Detailed response to CES Letter, Book of Mormon

Response to "Book of Mormon Concerns & Questions"


A FAIR Analysis of:
[[../|Letter to a CES Director]]
A work by author: Jeremy Runnells
 [[../Book of Mormon Translation Concerns & Questions|Book of Mormon Translation Concerns & Questions]]


The absence of evidence is not proof. Here’s one small example:
Matthew Roper in a FairMormon Blog on June 17, 2013, writes about a criticism repeated many times over the years about the mention of steel in the Book of Mormon. In 1884, one critic wrote, “Laban’s sword was steel, when it is a notorious fact that the Israelites knew nothing of steel for hundreds of years afterwards. Who but as ignorant a person as Rigdon would have perpetuated all these blunders.”8 More recently, Thomas O’Dea in 1957 stated, “Every commentator on the Book of Mormon has pointed out the many cultural and historical anachronisms, such as the steel sword of Laban in 600 B.C.” [9]
We had no answer to these critics at the time, but as often happens in these matters, new discoveries in later years shed new light. Roper reports, “It is increasingly apparent that the practice of hardening iron through deliberate carburization, quenching and tempering was well known to the ancient world from which Nephi came. ‘It seems evident,’ notes one recent authority, ‘that by the beginning of the tenth century B.C. blacksmiths were intentionally steeling iron.’” [10] In 1987, the Ensign reported that archeologists had unearthed a long steel sword near Jericho dating back to the late seventh century B.C., probably to the reign of King Josiah who died shortly before Lehi began to prophesy. [11] This sword is now on display at Jerusalem’s Israel Museum. The museum’s explanatory sign reads in part, “The sword is made of iron hardened into steel, attesting to substantial metallurgical know-how.” [12]
—Elder D. Todd Christofferson, "The Prophet Joseph Smith", Brigham Young University-Idaho Devotional, September 24, 2013.

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"What are 1769 King James Version edition errors doing in the Book of Mormon?"

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  1. REDIRECTThe Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible#Why does the Book of Mormon match the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible so closely?

"What are these 17th century italicized words doing in the Book of Mormon?"

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KJV Italicized Text in the Book of Mormon

Summary: Italics in the King James Bible indicate that a word not present in the original Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic text has been added to the text to make the translation readable and comprehensible in English. They are also sometimes added to clarify the meaning of the original.

The Book of Mormon contains quotations from and allusions to the King James Bible. The quotations contain words that are italicized in the King James Bible.

The Book of Mormon sometimes retains the italicized words (without the italics!) from the King James Bible. In other cases it deletes the italicized word(s). In still other cases the Book of Mormon modifies the italicized words.

Some critics believe that the presence of the italics is an indication that Joseph Smith didn’t translate an ancient text and instead just plagiarized a copy of the King James Bible. The CES Letter explains that "[w]hen King James translators were translating the KJV Bible between 1604 and 1611, they would occasionally put in their own words into the text to make the English more readable. We know exactly what these words are because they’re italicized in the KJV Bible." It asks, "What are these 17th century italicized words doing in the Book of Mormon? Word for word? What does this say about the Book of Mormon being an ancient record?"[1]

The assumption seems to be that the Book of Mormon, if truly a translation of an ancient text, should either not include these words or use different words. (We emphasize that the italics did not—as the 'CES Letter' assumes, merely make the English more readable. They were also inserted to clarify the underlying meaning of the Greek and Hebrew being translated.)

Critic Stan Larson argued in a 1993 book chapter that the words used make it clear that a 1769 KJV is being used:

The Book of Mormon text often revises biblical quotations at the very point where the original 1611 edition of the KJV prints the word or words in a different typeface in order to indicate that the words are not found in the Greek. This printing device was both inconsistently and sparsely applied in the 1611 KJV and improved in the 1769 printing. When Smith came to the KJV italics in the Sermon on the Mount, which he knew indicated that whatever was printed in italics was not in the original Greek, he would often either drop the word or revise it. The Book of Mormon sometimes revises the KJV italics that are only found in the 1769 and later printings. For example, the Book of Mormon drops the italics of the 1769 printing at Matthew 6꞉5, 7; 7:18 (3 Ne. 13꞉5,7; 14꞉18), and the Book of Mormon changes the tense of the italics at Matthew 5꞉12 (3 Ne. 12꞉12). On the other hand, the Book of Mormon fails to revise places where the KJV text ought to have been printed in italics but is not. In two places the Book of Mormon copies the noun "men" from the KJV, where it is not in the original Greek and has been improperly added in the KJV.[2]

Thus, Larson argues from a different angle—he doesn’t use the mere presence of KJV italics in the Book of Mormon like the 'CES Letter'. He argues instead based on the Book of Mormon’s interaction with the KJV italics. In some cases, the italics are simply dropped. In some cases, the italics are revised. In some cases, there is a passage that should have an italicized word but isn’t. These interactions occur in places which were only italicized in the 1769 edition and later editions of the KJV. According to Larson, these considerations date the Book of Mormon’s composition (and, more particularly, the Savior's Sermon at the Temple recorded in 3 Nephi) to the 1800s.

Critic David P. Wright uses a similar analysis of the Book of Mormon's alleged interaction with the italics of KJV Isaiah.[3] He concluded that the perceived interaction "demontrates in large measure that the BoM Isaiah derives from the KJV."[3]:p. 159 More broadly, he uses this "evidence" to argue that "the Isaiah of the BoM is a revision of the KJV and not a translation of an ancient document."[3]:p. 157

Believing author Stan Spencer (not Stan Larson), following Wright,[3]:164-66. discerns one more problem to account for. Spencer informs us that "[t]hese variants are usually minor but sometimes result in readings that conflict with the larger context of Isaiah’s message or create ungrammatical or even nonsensical sentences, particularly in the earliest text of the Book of Mormon."[4]:46 Spencer used Royal Skousen's first edition of The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text (2009) which is the best reconstruction of the text as it was originally dictated by Joseph Smith.[5]

We must thus address four questions:

  1. Did Joseph know what the italics represented?
  2. Did Joseph use a King James Bible in order to produce the Book of Mormon, including reference to the italics?
  3. Do the Book of Mormon's interactions with the KJV italics show that Joseph Smith was working from the 1769 edition of the KJV?
  4. Do the original Book of Mormon text's omissions and revisions of italics refute the teaching of Joseph Smith that the Book of Mormon is "the most correct book of any on earth"?

Question #1: What did Joseph know about the italics?

There is considerable debate among scholars of the Book of Mormon as to whether Joseph Smith knew the meaning of the italics.

Evidence Joseph did not know what the italics meant

Those that argue that Joseph didn't know what the italics mean cite six lines of evidence:

1. Emma Smith reported that, during the Book of Mormon translation, Joseph didn't know that Jerusalem was surrounded by walls If Joseph didn't know this basic fact about Jerusalem, can we expect him to have a fairly sophisticated understanding of the purpose of the italics?

2. Our critics rely heavily on an assumption that Joseph Smith was deeply familiar with the Bible at the time of the translation of the Book of Mormon. Those closest to Joseph Smith in his early life state otherwise. Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph's mother, stated that "I presume our family presented an aspect as singular as any that ever lived upon the face of the earth-all seated in a circle, father, mother, sons and daughters, and giving the most profound attention to a boy, eighteen years of age, who had never read the Bible through in his life; he seemed much less inclined to the perusal of books than any of the rest of our children, but far more given to meditation and deep study."[6]

3. The witnesses to the translation are unanimous that a Bible was not consulted during the translation of the Book of Mormon.[7]

Related article:All descriptions of Book of Mormon translation process
Summary: This link presents all known descriptions (first person and second hand) of the translation setting, tools used, and process.

Stan Spencer observed,

[I]f Joseph Smith used a physical bible, he would have had to do so frequently, since biblical interactions are scattered throughout the Book of Mormon. Continuously removing his face from the hat to make use of a physical Bible would not have gone unnoticed by those who watched him translate.[4]:59

Indeed, given the all the different quotations of whole chapters, phrasal interactions between the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon, as well as the phrasal interactions/similarities between the New Testament and the Book of Mormon, to conceive of Joseph either memorizing these passages and phrases (a process for which there is no evidence) or consulting a Bible during the translation (likewise) is ludicrous. Someone would have noticed that. Yet no one reports a Bible, and some are specifically clear that he did not have any book or manuscript to which he referred.[8]

4. There is no evidence that Joseph even owned a bible at the time of the translation of the Book of Mormon. We know that Oliver Cowdery purchased a Bible on 8 October 1829. However, the Book of Mormon was already at press by this time, with the copyright being registered on 11 June 1829.[9]

Prior to that time, the only Bible Joseph is known to have had access to was the Smith family Bible, which was not in his possession after he married and moved out of the Smith home. Joseph was poor and even poorer after moving away from home.[10] Yet Oliver purchased the Bible for Joseph in October 1829 from the print shop that did the type-setting for the Book of Mormon. This bible was later to be used to produce the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible (JST).[11] Given the family's poverty, why purchase a bible if they already had access to one for the Book of Mormon?

