Hebraisms and the Apocalypse of Abraham

Concerning its own linguistic heritage, the Book of Mormon claims it was originally written in a form of Egyptian by authors who also knew and spoke Hebrew (see 1 Nephi 1:2; Mormon 9:32–33). Some scholars interpret this to mean that Nephite authors wrote in Egyptian, while others believe they adapted an Egyptian script to write in Hebrew.¹ Either way, the text claims to have been originally written in an ancient Near Eastern language, whereas today it is only available in modern translations, beginning with Joseph Smith’s English translation in 1829.  

The Apocalypse of Abraham 

Many other ancient texts are also only available in a translated form, sometimes from manuscripts that date to long after they were originally composed.² The Apocalypse of Abraham offers a valuable example of this phenomenon. Its earliest extant manuscripts were written in Slavonic and date between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries AD.³ Most experts agree, however, that the text was first composed in Hebrew or Aramaic between AD 70–150. As noted by Amy Paulsen-Reed, among scholars who have studied the Apocalypse of Abraham there is “a rare display of unity” concerning its Semitic origin.⁴ This assessment is based on numerous textual clues—often termed Hebraisms or Semiticisms—pointing to an underlying Semitic source.⁵

Hebraisms in the Apocalypse of Abraham 

One textual feature supporting this consensus comes from the frequent use of the waw prefix, often translated as “and” or “but” in English.⁶ For example, Apocalypse of Abraham 11:4–5 reads: “And he said to me, Abraham. And I said, Here is your servant! And he said, Let my appearance not frighten you, nor my speech trouble your soul. Come with me! And I will go with you.”⁷

Although the frequent use of “and” may feel repetitive or superfluous to English speakers, this prefix was crucial in ancient Hebrew, which lacked punctuation and therefore needed some other way to distinguish between separate complete thoughts. A similar feature found throughout the Apocalypse of Abraham is the phrase “and it came to pass.” While it may seem lengthy or redundant in English, it reflects just a single word in Hebrew and was commonly used in Hebrew texts as a temporal marker.⁸

One can also point to the distinctively Semitic manner in which the constituent parts of one’s body or soul are used metaphorically to display an action or emotion.⁹ On one occasion, Abraham expressed concern by stating that “my heart was perplexed.” In another instance, he declared, “Why now have you afflicted my heart?”¹⁰ Other examples include “my spirit was amazed, and my soul fled from me” and “my soul has loved” God.¹¹ Such metaphors are characteristic of Hebrew thought and idiom.  

Some Semitic words appear to have been left untranslated in the Slavonic text, meaning they were instead transliterated.¹² An instance of this is found in Apocalypse of Abraham 1:8, when Terah asked Abraham to bring him his “axes and izmala”—likely a Hebrew word meaning “chisel.”¹³ Another example is the god Nakhon (or Nakhin), which in Hebrew emphasizes that this god is “stable; firmly established” in contrast to the god Maroumaf.¹⁴

Perhaps the most compelling marker of Semitic origins is the presence of Hebrew or Aramaic names used in wordplays that would only make sense to a Semitic audience. This can be easily seen in name of the idol Barisat, which likely derives from the Hebrew/Aramaic name bar ’eshāth, meaning “son of fire” or “fiery one.”¹⁵ This reconstruction is amusingly ironic, seeing that Barisat is itself burned with fire in Apocalypse of Abraham 5. The names of other idols each have a similar Semitic meaning that is “either descriptive of the idol’s role in the narrative or furthers the mockery of the idol in an ironic and humorous way.”¹⁶ Importantly, the narrative puns involved in these names are “completely dependent” on the reader’s knowledge of their Semitic undertones.¹⁷

Hebrew or Greek? 

Some features of the Apocalypse of Abraham suggest the Slavonic edition was translated from a Greek version of the text.¹⁸ That being the case, scholars have entertained the possibility that its Hebraisms originally derive from the use of biblicized Greek—as is found in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (known as the Septuagint).¹⁹ Several aspects of the text, however, run contrary to this theory.  

First of all, as noted by R. Rubinkiewicz, the “sheer number of Semitisms” in the Apocalypse of Abraham “is best explained” by an original Semitic composition.²⁰ Thus, at least to some extent, the overall quantity of Semitic content matters.  

