The Book of Mormon is a record of God’s dealings with the inhabitants of the ancient Americas, who sailed here from Biblical lands. BYU professor Daniel Peterson says that the discovery of the “if/and” sentence construction made by his colleague, professor Royal Skousen, in his textual study of the Book of Mormon proves this linguistic lineage. Peterson writes:

In grammar, “conditional sentences” are sentences that discuss hypothetical situations and their consequences. Languages use a variety of constructions and verb forms to form such sentences…. A very common form of conditional sentence is the “if/then” construction, with the word “then” being optional…. What is absolutely not a common conditional form — in any period or dialect of English— is an “if/and” construction. Native speakers simply don’t use it. We never say things like, …  “If you cook it, and I’ll eat it.” Yet, although it never survives into English Bible translations, this construction is common in biblical Hebrew.

That is why it is significant to find “if/and” conditionals in the earliest English Book of Mormon, which presents itself as the translation of a record written by ancient Hebrews and their descendants. [1]

Skousen’s work has produced an in-depth linguistic analysis of the Book of Mormon and—for members of The Church of Jesus Christ— further proof of the authenticity of the book.

A Study of Book of Mormon Texts

The Book of Mormon came forth under miraculous circumstances—and has been a topic of scholarly debate ever since. Joseph Smith, the first prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (the restoration of Christ’s ancient church) was led to the gold plates by a heavenly messenger named Moroni. It’s important to note that Joseph Smith had very little formal education and, at the time of the translation, “could neither write nor dictate a coherent and well-worded letter, let alone dictat[e] a book like the Book of Mormon,” according to his wife, Emma. [“Last Testimony of Sister Emma,” Saints’ Herald 26 (Oct. 1, 1879), 290.] Almost all of the present-day text of the Book of Mormon was translated during a three-month period between April and June of 1829, with a schoolteacher named Oliver Cowdery working as Joseph Smith’s scribe. The manuscript dictated by Joseph to his scribes is called the Original Manuscript, and only 28% of this document survives today. To assist in the printing of the book, Oliver Cowdery made a handwritten copy of the manuscript, which is known today as the Printer’s Manuscript. [2]

In the nearly 200 years since the first printing of the Book of Mormon, there have been 20 published editions of the book— 15 published by The Church of Jesus Christ, 4 by the Reformed Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (now the Community of Christ, which is a separate church established by former members years after the death of Joseph Smith) and one private edition published in 1858 by James Wright in New York City. Skousen has spent a quarter of a century studying each of these editions as well as the Original and Printer’s manuscripts to discover, as nearly as possible, the earliest text of the English translation of the Book of Mormon. [3]

Skousen’s findings are fascinating—but don’t detract from the truthfulness of the doctrine or the book. He writes:

… It has been a delight to have discovered evidence in the original manuscript to support what witnesses said about how Joseph Smith translated. In my initial work on the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon, I was always excited to discover the occasional error that had crept into the text. But over time I have become more amazed about the nature of the original text of the Book of Mormon. In particular, the original manuscript provides important evidence that the Book of Mormon is a revealed text from the Lord. Indeed, the consistency of the original language supports the argument that the text was revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, word for word. [4]

The Significance of ‘If/And’

The Book of Mormon was written by ancient prophets whose ancestors came to the Americas from Jerusalem and other Biblical lands in a language called “reformed Egyptian.” (See Mormon 9:42 and 1 Nephi 1:12.) The significance of the Hebraic “if/and” construction is that it supports the linguistic heritage of the original authors of the Book of Mormon. As a young man with limited formal education, Joseph Smith would have no knowledge of this grammatical sentence structure. Peterson writes:

Joseph Smith would not have seen the Hebrew “if/and” conditional sentence in the King James Bible. Yet, in the original dictation manuscript of the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 17:50 reads “if he should command me that I should say unto this water be thou earth and it shall be earth.” That “and” was removed when Oliver Cowdery produced the so-called “Printer’s Manuscript,” but similar constructions— too many to dismiss as coincidental— appeared in the 1830 first edition. [1]

Skousen points out an entire sequence of “if/and” sentences in Helaman 12:13-21. For example, in verse 13: “yea and if he sayeth unto the earth move and it is moved.” Skousen writes:

Beginning with the 1837 edition, all these examples of the extra and have been edited out of the text. Such examples of a Hebraistic if-and construction in the original text provide further evidence that Joseph Smith received the text word for word. If he had received only ideas, there would have been no reason to have added the non-English use of and in all these examples. [4]