5. The general lack of explanation of italics in Bibles of Joseph Smith's day. The original 1611 KJV does not explain the use of italics; in fact, it silently borrowed the idea from the Geneva Bible, which does explain them.[12]

6. In a 1994 paper, Royal Skousen wrote: "Calhoun and Robbins [two students of Skousen's also compared the italicized words in the King James Bible with the original text of the Book of Mormon (as found in the two manuscripts [the original manuscript and printer's manuscript]). And both discovered many examples where Joseph Smith deleted, added, or altered words that are not in italics in any of the King James printings they examined. Each concluded that there was no direct connection between the italics and the original Book of Mormon text. Simply giving examples where changes correspond with italics means nothing; one must look at all the changes including the ones that occur independently of italics."[13]:127

Skousen is quite right that paying attention only to the italics will bias the data. The critics' method is a version of the hasty generalization fallacy, in which too few examples are studied before drawing conclusions about the whole.

Evidence Joseph did understand the italics' purpose

Those that believe Joseph did know the meaning of the italics typically cite 4–5 lines of evidence:[14]

1. The distribution of KJV italics being revised as they come to the Book of Mormon and especially the Isaiah chapters of the Book of Mormon. Royal Skousen has determined that of all the differences in the biblical quotations in the Book of Mormon, 23% involve italics. Of all the italics contained in the KJV, 38% are changed in some way in the Book of Mormon.[15] Skousen sees these facts as evidence that Joseph did not know the meaning of the italics since a much larger amount of changes do not involve italics. Though other scholars read those same percentages as significant; as evidence that Joseph did know the meaning of the italics.

2. Critic David P. Wright cited a KJV Bible published in New York City in 1818—George D'Oyly and Richard Mant's The Holy Bible According to the Authorized Version with Notes, Explanatory and Practical—that explained the meaning of the italics.[3]:159, p. 213n5 Wright speculates that "[l]ay readers could have read such statements and circulated the information further by word of mouth. Ministers, too, would have learned the reason for italics either from these sources or through their education and no doubt would have shared it with their congregants."[3]:159. This presumes much that is not in evidence.

3. Stan Spencer analyzed many of the Book of Mormon's interactions with the KJV Isaiah italics and argued that the Book of Mormon's interaction with Isaiah italics cannot be due to chance.[4]:49-55

4. The practice of crossing out italicized words in the Joseph Smith Translation. The manuscripts are available and one can see that there appears (at least to some) to be a strong focus on revision of the italicized words. The production of the JST began in June 1830 (after the publication of the Book of Mormon and the organization of the Church) and continued intermittently until 1833. Yet this evidence cannot tell us what Joseph knew in 1829, and by 1830 he had Sidney Rigdon's input—Rigdon was an accomplished minister and preacher, and would have been far more likely to know the meaning of the italics. He did not, however, join the Church until November 1830.[16]

5. The presence of statements from Joseph Smith's contemporary environment suggesting that there was a broader familiarity with the meaning of the italics. An editorial for the Evening and Morning Star (January 1833) stated the following: "The book of Mormon, as a revelation from God, possesses some advantage over the old scripture: it has not been tinctured by the wisdom of man, with here and there an Italic word to supply deficiencies.—It was translated by the gift and power of God."[17]

A few months later (July 1833), the same paper had an editorial that states "[a]s to the errors in the bible, any man possessed of common understanding, knows, that both the old and new testaments are filled with errors, obscurities, italics and contradictions, which must be the work of men."[18]

Roughly ten years later (September 1843) in the Latter-day Saint news paper Times and Seasons, another Latter-day Saint writer stated that "[m]uch has been said about the bad translations of the Bible. . . . Every school boy seems to know that when either of the sectarian translators failed in making the two ends of a sentence meet, he filled up the vacuity with italic, by which means God has been greatly helped towards expressing himself so as to be understood by the learned world."[19]

An 1831 article (critical of the Church and its claims) in The Sun, a newspaper in Philadelphia, states the following: "Finally, after frequent and fervent prayer, Jo's spectacles were restored to sight, and he again permitted to open the book.—Jo had, during his spiritual blindness, by the assistance of some one, commited several chapters of the New Testament to memory; and, the better to carry on his deception with the deluded Harris, had inquired, and found out the words inserted by the translators; (which are distinguished by Italics, both in the New Testament and the Old.) So, in order to convince Harris that he could read from the plates, Jo deposits them in his hat, applies spectacles, and refers Harris to a chapter in the Bible which he had learned by rote; and which he read from the plates, with surprising accuracy; and what astonished Harris most, was, that Jo should omit all the words in the Bible that were printed in Italic. And, if Harris attempted to correct Jo, he persisted that the plates were right, and the Bible was wrong."[20] The source of this article's assertions is unknown to the author of this article (couldn't locate any reference in the source to Martin as a source), though Stan Spencer says that it was "based apparently on an interview with Martin Harris".[4]:62.

Here again, however, we are relying on later sources to tell us what Joseph knew in 1829. And, they include resources such as WW Phelps, who was far more educated and sophisticated than Joseph, especially the Joseph of 1829.

Both perspectives are viable and still in debate among scholars of the Book of Mormon.

Three Hypotheses For How and Why the Italicized Words in Book of Mormon Were Modified

Stan Spencer laid out three hypotheses for the italicized words of the KJV in the Book of Mormon including how and why they were revised or omitted:

  1. Elder B.H. Roberts hypothesized that the italics interaction represents what was on the actual Book of Mormon plates. In Spencer's words: "Roberts attributes the differences in the Book of Mormon to ancient variants in the Nephite plates, presumably reflecting the record on the brass plates, at least in the chapters Nephi and Jacob say they are reading." According to Roberts, the version of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon is consistently "superior [in] sense and clearness."[4]:56 Spencer calls this the Ancient Variants Hypothesis.
  2. Spencer calls the second the Italics Revision Hypothesis. Advocates include Stan Larson, David P. Wright, and believing Book of Mormon scholar Brant Gardner. It holds that Joseph Smith was intentionally targeting italics in the King James Bible, knew what they meant, and intentionally revised them.[4]:56-58
  3. Spencer's own theory he names the Missing Words Hypothesis. This theory holds that Joseph was given a vision of a biblical passage in his mind with missing KJV italics and that part of the work of translation for Joseph Smith was to decide whether to supply words to the passage and, if so, what words to supply.[4]

Question #2: Is the presence of italics from the KJV Bible evidence of plagiarism?

The italics make the English text of the Bible more readable, clear, and comprehensible. If Joseph Smith was to produce a text that was readable and clear, the presence of something like the italics words would be necessary. Given that the KJV was a largely functional translation, following it points would be sensible. It’s nonsensical to claim that the mere presence of the italicized words is in and of itself damning.

Related article:Academic use of base texts for new translation
Summary: See here for discussion of translators using earlier translations as a base text to showcase only the important differences between their text and well-known versions.

Question #3: Does the Book of Mormon's interaction with the King James italics prove that it came from the 1800s?

Given that we don't know and likely can't know whether or not that Joseph Smith had knowledge of the meaning of the italics in the Bible, this question is in one sense unanswerable.

On the other hand, even if Joseph were aware of the italics' meaning, that does not prevent him from genuinely translating. If he knew the italics were an artifact or tool of the translator, then as a translator he would have paid particular attention to those words, since they have no exact match in the original. We would expect a translator to do that.

In that case, at most we could argue that the translation came from the 1800's—but that is completely non-controversial. There's no doubt the English translation was produced in 1829. This doesn't answer the question of whether Joseph was composing it in 1829, or translating based on an ancient text.

Question #4: Do issues with italics mean the Book of Mormon cannot be the world's "most correct book"?

Given that we don't know and likely can't know whether or not that Joseph Smith had knowledge of the meaning of the italics in the Bible, this question is in one sense unanswerable.

It's perhaps important to pick among the hypotheses Spencer outlines above in relation to the changes in italics in the Book of Mormon. The author favors Spencer's theory but acknowledges that there may be some cases in which there really are ancient variants that correspond to the changes in italics made in the Book of Mormon. Thus a sort of hybrid of Spencer's and Roberts' theories.

Today's edition of the Book of Mormon is very readable and comprehensible, but the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon was less so. Stan Spencer lines up passages from the KJV Isaiah and Royal Skousen's reconstruction of the earliest text of the Book of Mormon show how the changes sometimes have "negative effects on the sense, clarity, or grammar of the text" versus the KJV.[4]:49

To fully assess this question, we would need to consider each case of omission or revision of italics and determine whether the resulting message is an erroneous theological or ethical message about God.

Stan Spencer discusses 10 of these changes that worsen the original biblical passages' sense and clarity.[4] Royal Skousen discusses similar issues in volume 3, part 5 of his Book of Mormon Critical Text Project entitled The King James Quotations in the Book of Mormon.[21]

We have collected every change that could potentially deemed misleading regarding the intent of the biblical passages being quoted. In the table below, the left column describes the changes and the right column assesses their impact (if any) on meaning. These revisions are organized in the order they appear in the Book of Mormon.

