Words for Law

Throughout the Book of Mormon, a set of synonymous (or near-synonymous) legal terms is often used to emphasize the righteousness or obedience of groups and individuals. For example, when Nephi and his people first broke off from the Lamanites and began to establish their own city, Nephi said, “we did observe to keep the judgments, and the statutes, and the commandments of the Lord in all things, according to the law of Moses” (2 Nephi 5:10). Similarly, during a righteous period of peace after Lamanite attacks had been thwarted, “the people did observe to keep the commandments of the Lord; and they were strict in observing the ordinances of God, according to the law of Moses” (Alma 30:3).¹

Latter-day Saint legal scholar John W. Welch has explained that this seemingly redundant repetition is what’s called a “pleonastic list,” and is similar to the list of nearly equivalent legal terms found in the Hebrew Bible.² According to J. van der Ploeg, “In order to express the idea of ‘Right’ or Law, the Hebrew language uses several synonyms of which the principal ones are tôrāh, mišpat, ḥōq, ḥuqqāh, ‘êdût,” as well as others such as miṣvah.³ Several of these terms occur together in the pleonastic list that King David used when he charged his son Solomon “to keep [God’s] statutes [ḥuqqāh], and his commandments [miṣvah], and his judgments [mišpat], and his testimonies [‘êdût], as it is written in the law [tôrāh] of Moses” (1 Kings 2:3).

Naturally, each of these Hebrew legal terms “express different semantic aspects and subtle nuances of our word law.”⁴ When studying the Book of Mormon’s pleonastic lists and the usage of each of its legal terms individually, Welch found that the English translations correspond well to the nuances of their closest Hebrew equivalents.

Torāh is used in reference to the “law of Moses,” but also means more than just “law.” The word torāh is related to the Hebrew word for teaching or instruction. Thus, the expression “the law of Moses” in Hebrew feels like “the teachings of Moses,” similar to how Latter-day Saints have come to speak reverently of “the teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith.” Thus, torāh actually “embodies all God’s instructions given to his people, implemented and taught through his priests” and fits with “the frequently mentioned priestly function of teaching in the Book of Mormon.”⁵

Mišpat is typically translated into English as “judgment,” usually meaning judgments or decisions of legal proceedings, but it can also mean acts of divine judgment or eternal justice. This term also broadly “embraces most phases of a legal trial,”⁶ including verdicts or decrees which came to take on the force of positive law.⁷ Welch notes that in the Book of Mormon “the term judgments appears … in the context of judges who ‘judge righteous judgments’ (Mosiah 29:29, 43), or it refers to the outcome of a court procedure (see Alma 30:57) or to God’s judgments upon his people.”⁸

Miṣvah usually means either a commandment or precept, and it is used frequently, especially in Deuteronomy, in reference to orders, requirements, or commandments given by God. “Similarly, the use of the word commandments in relation to God is extensive in the Book of Mormon.”⁹

‘Edut normally refers to testimonies or witnesses. “Especially in the early biblical period, the law was thought of as a testimony or witness that God had established. … In the Book of Mormon, similar ideas are found, for example, in Benjamin’s farewell speech (see Mosiah 3:23–24) and in Moroni’s words concluding the monumental Nephite record (see Moroni 10:27),”¹⁰ which both declare that people will be judged by their words at the final judgment.

Ḥōq/ḥuqqāh: these two terms are actually the masculine (ḥōq) and feminine (ḥuqqāh) forms of the same root, thus there is really no difference in meaning between them. Broadly speaking, this Hebrew word means something like a custom, order, decree, or limit.¹¹ It is typically translated into English as either statute or ordinance,¹² usually in the sense of an order or decree of a governing body, much as we speak of a “city ordinance” or a “state statute.”

Since the two forms of this word (ḥōq/ḥuqqāh) are virtually identical, it is understandable that they never appear together in any Hebrew pleonastic list.¹³ “Thus I find it quite significant,” reasoned Welch, “that the English words ordinance and statute never appear as companions in the pleonastic lists in the Book of Mormon. Indeed, they are the only two English equivalents of [any of] the Hebrew terms for ‘law’ that never appear in the Book of Mormon in combination with each other.”¹⁴

Conclusion

The variety of legal terms found in the Book of Mormon, the way they show up together in lists, and their nuanced correspondence with ancient Hebrew analogues, strengthens the case for the book’s antiquity. The record comes across convincingly as having been written by authors steeped in the ancient legal and textual traditions of ancient Israel.

John W. Welch, “A Steady Stream of Significant Recognitions,” in Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon, ed. Donald W. Parry, Daniel C. Peterson, and John W. Welch (Provo, UT: FARMS, 2002), 353–356.

John W. Welch, “Statutes, Judgments, Ordinances, and Commandments,” in Reexploring the Book of Mormon: A Decade of New Research, ed. John W. Welch (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1992), 62–65.

1 Nephi 17:22 2 Nephi 1:162 Nephi 5:10Omni 1:2 Mosiah 6:6Alma 8:17 Alma 25:14 Alma 30:3 Alma 31:9Alma 58:40Helaman 3:20Helaman 6:34 Helaman 15:53 Nephi 25:44 Nephi 1:12

1 Nephi 17:22

2 Nephi 1:16

2 Nephi 5:10

Omni 1:2 

Mosiah 6:6

Alma 8:17

Alma 25:14 

Alma 30:3

Alma 31:9

Alma 58:40

Helaman 3:20

Helaman 6:34 

Helaman 15:5

3 Nephi 25:4

4 Nephi 1:12