Peterson writes:

Such expressions— poor English, but good Hebrew— were eliminated by Joseph Smith himself in the second printing of the Book of Mormon. Though an unlettered man, he was a native speaker of English; he knew that these constructions were “wrong.” What we see in them, I think, is “language contamination,” leakage from the text’s original language into the translation language — much the way Spanish/English interpreters sometimes slip into “Spanglish.” But why would such things appear in “the most correct book?” Perhaps as a subtle divine hint that the original language of the Book of Mormon wasn’t English. [1]

Scholarly Studies vs. A Testimony of the Book of Mormon

Skousen’s study of the Book of Mormon provides an in-depth look into the textual changes of these scriptures. Richard Turley, assistant church historian and recorder for The Church of Jesus Christ, called Skousen’s work “the finest understanding that we have all had about the Book of Mormon.” [5] His work provides a rich background story through the textual changes that we can get in no other way. As Turley says, Skousen’s analysis is “an evaluation on how (Joseph Smith) translated it and what kind of text was revealed to him.” [5] The Critical Text Project is interesting, but is not the source upon which a testimony of the Book of Mormon is built—in other words, how a person knows that this book is the word of God. In the Introduction, the Prophet Joseph Smith writes:

I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.

But this analysis of the Book of Mormon isn’t necessarily designed to help others gain a testimony of the book. Even Skousen wrote:

There has also been a spiritual dimension to this work, although my own testimony of the Book of Mormon is not based on my work on the critical text project, but rather on my own personal witness that this book records events which really happened. [4]

Rather, the analysis is a fascinating study of the Book of Mormon text and how it has changed—and hasn’t really changed at all—from the first translation to the latest published edition of the scripture. Skousen wrote:

The systematic nature of the original text and the spelling out of Book of Mormon names support the theory that the text was revealed to Joseph Smith, word for word and even letter for letter. On the other hand, all subsequent transmissions of the text appear to be subject to human error. At each stage, the accuracy of the transmission has depended upon the carefulness of the transmitter, whether Joseph Smith, his scribes, or later editors and typesetters. (This caveat, of course, equally applies to the critical text itself.) Although all have tried to do their best, every transmission of the text appears to have led to some mistakes. Yet none of these errors significantly interfere with either the message of the book or its doctrine. These textual errors have never prevented readers of the book from receiving their own personal witness of its truth.

The editing of the text (including Joseph Smith’s for the 1837 edition) should, in nearly all instances, be viewed as translating the text into a more standard variety of English. Moreover, in his editing of the text, Joseph acted as a human editor; his 1837 and 1840 revisions do not represent any kind of “final authorial intent” since Joseph Smith is not the author of the Book of Mormon. Nor is there any evidence that his editorial revisions represent inspired corrections to the text, especially since he left unchanged dozens of substantive errors that the scribes originally made when they copied from the original manuscript to the printer’s manuscript.

The original text of the Book of Mormon reflects the style of Early Modern English—namely, the biblical style from the 1500s. Nonetheless, this biblical style in the Book of Mormon is not identical to the style of the King James Bible except in those Book of Mormon passages which directly quote from the King James Bible (such as Isaiah and Matthew). [4]

These findings, as Skousen has pointed out, in no way detract from the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Rather, they illustrate the truthfulness of the words of an ancient prophet, found on the Title Page of the Book of Mormon:

And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ.

How Can We Know the Book of Mormon is The Word of God?

How, then, can we find out for ourselves whether the Book of Mormon is the word of God? The Introduction to the Book of Mormon tells us:

We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost. (See Moroni 10:3–5.)

Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah.

This is how Skousen gained his testimony of the Book of Mormon. He writes:

About twenty-five years ago, as I was reading the Book of Mormon during a time of personal difficulty, I reread the account of Ammon, King Lamoni, and the queen in Alma 19, which records the moment when the servant woman Abish raises the queen from the ground (Alma 19:29–30):

“And it came to pass that she went and took the queen by the hand, that perhaps she might raise her from the ground; and as soon as she touched her hand she arose and stood upon her feet, and cried with a loud voice, saying: O blessed Jesus, who has saved me from an awful hell! O blessed God, have mercy on this people!

“And when she had said this, she clasped her hands, being filled with joy, speaking many words which were not understood….”