Related article:Why did Joseph Smith say that the Book of Mormon was the "most correct book"?
Summary: Joseph Smith's reference to the Book of Mormon as the "most correct book" refers to its doctrine, theology, and witness of Christ. This does not mean it does not contain errors of grammar, translation, or even minor matters of fact.
Supposed Harmful Change Commentary
Changes of KJV Italics in the Book of Mormon and Their Implications
1 Nephi 20꞉5 ~ Isaiah 48꞉5. 1 Nephi 20꞉5 deletes the italicized it in Isaiah 48꞉5's "I have even from the beginning declared it to thee" creating the awkward "And I have even from the beginning declared to thee". The text is indeed awkward but doesn't lead away from understanding the intent of the passage.
2 Nephi 8꞉17-18 ~ Isaiah 51꞉17-18. There are six omissions in italics and one addition that create awkward readings. The following is from the KJV Isaiah with omissions bolded and additions in carets (<>): "Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out. There is <—And> none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand<,> of all the sons that she hath brought up." Thus the verse now reads: "Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury—thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling wrung out—And none to guide her among all the sons she hath brought forth; neither that taketh her by the hand, of all the sons she hath brought up." The passage is very awkward but doesn't lead ineluctably away from intent. At worst it just makes the passage awkward or incoherent, and the intent of the original passage is already taught elsewhere in the Book of Mormon.
2 Nephi 15꞉25. In the earliest text of the Book of Mormon, the last sentence fragment states that "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand stretched out still." This instead of "his hand is stretched out still." This pattern is repeated in 2 Nephi 19꞉21, 20:4, and 24:27. The omission seems to make the sentence awkward but not incomprehensible and not leading into inaccurate understandings of God. If anything, it inclines toward a more literal translation.
In 2 Nephi 16꞉5, the omission of "is" and "am" from the KJV’s "Woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell" makes this sentence ungrammatical and potentially confusing. Indeed, ungrammatical and a bit confusing, but not misleading. The most recent edition of the Book of Mormon has "unto" after "Woe is".
In 2 Nephi 16꞉7, the omission of "it" from the KJV’s "he laid it [a live coal] upon my mouth" produces the illogical, "he laid upon my mouth." In context, Isaiah is having God's holiness and purity transferred to him and he is becoming transformed by it. Thus this passage, implying that the seraph lays on Isaiah's mouth, is not necessarily out of alignment with the intent of the passage. The passage just means to communicate that God can forgive our sins and make us pure with his holiness, which is testified of throughout scripture. No one is compelled to believing anything false by reading the scripture as it read originally. The modern edition of the Book of Mormon retains it.
In verse 8, the omission of "am" from "Here am I send me" makes the English text awkward, at least. Indeed, awkward but not incorrect though, and allowing a correct understanding of the passage's intent
In 2 Nephi 16꞉9, the KJV’s "Hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not" becomes "Hear ye indeed but they understand not and see ye indeed but they perceive not." This change results in an awkward switching back and forth between second person and third person and between the imperative and indicative moods. It also alters the meaning contrary to the statement in the next verse, which has God again dictating impediments to understanding and perception. Spencer overplays the awkwardness and incorrectly perceives a change in meaning in the subsequent verse. The modern edition of the Book of Mormon changes some of the verbs to the past tense: "Hear ye indeed, but they understood not; and see ye indeed, but they perceived not."
The omission of "it" from "ask it either in the" in 2 Nephi 17꞉11 may imply for some that the asking (not the sign) is to be done in the depths or heights. It's not clear why Spencer finds this so illogical. Again, at most this errs on the side of literalness, where the it is implied.
In 2 Nephi 17꞉17, the omission of "even" could lead the reader to wrongly believe that Judah was king of Assyria. The italicized "even" in that verse in the KJV is important because it discourages such a misinterpretation. The even actually doesn't do much to discourage the reading of Judah as the king of Assyria. This problem has to be fixed with punctuation, which the dictated Book of Mormon text did not have. Future editions of the Book of Mormon with better punctuators may be necessary. The modern edition omits "even". it may also need to alter the sentence structure much differently than the original Hebrew text to make sense of the passage.
Similarly, the italicized "namely" that is omitted in the Book of Mormon from 2 Nephi 17꞉20 is important in clarifying that the king of Assyria is not the one hiring a razor; he is the razor. This also doesn't provide much utility in clarifying the meaning of the text. Punctuation, scholarly commentary, and maybe other modification of the text may be necessary for future editions of the Book of Mormon. This isn't a fault in translation. The modern edition of the Book of Mormon also omits "namely".
The replacement of "it" with "which" in 2 Nephi 17꞉23 muddles the meaning of Isaiah’s message. The text as it stands in the KJV makes sense — the deserted land, once fruitful, will be overrun with briars and thorns. With "which" in place of "it," the Book of Mormon appears to instead say, in an incomplete sentence, that briars and thorns will be purchased with a thousand silverlings (i.e., a thousand silver coins) The text doesn't necessarily force that reading, but Spencer's reading makes sense. Even with it the best reading remains unclear. Ideally a they should replace it and the sentence structure should be rearranged to emphasize that the deserted land will become overrun with briars and thorns. Readers are probably not likely to spend too much time on this verse when it's equally muddled in both the KJV and BoM. The essential intent of the passage seems unharmed and, in context the reader will most likely interpret it as Isaiah speaking about a prior state of serenity and a subsequent state of disaster. This passage is merely "a negative oracle describing the dire consequences, particularly the subjectaion of Judah by the Assyrian Empire, that will befall Jerusalem and Judah as a result of Ahaz's refusal to accept Isaiah's promises."[22] The modern edition of the Book of Mormon retains "which" instead of it".
The original version of 2 Nephi 19꞉5 in the earliest editions of the Book of Mormon deletes the italicized is from the KJV Isaiah 9꞉5 such that the KJV Isaiah 9꞉5 reads "For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire" and 2 Nephi 9꞉5 reads "For every battle of the warrior with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire." The most likely way of interpreting this passage for reads is to see the first clause as the beginning of an accumulatio and still retaining the correct intent.
3 Nephi 22꞉9 is part of a longer quotation of Isaiah 4. The King James version of Isaiah 54꞉9 reads "For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee." 3 Nephi 22꞉9 deletes the first is as such that the verse now reads "For this, the waters of Noah unto me, for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee." The initial clause may be mildly confusing, but the intent becomes clear in the second—"as I have sworn ... so have I sworn." There's no lack of clarity when the whole sentence is read. The effect is somewhat poetic as the initial meaning becomes clearer as the reader "circles back."

None of the changes are of much consequence; while reading less fluidly in some cases, their meaning is not difficult to discern. None of these verses if deleted completely would deprive us of any doctrine or teaching of significance. Their main importance is as evidence of how the translation proceeded, and what its priorities may have been.

Notes (click to expand)
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  1. ↑ Jeremy T. Runnells, CES Letter: My Search for Answers to My Mormon Doubts (CES Letter Foundation, 2017), 14.
  2. ↑ Stan Larson, "The Historicity of the Matthean Sermon on the Mount in 3 Nephi," in Brent Lee Metcalfe (editor), New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Book, 1993), 130–31.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 David P. Wright, "Isaiah in the Book of Mormon: Or Joseph Smith in Isaiah," in American Apocrypha, ed. Dan Vogel and Brent Lee Metcalfe (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002), 159–69.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 Stan Spencer, "Missing Words: King James Bible Italics, the Translation of the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith as an Unlearned Reader," Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 38/5 (10 July 2020). [45–106] link
  5. ↑ The second edition is available for consultation online at Royal Skousen, ed., The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text, 2nd edition (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2022). off-site
  6. ↑ Preston Nibley, editor, History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, Lucy Mack Smith (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book Company, 1954), 82-83.
  7. ↑ John W. Welch, "Documents of the Translation of the Book of Mormon," in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, ed. John W. Welch, 2nd ed. (BYU Press; Deseret Book Company, 2017), 126–227.
  8. ↑ Joseph Smith III, "Last Testimony of Sister Emma;' Saints' Herald 26 (October 1, 1879): 289-90; and Joseph Smith III, "Last Testimony of Sister Emma;' Saints' Advocate 2 (October 1879): 50-52.
  9. ↑ John A. Tvedtnes and Matthew Roper, "Joseph Smith's Use of the Apocrypha: Shadow or Reality? (Review of Joseph Smith's Use of the Apocrypha by Jerald and Sandra Tanner)," FARMS Review 8/2 (1996). [326–372] link
  10. ↑ Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism (University of Illinois Press; Reprint edition, 1987), 95–100.
  11. ↑ Robert J. Matthews, "A Plainer Translation": Joseph Smith's Translation of the Bible: A History and Commentary (Brigham Young University Press, 1985), 26; cited in footnote 165 of John Gee, "La Trahison des Clercs: On the Language and Translation of the Book of Mormon (Review of New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology by Brent Lee Metcalfe)," FARMS Review of Books 6/1 (1994): 51–120. off-site
  12. ↑ Kent P. Jackson, Frank F. Judd Jr., and David R. Seely, "Chapters, Verses, Punctuation, Spelling, and Italics," in The King James Bible and the Restoration, ed. Kent P. Jackson (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2011), 108–12.
  13. ↑ Royal Skousen, "Critical Methodology and the Text of the Book of Mormon (Review of New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology by Brent Lee Metcalfe)," Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 6/1 (1994). [121–144] link
  14. ↑ Kevin Barney, "KJV Italics," By Common Consent, October 13, 2007, http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2007/10/kjv-italics/.
  15. ↑ Royal Skousen, "The History of the Text of the Book of Mormon: Presentation on Parts 5 and 6 of Volume 3 of the Critical Text Project of the Book of Mormon," Book of Mormon Central, accessed December 24, 2022, https://www.bookofmormoncentral.org/sites/default/files/documents/Blog%20entry/2020/Presentation%20parts%205%20and%206%20Hinckley%20Center.pdf.
  16. ↑ "Sidney Rigdon," JSPP.
  17. ↑ W.W. Phelps, "The Book of Mormon," The Evening and the Morning Star 1, no. 8 (January 1833): 58.
  18. ↑ "Errors of the Bible," The Evening and the Morning Star 2, no. 14 (July 1833): 106.
  19. ↑ "Minutes of A Conference," Times and Seasons 4, no. 20 (September 1, 1843): 318; emphasis in original. Quoted in Kent P. Jackson, "The King James Bible and the Joseph Smith Translation," in The King James Bible and the Restoration, ed. Kent P. Jackson (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2011), 203.
  20. ↑ "Mormonites," The Sun, August 18, 1831, http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/dbroadhu/PA/Phil1830.htm.
  21. ↑ Royal Skousen, The History of the Text of the Book of Mormon: Part 5, The King James Quotations in the Book of Mormon (FARMS, 2019), 182–210.
  22. ↑ Marvin A. Sweeney, "Isaiah," in The New Oxford Annotated Bible, ed. Michael D. Coogan, 5th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018), 990n18–19.



