Book of Mormon
Book of MormonKJVtranslationIsaiah

King James Language in the Book of Mormon

If the Book of Mormon is ancient, why does it sound like the King James Bible?

Bible

The Bible answers

Bible · Nehemiah 8:8

KJV + NRSVUE

King James Version

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.

NRSVUE

So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon answers

2 Nephi 29:8

Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God?

Faithful answers

BYU / Interpreter

The dictation and the King James voice

Royal Skousen

Skousen’s critical text shows a tightly controlled oral dictation. KJV phrasing is the vehicle. Differences from the KJV — plus Early Modern English that is not simply 1820s dialect — are the opposite of a copy-paste job. The Lord used the scriptural English His people could hear as scripture.

A revealed translation can wear King James clothes without being a King James forgery.

  • Translation always chooses a target idiom.
  • Isaiah blocks often follow KJV but are not slavish copies.
  • The original manuscript behaves like dictation, not compilation.
Read the original

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