As I was reading this passage, the spirit personally witnessed to me, “This really happened.” I have always cherished this moment in my life, and have been grateful to the Lord for the sure knowledge that the Book of Mormon is the word of the Lord. [4]

I love this because it illustrates how each person can gain a testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon—by reading, then praying and asking God, and finally receiving an answer through the Holy Ghost. Elder Russell M. Nelson, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (with the First Presidency, the governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ), taught:

I would like to add my testimony of the divinity of this book. I have read it many times. I have also read much that has been written about it. Some authors have focused upon its stories, its people, or its vignettes of history. Others have been intrigued by its language structure or its records of weapons, geography, animal life, techniques of building, or systems of weights and measures.

Interesting as these matters may be, study of the Book of Mormon is most rewarding when one focuses on its primary purpose—to testify of Jesus Christ. By comparison, all other issues are incidental.

When you read the Book of Mormon, concentrate on the principal figure in the book—from its first chapter to the last—the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God. …

Each individual who prayerfully studies the Book of Mormon can also receive a testimony of its divinity. In addition, this book can help with personal problems in a very real way. Do you want to get rid of a bad habit? Do you want to improve relationships in your family? Do you want to increase your spiritual capacity? Read the Book of Mormon! It will bring you closer to the Lord and His loving power. [6]

The Book of Mormon is the word of God, and we can know this for ourselves. The Hebraisms and other discoveries that Professor Skousen found in his Critical Text Project add another rich layer to what many already know: that this book is true, and it was written by ancient prophets who sailed to the Americas from Jerusalem.

A critical text project is an attempt to reconstruct the original text as closely as possible, omitting errors made as the text was transcribed, copied and printed, through scholarly research. Skousen devoted 25 years to finding the original English language text of the Book of Mormon, and his findings are fascinating. He has published the results of his study in numerous articles and several volumes as well as a book. He also presented his findings in three illustrated lectures at Brigham Young University earlier this year, and the videos are available on YouTube. The series is aptly titled “25 Years of Research: What We Have Learned about the Book of Mormon Text.” [1]

For his critical text project, Skousen studied each stage of the transmission process for accidental changes and changes due to editing. An ancient Book of Mormon prophet wrote, “And now, if there are faults, they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God” (Title Page). Skousen’s findings support this; whatever mistakes have crept in, the things of God are unchanged.

The Translation of the Book of Mormon

 As a linguist, Skousen’s research focused on the original English language text as translated by Joseph Smith, the founding prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ in modern days. As stated in the Introduction, the Book of Mormon is a compilation of records kept by prophets in the ancient Americas. Mormon, a prophet-historian, abridged their writings onto gold plates. He then handed them to his son Moroni, who finished the work and then hid the plates in the Hill Cumorah.

On September 21, 1823, the same Moroni, then a glorified, resurrected being, appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith and instructed him relative to the ancient record and its destined translation into the English language. In due course the plates were delivered to Joseph Smith, who translated them by the gift and power of God.

Before he was allowed by God to chose 3 and then 8 witnesses, Joseph Smith was instructed not to show the gold plates to anyone, not even his wife. His wife, Emma—who never saw the plates uncovered— said:

The plates often lay on the table without any attempt at concealment, wrapped in a small linen tablecloth, which I had given him to fold them in. I once felt of the plates as they thus lay on the table, tracing their outline and shape. They seemed to be pliable like thick paper, and would rustle with a metallic sound when the edges were moved by the thumb, as one does sometimes thumb the edges of a book. (“Last Testimony of Sister Emma,” Saints’ Herald, 1 Oct. 1879, p. 290; spelling modernized.)

Skousen’s study begins with the Prophet Joseph translating the gold plates from reformed Egyptian (Mormon 9:32) into the English language. Joseph Smith translated the writings using instruments called seer stones. Skousen said that while we don’t know exactly how the instrument worked, we do know a little from witness accounts. The Joseph Smith Papers Project, an effort to gather and publish all existing Joseph Smith documents, has compiled the following details from scriptural and historic accounts:

Buried with the plates were “two stones in silver bows,” which fastened to a breastplate and were later referred to by the biblical term Urim and Thummim. [Joseph Smith] was instructed to use these stones “for the purpose of translating the book.” As he translated, [Joseph Smith] dictated to scribes. Emma Smith recalled that [Joseph Smith] used the Urim and Thummim for the first part of the translation and another seer stone for the remaining portion. Other accounts reported that [Joseph Smith] translated by looking at the stone or stones, which he placed in a hat to reduce exterior light.