"The Book of Mormon includes mistranslated biblical passages that were later changed in Joseph Smith’s translation of the bible."

Template:CESLetterItemShort Home > The Bible > The Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible

Detailed response to CES Letter, Book of Mormon

Summary: Joseph Smith created an inspired "translation" of parts of the King James version of the Bible, mostly from 1830-1833, then continued until his death in 1844. It was complied into a book in 1867 by The Reorganized Church (now Community of Christ). In 1979 it was included in as footnotes in the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 1979 King James Version of the Bible.

The JST as compiled/published in 1867 is not considered scripture, but some of it has been canonized in the Pearl of Great Price, the Book of Moses, and the Book of Matthew. We believe some of it was restoring the original intent of some Biblical verses. Some of it was restoring missing scripture or missing events. Some was for clarifying or harmonizing similar verses. Some of the same verses have different interpretations for some temporary purpose. Some call it inspired commentary. See the JST on the church website.

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[1]

Is the JST a restoration of lost Bible text?

The JST is not intended primarily or solely as a restoration of lost Bible text.

As expressed in the Bible Dictionary on churchofjesuschrist.org "The JST to some extent assists in restoring the plain and precious things that have been lost from the Bible."

Two main points should be kept in mind with regards to the Joseph Smith "translation" of the Bible:

  • The JST is not intended primarily or solely as restoration of text. Many mainline LDS scholars who have focused on the JST (such as Robert J. Matthews and Kent Jackson) are unanimous in this regard. The assumption that it is intended primarily or solely as a restoration of text is what leads to expectations that the JST and Book of Mormon should match up in every case. At times the JST does not even match up with itself, such as when Joseph Smith translated the same passage multiple times in different ways. This does not undermine notions of revelation, but certainly challenges common assumptions about the nature and function of Joseph's understanding of "translation".
  • One of the main tendencies of the JST is harmonization. Readers are well aware of differences in Jesus' sayings between different Gospels. For example, Jesus' statements about whether divorce is permitted and under what conditions differ significantly. Matthew offers an exception clause that Mark and Luke do not, and this has severely complicated the historical interpretation of Jesus' view of divorce.
The JST often makes changes that harmonize one gospel with another. While one gospel says "judge not" (though this may not be as absolute as some make it out to be), John 7:24 has Jesus commanding to "judge righteous judgment." The JST change harmonizes the two gospels by making Matthew agree with John. If there is a real difference between being commanded to "Judge righteously" and being commanded to "Judge not", then it is a problem inherently present in the differing accounts of the Gospels, which the JST resolves.

FAIR Resources on the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible

Learn more about the Joseph Smith Translation (JST) of the bible
Key sources
  • Kent P. Jackson, "Some Notes on Joseph Smith and Adam Clarke," Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 40/2 (2 October 2020). [15–60] link
FAIR links
  • Jeffrey Bradshaw, "The Message of the Joseph Smith Translation: A Walk in the Garden," (lecture presentation, Proceedings of the 2008 FAIR Conference, , August 2008). link
  • Kent P. Jackson, "Was Joseph Smith Influenced by Outside Sources in His Translation of the Bible?," (lecture presentation, Proceedings of the 2022 FAIR Conference, , August 2022). link
Online
  • W. John Welsh, "Why Didn't Joseph Correct KJV Errors When Translating the JST?", lightplanet.com off-site
  • Garold N. Davis, "Review of The Legacy of the Brass Plates of Laban: A Comparison of Biblical and Book of Mormon Isaiah Texts by H. Clay Gorton," FARMS Review 7/1 (1995). [123–129] link
  • Kevin L. Barney, "The Joseph Smith Translation and Ancient Texts of the Bible," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 19 no. 3 (Fall 1986), 85–102.off-site
  • Cynthia L. Hallen, "Redeeming the Desolate Woman: The Message of Isaiah 54 and 3 Nephi 22," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 7/1 (1998). [40–47] link
  • Matthew L. Bowen, "'They Shall Be Scattered Again': Some Notes on JST Genesis 50:24–25, 33–35," Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 57/4 (23 June 2023). [107–128] link
  • Brant A. Gardner, "Joseph Smith's Translation Projects under a Microscope," Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 41/15 (18 December 2020). [257–264] link
  • Kent P. Jackson, "Some Notes on Joseph Smith and Adam Clarke," Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 40/2 (2 October 2020). [15–60] link
  • Spencer Kraus, "An Unfortunate Approach to Joseph Smith's Translation of Ancient Scripture," Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 52/1 (17 June 2022). [1–64] link
  • Mark J. Johnson, "Review of The Legacy of the Brass Plates of Laban: A Comparison of Biblical and Book of Mormon Isaiah Texts by H. Clay Gorton," FARMS Review 7/1 (1995). [130–138] link
  • Stephen D. Ricks, "Review of The Use of the Old Testament in the Book of Mormon by Wesley P. Walters," Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 4/1 (1992). [235–250] link
  • Dana M. Pike and David R. Seely, "'Upon All the Ships of the Sea, and Upon All the Ships of Tarshish': Revisiting 2 Nephi 12:16 and Isaiah 2:16," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 14/2 (2005). [12–25] link
  • A. Don Sorensen, "'The Problem of the Sermon on the Mount and 3 Nephi (Review of “A Further Inquiry into the Historicity of the Book of Mormon,” Sunstone September–October 1982, 20–27)'," FARMS Review 16/2 (2004). [117–148] link
  • Sidney B. Sperry, "'Literary Problems in the Book of Mormon involving 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and Other New Testament Books'," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 4/1 (1995). [166–174] link
  • Sidney B. Sperry, "The Book of Mormon and the Problem of the Sermon on the Mount," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 4/1 (1995). [153–165] link
  • Sidney B. Sperry, "The 'Isaiah Problem' in the Book of Mormon," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 4/1 (1995). [129–152] link
  • Sidney B. Sperry, "The Isaiah Quotation: 2 Nephi 12–24," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 4/1 (1995). [192–208] link
  • John A. Tvedtnes, "Isaiah in the Bible and the Book of Mormon (Review of 'Isaiah in the Book of Mormon: Or Joseph Smith in Isaiah.' in American Apocrypha: Essays on the Book of Mormon, 157–234.)," FARMS Review 16/2 (2004). [161–172] link
  • Kurt Manwaring, “10 questions with Thomas Wayment”.
  • LDS Perspectives, Joseph Smith's Use of Bible Commentaries in His Translations - Thomas A. Wayment .
  • Thomas Wayment and Haley Wilson, “A Recently Recovered Source: Rethinking Joseph Smith’s Bible Translation".
Video
Video published by BYU Religious Education.
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Print
  • Robert J. Matthews, "A Plainer Translation": Joseph Smith's Translation of the Bible: A History and Commentary (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1985).
  • Matthew B. Brown, "The Restoration of Biblical Texts," in All Things Restored, 2nd ed. (Covenant, 2006),159–181.
Navigators

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  1. ↑ Video published by BYU Religious Education


"DNA analysis has concluded that Native American Indians do not originate from the Middle East"

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Detailed response to CES Letter, Book of Mormon


Anachronisms

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This is an oversimplification. There’s been a lot written on these sorts of topics, and many of them by John Sorenson....But the author of the letter seems unaware of those things. He doesn’t engage them in any event. I can imagine someone saying “the evidence doesn’t persuade me,” but what bothers me is to suggest there is no evidence, there are no counterarguments. That bothers me, and that doesn’t, to me, show a serious engagement with the data.

