed with a curse | That ye may not be cursed with a sore cursing | 2 Nephi 1:22 |
they shall be cursed even with the same cursing | 2 Nephi 5:23 | ||
they are cursed with a sore cursing | Jacob 3:3 | ||
1 | DECREE | 2 | |
Isaiah 10:1 | Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees | Wo unto them that decree unrighteous decrees | 2 Nephi 20:1 |
yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable | Alma 29:4 | ||
1 | DESIRE | 3 | |
Luke 22:15 | With desire I have desired to eat this passover | this was the desire which I desired of him | Enos 1:13 |
what the queen desired of him was his only desire | Alma 19:7 | ||
Kishkumen made known unto him the object of his desire, desiring that he would conduct him to the judgment-seat | Helaman 2:7 | ||
19 | DREAM | 2 | |
Genesis 37:5 | And Joseph dreamed a dream | Behold I have dreamed a dream | 1 Nephi 3:2 |
Genesis 37:6 | And Joseph dreamed a dream | Behold, I have dreamed a dream; or, in other words, I have seen a vision. | 1 Nephi 8:2 |
Genesis 37:9 | And he dreamed yet another dream | ||
Genesis 37:9 | Behold, I have dreamed a dream more | ||
Genesis 37:10 | What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? | ||
Genesis 40:5 | And they dreamed a dream both of them | ||
Genesis 40:8 | We have dreamed a dream | ||
Genesis 41:11 | And we dreamed a dream | ||
Genesis 41:15 | I have dreamed a dream | ||
Genesis 42:9 | And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed | ||
Deuteronomy 13:1 | If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams | ||
Deuteronomy 13:3 | Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams | ||
Deuteronomy 13:5 | And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death | ||
Judges 7:13 | Behold, I dreamed a dream | ||
Jeremiah 29:8 | neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed | ||
Daniel 2:1 | Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams | ||
Daniel 2:3 | I have dreamed a dream | ||
Joel 2:28 | your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions | ||
Acts 2:17 | your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams | ||
3 | FEAR | 2 | |
Deuteronomy 28:67 | for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear | neither fear ye their fear | 2 Nephi 18:12 |
Isaiah 8:12 | neither fear ye their fear | Lamoni began to fear exceedingly, with fear | Alma 18:5 |
Malachi 2:5 | I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me | ||
10 | JUDGMENTS | 10 | |
Numbers 35:24 | the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood according to these judgments | let us appoint judges, to judge this people | Mosiah 29:11 |
Deuteronomy 25:1 | that the judges may judge them | appoint wise men to be judges, that will judge this people | Mosiah 29:11 |
Judges 11:27 | the Lord the Judge be judge this day | choose you by the voice of this people, judges, that ye may be judged | Mosiah 29:25 |
1 Samuel 2:25 | the judge shall judge him | And now if ye have judges, and they do not judge you | Mosiah 29:28 |
1 Kings 3:28 | And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged | that they may be judged of a higher judge | Mosiah 29:28 |
2 Kings 23:22 | the judges that judged Israel | If your higher judges do not judge righteous judgments | Mosiah 29:29 |
Ezra 7:25 | set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people | they shall judge your higher judges | Mosiah 29:29 |
Ezekiel 23:24 | and they shall judge thee according to their judgments | who should be their judges, to judge them | Mosiah 29:39 |
Daniel 9:12 | and against our judges that judged us | they did appoint judges to rule over them, or to judge them | Mosiah 29:41 |
Matthew 7:2 | For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged | their judges that they might be judged | Alma 10:13 |
0 | PEOPLE | 1 | |
discovered a land which had been peopled with a people | Mosiah 8:8 | ||
0 | SHIELDS | 1 | |
they were shielded by their shields | Alma 49:24 | ||
0 | SUCCOR | 2 | |
ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor | Mosiah 4:16 | ||
succoring those who stood in need of their succor | Alma 4:13 | ||
1 | SUFFERINGS | 1 | |
2 Corinthians 1:6 | enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer | Helaman and his men, have suffered exceedingly great sufferings | Alma 60:3 |
0 | TAX | 2 | |
we are in bondage to the Lamanites, and are taxed with a tax | Mosiah 7:15 | ||
he did tax them with heavy taxes | Ether 10:5 | ||
27 | WORK | 13 | |
Exodus 35:35 | to work all manner of work | I will work a great and a marvelous work | 1 Nephi 14:7 |
Exodus 36:1 | how to work all manner of work | for their works were works of darkness | 2 Nephi 25:2 |
Exodus 36:4 | that wrought all the work of the sanctuary | his workmen should work all manner of fine work | Mosiah 11:10 |
Exodus 36:8 | that wrought the work of the tabernacle | your works have been the works of righteousness | Alma 5:16 |
Exodus 38:24 | for the work in all the work of the holy place | our works have been righteous works | Alma 5:17 |
1 Kings 5:16 | the people that wrought in the work | the works which shall be wrought among you | 3 Nephi 21:5 |
1 Kings 7:14 | cunning to work all works in brass | for my sake shall the Father work a work | 3 Nephi 21:9 |
1 Kings 7:14 | and wrought all his work | great and marvelous works shall be wrought by them | 3 Nephi 28:31 |
1 Kings 9:23 | the people that wrought in the work | a great and marvelous work wrought by them | 3 Nephi 28:32 |
2 Chronicles 34:13 | of all that wrought the work | there were great and marvelous works wrought | 4 Nephi 1:5 |
