Hebrew conditional structures in the Book of Mormon

Parent page: Book of Mormon/Anthropology/Language/Hebraisms

Hebrew conditional sentences in original Book of Mormon manuscript

Daniel C. Peterson: ^[1]

Another helpful indicator of the true origin of the Book of Mormon is the presence of the if-and conditional construction in the 1830 first English printing of the book.^[2] A little background will help to make the significance of this indicator clear. In English conditional sentences, we typically say things like "If you study hard, you will succeed," and "If you don't exercise and eat well, you will damage your health." The first part of such sentences is the "condition." If that condition is fulfilled, the second part of the sentence will occur.^[3] In the earliest manuscript of the Book of Mormon, however, a strikingly different kind of conditional sentence occurs several times....—(Click here to continue)

Notes

1. ↑ Daniel C. Peterson, "Not Joseph's, and Not Modern," in Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon, edited by Donald W. Parry, Daniel C. Peterson, and John W. Welch (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 2002), Chapter 2, references silently removed—consult original for citations.
2. ↑ Peterson: "On this, see the short article by Royal Skousen entitled "Hebraic Conditionals in the Book of Mormon," in Pressing Forward with the Book of Mormon, ed. Welch and Thorne, 201—3."
3. ↑ Peterson: "This, of course, is yet another conditional sentence."