—Daniel C. Peterson, "Some Reflections on That Letter to a CES Director," 2014 FairMormon Conference.

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Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Horses

Detailed response to CES Letter, Book of Mormon

Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Cattle

Miller and Roper: "Bones of domesticated cattle...have been reported from different caves in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico"

Wade E. Miller and Matthew Roper: [1]

Bones of domesticated cattle (Bos taurus – see Figure 2) have been reported from different caves in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.[2] In one instance these bones were found with those of an extinct horse, Equus conversidens. It is especially interesting that along with these cow and horse remains, human artifacts were found in association with them! The indication is that domesticated cattle and the horse coexisted with humans in pre-Columbian time. [3]

Image taken from Miller and Roper, "Animals in the Book of Mormon: Challenges and Perspectives," Blog of Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture.

Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Sheep

Miller and Roper: "there are sheep native to America. The most common type is the Mountain Sheep, Ovis canadensis"

Wade E. Miller and Matthew Roper: [4]

Sheep were probably among the animals brought to America by the Jaredites, although they were not stated explicitly by name (Ether 6:4). They most likely are to be included in the term “flocks,” and are mentioned by name in Ether ( 9:18) several generations later. Sheep have been useful to man for many centuries and were probably man’s first domesticated animal [5] (along with the dog). They are useful for both food and clothing. In addition to Old World sheep, apparently brought to the New World by the Jaredites, there are sheep native to America. The most common type is the Mountain Sheep, Ovis canadensis. Their current geographic range extends south only to northern Mexico. However, their past range was more extensive, as was their habitat before human settlements expanded. [6] They are an animal that can be tamed or at least semi-domesticated. According to Geist , “It is hard to imagine a wild animal more readily tamed than mountain sheep.” [7] Sorenson noted the apparent recovery of sheep wool from a pre-Columbian burial site near Puebla (southeast of Mexico City). [8] Petroglyphs from Mexico and the southwestern United States show many prehistoric depictions of sheep. It appears certain that the association of sheep and man occurred in America before this animal was brought over beginning in 1493 with Columbus’ second voyage.

Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Swine

Miller and Roper: "two distinct species of peccary live in Mesoamerica....They were hunted and eaten as early as Olmec times"

Wade E. Miller and Matthew Roper: [9]

Presently two distinct species of peccary live in Mesoamerica. These include the Collared Peccary (Pecari tajacu) and the White-lipped Peccary (Tayassu pecari), both of which can be found in the tropical regions near the Tuxtlas Mountains of the Yucatan. [10] The Jaredites as they presumably established settlements in Mesoamerica no doubt would have encountered them. They were hunted and eaten as early as Olmec times. Remains of these animals have been found associated with man for several thousands of years. There is a paleo-Indian carving of an extinct camel sacrum in the shape of a peccary. A Picture of this bone is shown by Evans. [11] The bone of this extinct camel came from deposits in central Mexico, and shows ancient interaction between this extinct animal and Pre-columbian natives. Remains of Pre-Columbian peccary have been found finds in Loltún Cave in the Yucatan [12] and in several other caves in the region associated with human artifacts. [13] There is no question that peccaries (“wild pigs”) and man shared this area since prehistoric times.

Image taken from Miller and Roper, "Animals in the Book of Mormon: Challenges and Perspectives," Blog of Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture.

Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Goats

Miller and Roper: "Evidence of goats associated with pre-Columbian man also comes from caves in Yucatan"

Wade E. Miller and Matthew Roper: [14]

Goats are mentioned among the animals once had by the Jaredites (Ether 9:18). Later, after their arrival in the land of promise Lehi’s family encountered “the goat and the wild goat” as they traveled in the wilderness in the land southward (1 Nephi 18:25). Sometime after the death of his father Jacob, Enos wrote that the Nephites raised “flocks of herds, and flocks of all manner of cattle of every kind, and goats, and wild goats” (Enos 1:21). During Alma and Amulek’s miraculous escape from the prison in Ammonihah, their terrified persecutors are said to have fled “even as a goat fleeth with her young from two lions” (Alma 14:29). There is no indication in the text that the Lehites brought goats with them to the land of promise; however, it is possible that they may have been included among those flocks and herds brought by the Jaredites in their journey over the sea (Ether 6:4). If so, it is possible that some of those encountered later by Lehi’s people were descendants of those had by the Jaredites. They would have been a useful animal to both the Jaredites and Nephites, just as they have been for man through the ages in the Old World. Evidence of goats associated with pre-Columbian man also comes from caves in Yucatan. [15] It was not made clear whether this was a wild or a domesticated type of goat.

Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Elephants

Detailed response to CES Letter, Book of Mormon

Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Chariots

Chariots in the Book of Mormon


Jump to Subtopic:

Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Wheat

Detailed response to CES Letter, Book of Mormon

Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Silk

Detailed response to CES Letter, Book of Mormon

Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Steel

Steel in the Book of Mormon


Jump to Subtopic:

Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Iron

Detailed response to CES Letter, Book of Mormon


"There is absolutely no archaeological evidence to directly support the Book of Mormon"

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Note that word “directly.” Archaeology very often doesn’t “directly” support claims. You often are having to draw inferences from the data. You know, the rocks in the foundations of buildings don’t speak for themselves usually, and there are relatively few inscriptions. I mean, even Jerusalem itself: we’ve known from tradition where is was located, but it was only relatively recently that an inscription was found actually identifying that city as Jerusalem. So, there are limits to archaeology. But again I mention John Sorenson, the writing of John Clark, Brant Gardner, Mark Wright. If the author of the letter has dealt with them there’s no sign of it. I don’t see any evidence that he’s engaged them.

—Daniel C. Peterson, "Some Reflections on That Letter to a CES Director," 2014 FairMormon Conference

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Detailed response to CES Letter, Book of Mormon


Biblical archaeology compared to the Book of Mormon


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"This is one of the reasons why unofficial apologists are coming up with the Limited Geography Model"

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This is simply not true. The Limited Geography Model has been created because the Book of Mormon demands it. You can put together all the travel distances and travel times in the Book of Mormon and it’s very clear that they’re not going far in any direction. We’re not talking about Patagonia to the Aleutian Islands. It’s simply not possible. And so, the text forces this. This sort of thing has been in the works for a long time, before there was any talk about DNA, before the discovery of the DNA double-helix model. DNA was not an issue when this was being created. This is not controversial. This can easily be shown that the limited Mesoamerican model has been in the works for decades. It just wasn’t published until the 1980s, but it existed and was distributed in a kind of summarized underground form for a long time before it was actually published.

—Daniel C. Peterson, "Some Reflections on That Letter to a CES Director," 2014 FairMormon Conference

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Book of Mormon/Geography/New World/Limited Geography Theory/What is it

"Latter-day Saint Thomas Stuart Ferguson was BYU’s archaeology division (New World Archaeological Funding) founder"

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And the idea is, well, Ferguson failed and Ferguson lost his testimony, and this should discredit the Book of Mormon in the minds of alert, sentient Latter-day Saints. But that statement is wrong on multiple levels. Thomas Stuart Ferguson, for whatever virtues he had, was a lawyer and an amateur hobbyist. He was not the head of the archaeology program at BYU. And the NWAF, I’ve actually written an article on this, based on interviews with the founders and with early leaders and so on, and it’s been published. I mean, there’s no excuse for this. NWAF had non-Mormons on its board. It was mostly non-Mormons. It was specifically forbidden to seek to do explicit Book of Mormon research. It was tasked with working in an area where Latter-day Saints expected it would find evidence, but it was not its task to do that. This is just completely wrong, and Ferguson’s apostasy, whatever it was, his family disputes it. I don’t know exactly what the truth of his mindset was at the end of his life. It may be sad, but it has no significance. And, at the same time, M. Wells Jakeman was an archaeologist, the first trained archaeologist as far as I know in the Church, who specialized in Mesoamerican studies. Why doesn’t anybody write about his biography? He was fascinated…believed to his dying day that the Book of Mormon fit into Mesoamerica brilliantly well.

—Daniel C. Peterson, "Some Reflections on That Letter to a CES Director," 2014 FairMormon Conference

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Thomas Stuart Ferguson and Mormon archaeology



Book of Mormon Geography

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[The author of the Letter to a CES Director] uses Vernal Holley, who relied on the Solomon Spalding theory of the Book of Mormon, which has been exploded, detonated so many times, that its exasperating to see it keep coming back. I’ve mentioned, I think, here before that Hamblin and I have wanted to do a film that we call tentatively, “Bill and Dan’s Excellent Adventure in Anti-Mormon Zombie Hell.” The idea is that these just keep coming back. I mean, you shoot them between the eyes and they don’t stop because there’s no brain in there, right? And, I see the Spalding manuscript theory just keep coming and coming, but the methodological problems with Vernal Holley’s maps are multitudinous..."