Nehemiah 4:16 | my servants wrought in the work | the marvelous works which were wrought | Mormon 7:9 |
Nehemiah 4:17 | his hands wrought in the work | they did work all manner of fine work | Ether 10:23 |
Nehemiah 6:16 | this work was wrought of our God | And they did work all manner of work | Ether 10:27 |
Proverbs 11:18 | The wicked worketh a deceitful work | ||
Ecclesiastes 2:17 | because the work that is wrought under the sun | ||
Isaiah 26:12 | thou also hast wrought all our works in us | ||
Isaiah 59:6 | their works are works of iniquity | ||
Jeremiah 18:3 | he wrought a work on the wheels | ||
Habakkuk 1:5 | for I will work a work in your days | ||
Matthew 26:10 | she hath wrought a good work upon me | ||
Mark 6:2 | even such mighty works are wrought by his hands | ||
Mark 14:6 | she hath wrought a good work on me. | ||
John 6:28 | we might work the works of God | ||
John 9:4 | I must work the works of him that sent me | ||
Acts 13:41 | for I work a work in your days | ||
1 Corinthians 16:10 | for he worketh the work of the Lord | ||
James 2:22 | Seest thou how faith wrought with his works | ||
6 | WRITING | 6 | |
Exodus 39:30 | and wrote upon it a writing | And there was also written upon them a new writing | 1 Nephi 16:29 |
Ezra 4:7 | the writing of the letter was written | he shall write the writing of the fruit of thy loins | 2 Nephi 3:18 |
Esther 8:8 | for the writing which is written in the king’s name | I, Amaron, write the things whatsoever I write | Omni 1:4 |
Ezekiel 13:9 | neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel | I, Chemish, write what few things I write | Omni 1:9 |
Daniel 5:24 | this writing was written | he wrote, that he wrote it with his own hand | Omni 1:9 |
Daniel 5:25 | And this is the writing that was written | that all might see the writing which he had written | Alma 46:19 |
0 | YOKE | 1 | |
and yoketh them with a yoke of iron | 1 Nephi 13:5 | ||
- 1. Paul Y. Hoskisson, “Textual Evidences for the Book of Mormon,” in First Nephi, The Doctrinal Foundation, edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr. (Brigham Young University, Religious Studies Center, 1988), 288.
- 2. Donald W. Parry, Preserved in Translation: Hebrew and Other Ancient Literary Forms in the Book of Mormon (Provo, UT: BYU Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2020), 106.
- 3. The examples in this article have been derived and adapted from Parry, Preserved in Translation, 106–108.
- 4. See Google N-Gram viewer. Although many of these texts are versions of the Bible or biblical commentaries, others feature independent usages of the phrase.
- 5. The specific syntactic structure of Book of Mormon cognates is sometimes more direct than is seen in their biblical counterparts. For instance, King Mosiah declared, “If your higher judges do not judge righteous judgments …” (Mosiah 29:29). While the KJV regularly employs examples analogous to the first cognate pairing of (“judges … judge”) the passage contains a second cognate relationship (“judge” … “judgments”) that is not found in any of the KJV examples.
- 6. Once again, an example from the Book of Mormon column is somewhat more direct than its biblical counterpart. In the Nephite record we read, “Helaman and his men, have suffered exceedingly great sufferings” (Alma 60:3Alma 60:3). The single corresponding biblical example (2 Corinthians 1:6) doesn’t have this type of immediate syntax, in which the cognate accusative (“sufferings”) is a direct object of the verb (“suffered”).
- 7. John A. Tvedtnes, “Notes and Communications: ‘A Visionary Man’,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 6, no. 2 (1997): 260–261. Of course, “see” and “vision” are closely related concepts in English, but they do not share the same etymology or root. It should also be pointed out that even though Nephi was writing in Egyptian, he was likely speaking in Hebrew or Aramaic. So it seems likely that Lehi’s original statements, and perhaps the original record of them, were likely in Hebrew, perhaps preserved on a more perishable material than metal plates.
- 8. See Tvedtnes, “Notes and Communications: ‘A Visionary Man’,” 261.
- 9. Dana M. Pike notes that Book of Mormon usage matches the nuances of its use in Hebrew in subtle ways. Dana M. Pike, “Lehi Dreamed a Dream: The Report of Lehi’s Dream in Its Biblical Context,” in The Things Which My Father Saw: Approaches to Lehi’s Dream and Nephi’s Vision, ed. Daniel L. Belnap, Gaye Strathearn, and Stanley B. Johnson (Brigham Young University, Religious Studies Center; Deseret Book, 2011), 94.
- 10. Pike, “Lehi Dreamed a Dream: The Report of Lehi’s Dream in Its Biblical Context,” 104.
- 11. See generally Pike, “Lehi Dreamed a Dream: The Report of Lehi’s Dream in Its Biblical Context,” 104–110.
- 12. Readers can compare these passages with 2 Timothy 1:9: “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling.”
- 13. Also of note is that in three of these four instances the cognate accusative (“curse” or “cursing”) is preceded by the word “sore.” In the one instance where it isn’t immediately used (2 Nephi 5:23), it instead has “same cursing.” Remarkably, the antecedent here, found two verses earlier, actually has the phrase “sore cursing” (2 Nephi 5:21), thus making all usages consistent in this detail.
- 14. For many more quotations and paraphrases of King Benjamin’s speech, see Scripture Central, “Book of Mormon Evidence: King Benjamin’s Literary Influence,” Evidence 374 (October 9, 2022).
- 15. See Parry, Preserved in Translation.
- 16. See the “Complexity” category in the “Theme” navigation menu of the Evidences webpage, online at scripturecentral.org.