The purpose of Skousen’s work was to uncover the original text as Joseph Smith saw it through the seer stones.

  ‘The Original and Printer’s Manuscript’

 Skousen’s first task was to find the handwritten manuscript that the Prophet Joseph dictated to his scribe. There are two handwritten copies of the Book of Mormon: the original manuscript and the printer’s manuscript. The original manuscript is the one written by Joseph Smith’s scribe as he translated. The printer’s manuscript is a copy of the original manuscript used by the printer to set the type for the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon. The printer’s manuscript is virtually intact and is owned by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is now called the Community of Christ. The original manuscript is in fragments, some of which are privately owned. Skousen has been able to examine both. [2]

In 1841, the Prophet Joseph placed the original manuscript in the cornerstone of the Nauvoo House—a boarding house that was never completed. [3] Skousen said:

In 1882, when Lewis Bidamon (Emma Smith’s second husband) opened the cornerstone, he discovered that the original manuscript was mostly destroyed by water. Bidamon handed out the better-preserved portions of the manuscript but apparently kept for himself some smaller fragments. [2]

The Church of Jesus Christ owns much of what Bidamon handed out, which is about 25% of the original manuscript. Some of the smaller fragments that Lewis Bidamon had kept were traced to the family of Wilford Wood— who bought them in 1937 from the Bidamon family— in Bountiful, Utah. As part of his work, Skousen was able to see the fragments and have them conserved and photographed. When Skousen obtained them, the fragments were stuck together in a lump measuring about 1 by 2 by 6 inches. The unraveling “was extremely exciting work,” Skousen said. The fragments were photographed using black-and-white reflective techniques, which revealed the very faint handwriting. They were also encapsulated before being returned to the Wood family. [2] Skousen said that in all, only 28% of the original manuscript has been found.

Skousen’s Findings

 Professor Skousen’s 25 years of research have uncovered a wealth of information about the Book of Mormon text. Describing his work, he wrote:

…Right from the beginning, I discovered errors that had crept into the text as Oliver Cowdery and the other scribes produced the printer’s manuscript from the original manuscript. In fact, there were errors in the original manuscript itself. … Yet at the same time, I began to see considerable evidence for the traditional interpretation that witnesses of the translation process claimed: (a) the text was orally dictated, word for word; (b) Book of Mormon names were frequently spelled out the first time they occurred in the text, thus indicating that Joseph Smith could see the spelling of the names; and (c) during dictation there was no rewriting of the text except to correct errors in taking down the dictation. [4]

Skousen also found that “the original text is much more consistent and systematic in phraseology and vocabulary than has ever been realized.” And “sometimes passages of text are the same, word for word, even though they are found incompletely different parts of the book.” [4]

The research does not end with the original and printer’s manuscripts. Skousen has combed, word for word, each of the 20 printed editions of the Book of Mormon since the initial production in 1830. Through his efforts, he has found only minor errors. The doctrines are unchanged. His 25 years of study have produced impressive results, and his findings show the human side of the Book of Mormon text.

A Testimony of the Book of Mormon

 Professor Skousen writes that his testimony of the Book of Mormon is independent of his work on the Critical Text project. He wrote:

The Book of Mormon stands on its own and is ultimately not dependent on how that text may vary in printed editions or in the manuscripts. Moroni promised that the Lord will give a testimony of the book to the prayerful reader – irrespective of any infelicities and errors in the text (which Moroni recognized could be there, as he himself noted in the last part of the title page of the Book of Mormon). I received my own personal witness of this book long before I ever began work on this project. I have never needed to prove to myself that the text is from the Lord. Nor have errors in the text ever prevented the Spirit from bearing witness that the book is the Lord’s.

… The Lord witnesses the truthfulness of this book irrespective of the minor errors that have crept in. I know of no error that changes any doctrine or the basic account of the text. There is no error, awkward expression, or ungrammaticality in any of the printed editions of the book that will prevent the honest reader from gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon. [4]

The Prophet Joseph Smith’s testimony can be found in the book’s Introduction:

I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.

Moroni, the ancient American prophet, told honest seekers that they could know the truth of this book for themselves:

When ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true: and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. (Moroni 10:4)