—Daniel C. Peterson, "Some Reflections on That Letter to a CES Director," 2014 FairMormon Conference</ref>

Theory of Book of Mormon place names from area around Joseph Smith's home


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Hill Cumorah

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The Book of Mormon and Captain Kidd

Figure 1. Portrait of Captain
William Kidd.

Summary: Critics of the Book of Mormon claim that Joseph Smith could have acquired the names “Moroni” and “Cumorah” from either maps he could have had access to as a youth, stories that he may have read associated with Captain William Kidd, or local Palmyra whalers that told stories of their journeys to places where Captain Kidd is also known to have operated.

The argument typically starts with the Captain Kidd stories. Joseph is supposed to have known about stories regarding Captain Kidd and either directly cribbed the names "Moroni" and "Cumorah" (or names close to those two) from the stories or, inspired by Kidd’s and/or other pirates' exploits on the four islands of the Comoros Archipelago (which is almost sandwiched between Mozambique and Madagascar in the Mozambique Channel), gone to maps to learn more about the area and found names on those maps that he could use for the supposedly fictitious creation of the Book of Mormon. On the maps, he would have found that the capital city of one of the islands in the archipelago is Moroni. On one of the islands in the Comoros, Anjouan (also sometimes called "Joanna" historically), there is a port city named "Meroni" (sometimes spelled "Merone").

Alternatively, as mentioned, American whalers could have sailed in the Comoros and talked about their travels in settings where Joseph could have heard them.

To reiterate, there are two places that Joseph Smith could have gotten the name “Moroni” from and three places that he could have gotten “Cumorah” from, according to these critics.

For Moroni:

  1. The capital city of the island Grand Comore is literally Moroni.
  2. There is an island named Anjouan (also known as "Joanna" by some historically) in the Comoros, and one of the port cities of that island is called "Meroni" (sometimes spelled "Merone").

For Cumorah:

  1. The islands are named the "Comoros Islands"
  2. The largest island of the Comoros is called "Grand Comore."
  3. Before French occupation in 1841, critics claim that Grand Comore was often called "Camora."

For this last potential source ("Camora"), critics note that, in the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon, Cumorah is always spelled "Camorah", suggesting that Joseph and/or Oliver merely added an h to the end of the name "Camora", placed it in the Book of Mormon, and then respelled it later on to perhaps cover their tracks more.

When weighing the probability that this theory is true, your mileage varies a little depending on what you assume regarding various questions, such as:

  1. Whether Joseph Smith had co-conspirators or not
  2. What you assume about how much Joseph Smith (and/or co.) knows about Captain Kidd
  3. What Joseph Smith (and/or co.) has read about him
  4. How much Joseph Smith (and/or co.) admires Captain Kidd and his (and/or their) corresponding desire to learn what he (and/or they) can about him
  5. How much Joseph Smith (and/or co.) admires other pirates and his (and/or their) corresponding desire to learn about them
  6. How much he (or they) has read about those pirates
  7. The proximity of maps and other sources containing resemblances of "Moroni" and "Cumorah" to Joseph (and/or co.)
  8. Joseph's (and/or co.'s) abilities to plausibly spin names in these sources to be Book of Mormon names and, finally
  9. The proximity and obviousness of sources like the 41 mentions of other islands in the Comoros in General History to Joseph (and/or co.) that may have motivated him (and/or them) to look at maps of the areas.

At nearly every step here, you're making dubious (and, in some of the cases of the critics above, false) claims/assumptions based on tenuous (and, in some of the instances of the critics above, entirely non-existent) strands of evidence.

As your evidence, you have the name "Comaro" once in General History; you have 41 mentions of other islands besides Comore in the Comoros in relation to different pirates, 12 of which are to Joanna; you have a handful of mostly late and mostly hostile (with the obvious exception of Orrin Porter Rockwell) statements that say that Joseph Smith sought for Captain Kidd's treasure and one contemporary newspaper account that says that citizens of Palmyra looked for that treasure; you have three late, hostile sources, one relying on the accuracy of the other, stating that Joseph Smith had a copy of an autobiography of or "novels" about Captain Kidd; you have five maps, all of which are detail maps of one island (out of two separate islands) in the Comoros, with names sometimes more similar and sometimes less similar to "Moroni" and "Cumorah", and two of which are in French; and you have some other potential sources documented by Carmack.

You're likely committing an appeal to probability fallacy and a texas sharpshooter fallacy to claim that the theory works and establish your case.

As far as the author's beliefs, the evidence really only carries you with certainty as far as Joseph Smith knowing about Captain Kidd and the treasure he buried in New York and looking for it. He also likely (but not certainly) read about Captain Kidd in some sources available to him. Past that, little can be certain. Little wonder Carmack says that whether Joseph Smith was aware of the Comoros before 1830 is difficult to determine conclusively. Any similarity, closer or further, between the Comoros Islands and the Book of Mormon is most likely coincidental and specious.

Both the main body of text and the footnotes of this article contain valuable information related to these arguments, and we encourage readers to review both.

Related article:A FairMormon Analysis of "From Captain Kidd's Treasure Ghost to the Angel Moroni: Changing Dramatis Personae in Early Mormonism" by Ronald V. Huggins, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 36 no. 4 (2003), 22.

1. Who was Captain Kidd?

Some background on Captain Kidd will be helpful as we continue with this article. This history lesson comes primarily from "MaryAnn", a blogger at the blog Wheat and Tares,[16] with some modifications by the author of this article:

Captain Kidd was Scottish-born but lived in New York. He was a successful privateer who typically worked the West Indies. An upstanding British citizen, he got hired in 1696 to go after pirates in the East Indies (and French merchants, because England and France weren’t on good terms). He and his crew were to be paid from the spoil they got, with a portion going back to his sponsors. Hiring these privateers was a way for the British government to supplement its navy and look after its interests on the high seas, while maintaining plausible deniability if the privateers ever did anything wrong.

With a brand-spankin' new ship (called the Adventure Galley) and a bunch of experienced New York seamen, Kidd made his way to the East Indies. It took a year, but Kidd and his crew finally reached Madagascar, a known pirate haven, in January 1697. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find any pirates. Whoops. After a month, he headed over to Johanna, the most popular island in the Comoro archipelago. He spent March and April in the Comoros, bouncing back and forth between the islands of Johanna and Mohilla. On Mohilla, he lost fifty men to sickness. Luckily, he got more men on the island of Johanna and was finally able to borrow enough money to repair his debilitated ship. He left the Comoro Islands an honest man, a little financially desperate, but an honest man. It wasn’t until a few months later that things started to get a little fishy.

Kidd traveled about a thousand miles north to Bab-el-Mandeb at the mouth of the Red Sea and unsuccessfully attacked a fleet in August 1697. So he decided to try his luck on the Malabar Coast, along the Western coast of India, over 3,000 miles away from the Comoros Islands. His crew grew antsy, and they attempted mutiny when Kidd refused to attack a Dutch ship. The leader of the mutiny, William Moore, later died when Kidd threw a bucket at him (this death became important later). Ultimately, he only ever took two French ships while sailing down India’s western coast, but the second, the Quedagh Merchant, was laden with valuables. Unfortunately, England was on better terms with France, so the capture of the ships was viewed as scandalous (turns out the latter boat was captained by an Englishman – double whoops). Once word of these activities reached London in late 1698, William Kidd was declared a pirate, and orders were given to apprehend him.

Captain Kidd, unaware of his infamy, sailed the Quedagh Merchant to the Caribbean (after a brief, uncomfortable encounter with a real pirate at Madagascar). Upon his arrival in the West Indies, he used part of his treasure to purchase a new ship and left the Quedagh Merchant, now a liability, behind. Later, Kidd’s crew pillaged the ship and burned it. The remains of the Quedagh Merchant were rediscovered in 2007, just off the coast of Catalina Island.

Kidd sailed up to New York to appeal to higher-ups and hid a bunch of his treasure on Gardiners Island (fueling rumors that he or his associates were also burying treasure in other areas of the Northeastern United States). He never buried treasure in the Comoros. He was apprehended and taken to England. Found guilty of piracy and the murder of William Moore, Kidd was executed in 1701 with two associates, and his body was hanged for three years over the River Thames to discourage would-be pirates.

The following map is from Wikipedia and gives an overview of the locations and dates of arrival for Captain Kidd's journeys:

Figure 2. Map of Adventure Galley 's voyages from Wikipedia.