In addition, there are linguistic and literary elements in the text that don’t make sense as biblicized Greek. For example, some quotations or allusions to the Bible found in the Apocalypse of Abraham appear to reflect the Hebrew Masoretic text (or the Aramaic Targums) rather than the Greek Septuagint.²¹ This can be seen in the expression “I said in my heart” (Apocalypse of Abraham 3:2), which Paulsen-Reed describes as a “true Hebraism.”²² Other prepositional phrases similarly invoke Hebrew syntax in ways not found in biblicized Greek.²³

Perhaps even more telling are the instances of wordplay mentioned in the previous section, since this feature wouldn’t have originated in Greek or have been readily recognized by primarily Greek-speaking audiences. Based on these and other Semitic features,²⁴ one leading expert concluded that “the existence of the Semitic original of [the Apocalypse of Abraham] may be considered proven beyond any doubt.”²⁵

 Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon 

Like the Apocalypse of Abraham, the Book of Mormon contains many linguistic features that are typical of ancient Near Eastern languages and literature, including examples similar to those found in the Apocalypse of Abraham.²⁶

Donald W. Parry and other scholars have noted that the Nephite record frequently uses the waw prefix much like the Bible and other Hebrew texts do.²⁷ This can be seen in the description Nephi gave of his vision early on in the Book of Mormon: “And I saw the heavens open, and the Lamb of God descending out of heaven; and he came down and showed himself unto them. And I also saw and bear record that the Holy Ghost fell upon twelve others; and they were ordained of God, and chosen” (1 Nephi 12:6–7).²⁸ The phrase “and it came to pass” is likewise prominently used in the Book of Mormon in a manner typical of Hebrew writing.²⁹

Just as seen in the Apocalypse of Abraham, Book of Mormon authors sometimes employed imagery of body parts to convey great emotion. One example can be seen in Mormon 2:12: “my heart did begin to rejoice within me.”³⁰ Scholars have also pointed out the use of the cognate accusative, such as “dreamed a dream”; the use of the construct state, such as “works of righteousness” (instead of “righteous works”); and the use of compound prepositions, such as “by the mouth of angels” (instead of simply saying “by angels”).³¹ These and many other examples of Hebraisms are well documented.³²

It should be recognized that similar Hebraisms occur in the King James Bible and can be found in other English works from the nineteenth century that imitate biblical language.³³ Thus, one might assume that the Hebrew features in the Book of Mormon are simply due to Joseph Smith’s familiarity with the Bible. This would be analogous to the proposal that the Semitic features identified in the Apocalypse of Abraham are merely due to a biblicized Greek original. Yet the same reasons that scholars have rejected that proposal also apply to the Book of Mormon, starting with the fact that its identified Hebrew features are simply too numerous to easily ascribe them to someone like Joseph Smith in 1829.  

Beyond sheer quantity and variety, however, it must be recognized that there are several Semitic features in the Book of Mormon that couldn’t have been derived from an imitation of the King James Bible. For instance, Parry observes that “sometimes in the Book of Mormon and is used where but is expected.”³⁴ One instance is from Omni 1:25, which states that “there is nothing which is good save it comes from the Lord: and [or but] that which is evil cometh from the devil.”³⁵ According to Parry, “such examples are indicative of a literal translation from a Hebrew-like text,”³⁶ since in Hebrew, the waw prefix is used for both conjunctions, something not readily discernable to an English reader of the Bible. 

Another example of a common Hebrew construction is the if-and clause.³⁷ No instances of this conditional phrase are found in the King James Version or other modern English translations of the Bible,³⁸ but they are found in the earliest manuscripts of the Book of Mormon. The earliest text for Mosiah 2:21 reads: “I say if ye should serve him with your whole soul—and yet ye would be unprofitable servants.”³⁹ “This finding,” writes Parry, “underscores that the Book of Mormon’s use of Hebraistic literary forms cannot simply be attributed to Joseph Smith’s familiarity with the English Bible.”⁴⁰

In some cases, biblical quotations in the Book of Mormon more closely reflect the Bible’s underlying Hebrew than the King James Version does. This can be seen in the writings of Nephi and Alma, each of whom appears to have been familiar with the Hebrew of Isaiah’s writings in ways unlikely known by Joseph Smith in 1829.⁴¹

