View source for Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon

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The Book of Mormon does indeed have authentic Semitic constructions in it, but LDS need to tread cautiously in establishing them. Each must be evaluated on its own merits. Hebraisms that could have been known to Joseph Smith may still be authentic, and may still enhance our appreciation of the text, but they are weak evidence for Book of Mormon antiquity.

{{:Question: What is a 'Hebraism'?}}
{{:Question: Do Hebraisms exist in the Book of Mormon?}}
{{:Question: Why does "and it came to pass" appear so often in the Book of Mormon?}}
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|link=Book_of_Mormon/Anthropology/Language/Hebraisms/Repetition_of_the_word_and
|subject=Repetition of the word "and" in the Book of Mormon
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|link=Book_of_Mormon/Anthropology/Language/Hebraisms/Adverbials
|subject=Adverbials in the Book of Mormon
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|link=Book_of_Mormon/Anthropology/Language/Hebraisms/Antenantiosis
|subject=Antenantiosis in the Book of Mormon
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|link=Book_of_Mormon/Anthropology/Language/Hebraisms/Chiasmus
|subject=Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon
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|link=Book_of_Mormon/Anthropology/Language/Hebraisms/Clauses
|subject=Hebrew clauses in the Book of Mormon
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|link=Book_of_Mormon/Anthropology/Language/Hebraisms/Colophons
|subject=Colophons in the Book of Mormon
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|subject=Conjunctions in the Book of Mormon
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|subject=Cognates in the Book of Mormon
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|subject=Construct state in the Book of Mormon
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|link=Book_of_Mormon/Anthropology/Language/Hebraisms/Divine_feminine
|subject=The divine feminine in the Book of Mormon
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|link=Book_of_Mormon/Anthropology/Language/Hebraisms/Legal
|subject=Hebrew legal issues and the Book of Mormon
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|link=Book_of_Mormon/Anthropology/Language/Hebraisms/It_came_to_pass
|subject=The phrase "It came to pass" in the Book of Mormon
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|link=Book_of_Mormon/Anthropology/Language/Hebraisms/Numbers
|subject=Use of numbers in the Book of Mormon
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|subject=Ancient poetry and the Book of Mormon
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|subject=Prepositions and the Book of Mormon
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|subject=Pronouns and the Book of Mormon
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|link=Book_of_Mormon/Anthropology/Language/Hebraisms/Land_of_Jerusalem
|subject=The "land of Jerusalem" in the Book of Mormon
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|link=Book_of_Mormon/Anthropology/Language/Hebraisms/Parallelism
|subject=Hebrew forms of parallelism in the Book of Mormon
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|link=Book_of_Mormon/Anthropology/Language/Hebraisms/Plural
|subject=Use of the plural in the Book of Mormon
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|subject=Repetition of the Definite Article in the Book of Mormon
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|subject=Simile curses in the Book of Mormon
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|subject=The Tree of Life in the Book of Mormon
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|link=Book_of_Mormon/Anthropology/Language/Hebraisms/Merismus
|subject=Merismus in the Book of Mormon
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|link=Book_of_Mormon/Anthropology/Language/Hebraisms/Prophetic_speech
|subject=Prophetic speech in the Book of Mormon
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|link=Book_of_Mormon/Anthropology/Language/Hebraisms/Names_and_Titles_of_Deity
|subject=Names and titles of Deity in the Book of Mormon
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|subject=View more evidence of Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon
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==Other interesting linguistic forms==
These forms are included for interest's sake, or because their role as Hebraisms has not yet been established.  They are included here because they may make difficult passages more easily understood.

===Anapodoton===

Alma 36:9 reads in part "If thou wilt of thyself be destroyed, seek no more to destroy the church of God."

This is a rhetorical device called ''anapodoton''.  The technical term is Greek, meaning "without the main clause."  (The prefix ''ana-'' means "without," and ''apodosis'' means "main clause.")

Anapodoton is a figure in which a main clause is suggested by the introduction of a subordinate clause, but the main clause never occurs.  It is an intentional sentence fragment.  Here the fragment, archaically put, means "even if you have no care for your own soul...."

As is obvious from the context, it does ''not'' mean (as a native English speaker might read it) "if you want to be destroyed, stop trying to destroy the church"!

{{SummaryItem
|link=Book of Mormon/Evidences/Hebraisms/Chiasmus
|subject=Chiasmus
|summary=A literary structure known as "chiasmus" exists in the Book of Mormon. Some claim that the presence of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon is either coincidental, an artifact of the observer, or not impressive since examples of chiastic patterns have been found in the Doctrine and Covenants or other 19th century writing.
}}
{{SummaryItem
|link=Book of Mormon/Evidences/Hebraisms/If-and conditionals
|subject=If-and conditionals
|summary=The first edition of the Book of Mormon contained several examples of a grammatical structure not known in English, but common in Hebrew: the so-called if/and conditional.
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{{SummaryItem
|link=Book_of_Mormon/Anachronisms/Names
|subject=Names: authentic Old World names in the Book of Mormon
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{{SummaryItem
|link=Book of Mormon/Evidences/Hebraisms/Sami Hanna on the Book of Mormon
|subject=Sami Hanna on the Book of Mormon
|summary=I have read a talk written by Elder Russell M. Nelson in which he discusses a friend of his who translated the Book of Mormon back into Arabic. What are the facts behind this story and the talk?
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{{Critical sources box:Book of Mormon/Evidences/Hebraisms/CriticalSources}}
{{endnotes sources}}

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[[pt:O Livro de Mórmon/Evidências/Hebraísmos]]