The Comoro Islands were indeed heavily utilized by pirates, but typically not for burying treasure. They were a part of the Pirate Round, a “sailing route followed by certain mainly English pirates, during the late 17th century and early 18th century. The course led from the western Atlantic, parallel to the Cape Route around the southern tip of Africa, stopping at Madagascar, then on to targets such as the coast of Yemen and India. The Pirate Round was briefly used again during the early 1720s. Pirates who followed the route are sometimes referred to as Roundsmen. The Pirate Round was largely co-extensive with the routes of the East India Company ships of Britain and other nations. The Pirate Round started from a variety of Atlantic ports, including Bermuda, Nassau, New York City, and A Coruña, depending on where the pirate crew initially assembled. The course then lay roughly south by southeast along the coast of Africa, frequently by way of the Madeira Islands. The pirates would then double the Cape of Good Hope, and sail through the Mozambique Channel to northern Madagascar. Pirates would frequently careen and refit their ships on Madagascar and take on fresh provisions before proceeding onward toward their targets further north. Particularly important pirate bases on Madagascar included the island of St. Mary's (often called by its French name, Île Sainte-Marie) and Ranter Bay (now called Antongil Bay), both on the northeastern side of the island."[17] The Comoros were sometimes used as a stopping point to prepare for the rest of the journey to India, Yemen, or other destinations.

2. Are there any places in stories about Captain Kidd that reference Grande Comore, Moroni, Meroni, or Merone?

Only one place in the Captain Kidd Stories that contains a reference to Grande Comore and no place that mentions Moroni nor Meroni/Merone

We'll start with stories about Captain Kidd, as contained in books, since critics typically cite those as the most likely source for Joseph's plagiarism.

References to Joseph Smith's interest in the adventures of Captain Kidd come from some of his contemporaries, years after the publication of the Book of Mormon. For example, Pomeroy Tucker in his 1867 book Origin, rise, and progress of Mormonism (37 years after the Book of Mormon was published and 23 years after Joseph's death), portrayed the Smith family as an "illiterate, whiskey-drinking, shiftless, irreligious race of people" and Joseph Smith, Jr. as the "laziest and most worthless of the generation."[20]:16 Tucker offers this "insight" regarding the young Joseph Smith and Captain Kidd:

Joseph, moreover, as he grew in years, had learned to read comprehensively, in which qualification he was far in advance of his elder brother, and even of his father; and this talent was assiduously devoted, as he quitted or modified his idle habits, to the perusal of works of fiction and records of criminality, such for instance as would be classed with the "dime novels" of the present day [Noted here is that the first “dime novel” did not appear until 1860. See Wikipedia article "Dime novel" off-site]. The stories of Stephen Burroughs and Captain Kidd, and the like, presented the highest charms for his expanding mental perceptions. As he further advanced in reading and knowledge, he assumed a spiritual or religious turn of mind, and frequently perused the Bible...[20]:17

It's important to note that Pomeroy Tucker did not connect the Captain Kidd stories to the Book of Mormon and attempt to argue that Joseph Smith plagiarized the former.

We would dispute Tucker's late portrayal of the Smith family as lazy and shiftless, as would the contemporaneous historical records (which are more reliable than late, hostile testimony obviously designed to discredit the Smiths).[21] We'd also dispute his characterization of Joseph as an avid reader. Emma Smith, Joseph's wife, remembered that during the translation of the Book of Mormon, he didn't know that Jerusalem had walls around it.[22] She also said "Joseph Smith...could neither write nor dictate a coherent and well-worded letter; let alone dictating a book like the Book of Mormon."[23] Lucy Smith, Joseph's mother, reminisced that Joseph was less inclined to the perusal of books and more to deep meditation.[24]

Main articles:Joseph and the family's early reputation
Contemporary witnesses regarded the Smiths as trustworthy and hard-working
Lazy Smiths?
Joseph's early work as a farmhand

However, knowing that Joseph was involved in treasure seeking, and that the great motivation for much of the treasure seeking being performed at the time was the result of a common belief that Captain Kidd had hidden treasure somewhere on the east coast of the United States, it is not unreasonable to assume that Joseph was familiar with the stories.

The Wayne Sentinel reported in 1825:

We are sorry to observe, even in this enlightened age, so prevalent a disposition to credit the accounts of the marvellous. Even the frightful stories of money being hid under the surface of the earth, and enchanted by the Devil or Robert Kidd [Captain Kidd], are received by many of our respectable fellow citizens as truths.[25]

Mostly hostile and, in most cases, clearly late sources reminisced that, in his early years, Joseph Smith "had spent his time for several years in telling fortunes and digging for hidden treasures, and especially for pots and iron chests of money, supposed to have been buried by Captain Kidd."[26]:3:154 Others insinuated that Joseph Smith "studied piracy while digging for the money [his] Father pretended old Bob Kidd <had> buried."[26]:1:597[27] Another stated that "[h]e had for a library a copy of the 'Arabian Nights,' stories of Captain Kidd, and a few novels."[26]:3:130 Another late, hostile source, "evidently relying on the published accounts of...Pomeroy Tucker",[26]:3:146 reported that Joseph had in his possession "'The Life of Stephen Burroughs,' the clerical scoundrel, and the autobiography of Capt. Kidd, the pirate" and that Kidd was Joseph's Smith's "hero."[26]:3:148 The "autobiography" in Joseph Smith's possession is not specified. Still, one author argued persuasively that the most likely source is Charles Johnson's General History of the Pyrates.[28]:pp. 109–110 One late, hostile source claims that Joseph Smith "saw Captain Kidd sailing on the Susquehanna River during a freshet, and that he buried two pots of gold and silver. He claimed he saw writing cut on the rocks in an unknown language telling where Kidd buried it, and he translated it through his peep-stone." That same source reports that Joseph "dug...for Kidd’s money, on the west bank of the Susquehanna, half a mile from the river, and three miles from his salt wells."[26]:4:182–84. James Harrison Kennedy, a non-Latter-day Saint and then-editor of the Magazine of Western History, wrote in an account of Church history published in 1888 that Joseph Smith Sr. was reportedly "at times" engaged in the hunt for Captain Kidd's treasure.[29]:p. 8 Kennedy also wrote that Joseph Smith had told him that the autobiography of Captain Kidd "made a deep impression upon him."[29]:p. 13 Kennedy cites no source for this statement, however. These sources may very well contain fabrications and exaggerations. They are certainly designed to convince others that Joseph Smith Sr. and Jr. Smith are/were mendacious swindlers as well as fanciful, superstitious lunatics.

"Orrin Porter Rockwell, Joseph's neighbor in Manchester, New York, told Elizabeth W. Kane in the early 1870s that '[n]ot only was there religious excitement, but the phantom treasure of Captain Kidd were sought for far and near, and even in places like Cumorah'."[30]:p. 185n53

See also: Joseph Smith/Money digging

Critics have more recently attempted to link the stories to Joseph, as Captain William Kidd is known to have visited the Comoros Islands during his life.

The first to propose the Comoros/Moroni/Captain Kidd connection seems to be Fred Buchanan, then an associate professor in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of Utah, in the June 1989 issue of Sunstone Magazine.[31] Buchanan spoke about a "rendezvous at Comoro and Moroni" that Kidd had. Yet Kidd never set foot on Comore nor Moroni.

Years later, in a 2003 article, critic Ronald V. Huggins asserted that Captain Kidd was "hanged for crimes allegedly committed in the vicinity of Moroni on Grand Comoro."[32] Except he wasn't. Similarly, critic Jeremy T. Runnells claimed that Kidd "was...arrested for capturing a treasure ship called the 'Quedagh Merchant' in the Indian Ocean near the Comoros islands."[33] Except he wasn't even close to the Comoros. Kidd was charged with crimes/declared a pirate only after he seized the ship Quedagh Merchant on January 30, 1698. Recall that the seizing of the ship occurred along the western coast of India—over 3,000 miles away from the Comoros! Kidd and his crew spotted the ship about 25 leagues from Kochi. Kidd was hanged in 1701 in London for stealing the Quedagh Merchant and for murdering his ship's gunner, William Moore, during a mutiny which occurred around the same time as the seizure of the Quedagh Merchant. None of these actions was related to the city of Moroni or the Comoros generally. The association of these events with "Moroni on Grand Comoro" is an unsupported assertion by Huggins, and these specific names have nothing to do with Kidd's execution. This seems to be a stretching attempt by Huggins to tie Kidd's execution with Joseph Smith and Mormonism more closely. Huggins' other abuses of historical sources and problematic conclusions have been thoroughly exposed by historians Mark Ashurst-McGee and Larry E. Morris.[34] We've reviewed some of Huggins' claims here on the FAIR wiki.