Similar to the Apocalypse of Abraham, the Book of Mormon contains transliterated words that appear to be of Semitic origin.⁴² The word sheum, for instance, appears in a list of grains and crops in Mosiah 9:9 and is similar to “a common Akkadian word referring to cereal grains.”⁴³ The word ziff appears in a list of metals (see Mosiah 11:3, 8) and may be derived from a Hebrew root meaning “splendor, brightness” (ziv), or it could be related to the place name Ziph found in Joshua 15:24 (cf. 1 Chronicles 2:42; 4:16).⁴⁴

Finally, just like the Apocalypse of Abraham, Book of Mormon names are frequently used in Hebrew-style wordplays that get lost in translation, except that there are many more proposed examples in the Nephite record.⁴⁵ One notable instance involves “the land of Lehi-Nephi, and the land of Shilom” (Mosiah 9:6; emphasis added). The name Shilom is based on the Hebrew root shlm, meaning “peace.”⁴⁶ It is therefore telling that in the immediately preceding passage, Zeniff expressed his hope that he and his people could “possess the land in peace” (v. 5; emphasis added). Sadly, in a twist of narrative irony, there was ultimately no peace but rather war in the land of Shilom.⁴⁷ This favorably compares with the ironic fire-related name of the idol Barisat in the Apocalypse of Abraham.  

Concerning the proposed Semitic background and puns surrounding the names of the idols in the Apocalypse of Abraham, Alexander Kulik concluded, “An obviously Semitic origin of these names is the most striking argument in favor of the Semitic origin of the whole composition.”⁴⁸ Paulsen-Reed makes a related point: “Given that this kind of word play presupposes a knowledge of Hebrew or Aramaic, it is highly unlikely that it was written by a Greek author for a Greek-speaking audience.”⁴⁹

The same lines of reasoning could be applied to the striking number of transliterated words and attending wordplays in the Nephite record, many of which appear to be of Semitic origin. It seems highly unlikely that they were originally composed in English for a primarily English-speaking audience by someone like Joseph Smith, who in 1829 had a limited education and no Hebrew training.⁵⁰ Thus, their presence strongly argues in favor of the Semitic origin of the whole composition. 

Conclusion 

This is but a small sample of proposed Hebraisms and other Semitic-like features identified in the Book of Mormon.⁵¹ According to Donald W. Parry, “It is highly doubtful that Joseph Smith knew anything about the Hebraic features of the Book of Mormon that have been identified by scholars long after his death.”⁵² Similarly, John Tvedtnes noted, “Many expressions used in the Book of Mormon are awkward or unexpected in English, even in Joseph Smith’s time. Yet they make good sense when viewed as translations, perhaps as too literal translations, from an ancient text written in a Hebrew-like language.”⁵³

It is also significant that the Book of Mormon possesses many of the same features that have convinced scholars that the Apocalypse of Abraham is a translation of an ancient Semitic text. Due to the high volume and diversity of Hebraic or Semitic features in the Book of Mormon—especially those which couldn’t have been derived through imitation of the King James Bible—its claims about its ancient Near Eastern origins ought to be taken seriously. 

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). 

Stephen D. Ricks, Paul Y. Hoskisson, Robert F. Smith, and John Gee, Dictionary of Proper Names and Foreign Words in the Book of Mormon (Orem, UT: Interpreter Foundation; Salt Lake City, UT: Eborn Books, 2022). 

Matthew L. Bowen, Name as Key-Word: Collected Essays on Onomastic Wordplay and the Temple in Mormon Scripture (Orem, UT: Interpreter Foundation; Salt Lake City, UT: Eborn Books, 2018). 

Donald W. Parry, “Hebraisms and Other Ancient Peculiarities in the Book of Mormon,” in Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon, ed. Donald W. Parry, Daniel C. Peterson, and John W. Welch (Provo, UT: FARMS, 2002), 155–190. 

John A. Tvedtnes, “The Hebrew Background of the Book of Mormon,” in Rediscovering the Book of Mormon: Insights You May Have Missed Before, ed. John L. Sorenson and Melvin J. Thorne (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1991), 77–91.