Eleven years after Huggins, ex-Mormon critic Grant H. Palmer asserted in a 2014 article that Joseph Smith acquired the names "Cumorah" and "Moroni" by reading stories of Captain Kidd in his youth. Palmer concludes that it is "reasonable to assert that Joseph Smith's hill in the 'land of Camorah' [Comorah/Cumorah], 'city of Moroni,' and 'land of Moroni/Meroni,' is connected with the ilhas [islands] de Comoro/'Camora,' the Moroni/Meroni settlements, and these pirate adventures."[35] Similarly, critic Jeremy T. Runnells in the 2017 edition of his CES Letter claims that "'Camora' [Grand Comore] and settlement 'Moroni' were names in pirate and treasure hunting stories involving Captain William Kidd (a pirate and treasure hunter) which many 19th century New Englanders – especially treasure hunters – were familiar with."[36] But that's negligibly true. The primary inspiration for Captain Kidd stories and legends, Daniel Defoe's (aka Captain Charles Johnson) 1724 book A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates, mentions Grande Comore once and fails to mention "Moroni/Meroni/Maroni." Neither Grande Comore nor Meroni/Merone/Maroni are connected to Kidd. This is the case for both volumes of General History which can be read/checked online (Vol. 1

3. Are any maps or other sources containing the names Moroni, Meroni, Comoros, Camora, or Grande Comore known to have existed close to Joseph Smith?

Maps and other Sources that Contain the Names Moroni, Meroni, Comoros, Camora, or Grand Comore are not proximate to Joseph Smith

When popular maps and other contemporary sources related to Joseph Smith's translation of the Book of Mormon are examined, the possibility that Joseph saw Comoros and Moroni on these maps recedes, and the idea becomes less plausible.

One critic, Noel A. Carmack, took up an exhaustive searching of maps, gazetteers, and other sources proximate to Joseph Smith and observes "that [whether] Joseph Smith Jr. had pre-1830 knowledge of the East Indian Ocean pirate haunt ["pirate haunt" being a place pirates like to frequent habitually]—the Comoro Island group and its sultan town, Moroni—is difficult to conclusively determine." He further states that "[n]o extant pre-1830 chart or map shows Moroni as a place name on the larger island [of Grande Comore]."[28]:p. 130

Carmack does note that there is a 1778 map of Grande Comore (called "Comoro" in this map) with the town spelled as "Moroon" (hardly the kind of easy grab for Joseph Smith the critics want):

Figure 3. Carmack's caption reads: "Detail of inset map, 'Comoro the Highest Island', from A Chart of the Inner Passage between the Coast of Africa and the Isle of Madagascar, from Mr. D’Anville with Several Additions. In The Oriental
Pilot (1778) by R. Sayer and J. Bennett. Courtesy the Map Section at the National Library of Australia, Canberra, Australia."


There is also this detail map from 1774 with the names as "Comoro" and "Moroon":

Figure 4. Carmack's caption: "Detail of 'Plan of the w. side of Comoro or Anga-Zecha, showing 'AIngando,' (Itzanda), and 'Moroon' (Moroni), Alexander Sibbald, 1774, from Dalrymple's Charts (1807?). Courtesy the Map Section at the National Library of Australia, Canberra, Australia.


Are we really going to expect Joseph Smith to look at one of these two maps of one island, Comore, flip the name "Moroon" to become "Moroni", flip the name "Comoro" to "Cumorah", and stick it in the Book of Mormon? When there's one mention of Comore and no mention of Moroon in the source closest to him (General History)?

There is also this 1748 map done by French hydrographer Jacque-Nicolas Bellin of the island of Joanna with the names "Comore" and "Meroni" on it:

Figure 5. Carmack's caption: "Full map, Carte de l’Isle d’Anjouan, by
Jacque-Nicolas Bellin. Courtesy the author’s collection."


Figure 6. Carmack's caption: "Detail of map, Carte de l’Isle d’Anjouan, Une des
Isles de Comore par le Cape Cornwal, from Abbé Prévost’s sixteen-volume
Histoire Générale des Voyages (1748) by Jacque-Nicolas Bellin. Courtesy the
author’s collection."


A 1752 version of the same map has the name spelled as "Merone":

Figure 7. 1752 version of Bellin map.


A map from 1745–47 of Anjouan also contains the names "Komoro" and "Meroni":

Figure 8. Carmack's caption: "Detail of map, Johanna, or Anjuan, One of the
Komoro Islands by Cap. Cornwall, from Green and Astley’s A New Collection of
Voyages and Travels (1745–47). Courtesy the Map Section at the National
Library of Australia, Canberra, Australia."


But are we really going to expect that Joseph Smith is going to look at one of these three maps of one island, two of which are in French (and by which reason there's little motivation for Joseph to seek these maps out), spin the tiny port town "Meroni" and "Comore" to become "Moroni" and "Cumorah", and stick them in the Book of Mormon? When there's relatively little mention of Joanna (and especially in transitory contexts) and no mention of Meroni in the Captain Kidd stories? Why doesn't Joseph Smith look at a globe or other global map? Why a map as specific as one of these?

This is the closest anyone has come to date in placing potential inspiration for both Moroni and Cumorah in the same source.

4. Could Joseph Smith have gotten the names Moroni and Cumorah from local American whalers?

This is just an argument from silence

Figure 9. Imaginative
drawing of Captain William
Kidd burying treasure.

There is another speculation put forth by critics regarding how Joseph Smith might have heard the names "Moroni" and "Cumorah" that is not related to Captain Kidd. The assumption made on one website is that he "heard about these exotic places from stories of American whalers."[37] The website notes, "The Comoro islands were visited by a large number of American whaling ships beginning before the appearance of The Book of Mormon. Sailors aboard these ships, when they returned to the whaling ports of New England, told of their adventures in the western Indian Ocean. By the time The Book of Mormon first appeared in the 1820s, both Moroni and Comoro were words known to some Americans living in the eastern United States."[37] One would have to assume, however, that Joseph came into contact with "some Americans living in the eastern United States" who were familiar with the names. Critics have posited that there may be such a connection with Solomon Mack, Joseph's grandfather and "a retired sea captain...who plied the same New England waters once haunted by Kidd[.]"[30]:p. 185n53. See also pp. 50–51 therein. Evidence for this, however, is lacking. This "connection" is based on pure conjecture. Given that the stories regarding Kidd mention "Comaro" once and never mention "Moroni" nor "Meroni", how would Solomon Mack even learn the names (or close enough matches that could become the names) "Cumorah" and "Moroni"?

What makes the theory especially lacking in the author's view is that if we're looking for words that are spelled and pronounced roughly the same that Joseph Smith could have cribbed from, we can eventually find what we're looking for, and it would have no bearing on the Book of Mormon's authenticity. To demonstrate, consider an experiment done by David Snell, a Latter-day Saint and host of the Faith and Beliefs segment of the YouTube show Saints Unscripted. Snell made up several names that sounded like Book of Mormon names and picked a random state in the United States: Kentucky. Next, Snell searched for place names in Kentucky that sounded like his made-up Book of Mormon-sounding names. He found matches or near matches for three of his five made-up names. His experiment begins at 4:20 of the video below:

Load video
YouTube


Snell aptly demonstrates the fallacies that critics commit when making the Captain Kidd argument against the Book of Mormon.

5. What about "Cumorah" being spelled "Camorah" in the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon?

The Original Manuscript and the Printer's Manuscript of the Book of Mormon Undermine this Claim

To more closely associate the Book of Mormon with the Comoros Islands, Grant Palmer and other critics note that "Cumorah" is spelled "Camorah" in the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon. Both Palmer and Jeremy Runnells claim that "[p]rior to its French occupation in 1841, the islands were known by its Arabic name, 'Camora.'"[36] The name "Cumorah" figures 9 times in the Book of Mormon text, all within the book of Mormon.

The first thing to note is that the spelling of Grande Comore as "Camora" does not appear in any source that the author has been able to locate. Both Grant Palmer and Jeremy Runnells inaccurately identify an 1808 map of the Comoros as calling the group of islands "Camora." The following screenshot is from Runnells' CES Letter:

Figure 10. CES Letter (2017 edition), pg. 15. Jeremy Runnells' inaccurate claim(s)
that this 1808 map refers to all the Comoros Islands as "Camora."


One will see two things. First, Runnells wrongly claims that "Camora" on the map refers to all the Comoros Islands when it actually refers only to Grande Comore. As evidence, one can see that the islands of Mohilla and Johanna are also mentioned. Mayotta is not mentioned. Second, you'll see that the name here is "Comora" rather than "Camora" as Runnells wrongly claims. For example, compare the "o" in "Comora" on the map above with the "o" of "Mohilla" and the "a" of "Joanno" just below and to the right of Mohilla for evidence that the map indeed says "Comora." So, even with the uniform spelling of Cumorah as "Camorah" in the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon, there is little likelihood that Joseph Smith or Oliver Cowdery cribbed the name from maps of the Comoros.


Figure 11. 1830 Book of Mormon showing the spelling "Camorah"


But pursuing this further, Oliver Cowdery stated that "Camorah" was a spelling error in the July 1835 issue of the Latter Day Saint's Messenger and Advocate. Oliver Cowdery states:

By turning to the 529th and 530th pages of the book of Mormon you will read Mormon's account of the last great struggle of his people, as they were encamped round this hill Cumorah. (It is printed Camorah, which is an error.)

This assertion from Oliver matches evidence from the Printer's Manuscript of the Book of Mormon where the name is spelled "Camorah" once, "Cumorah" seven times, and "Comorah" twice.[38] The portion of the Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon containing the book of Mormon is no longer extant. There were three scribes for the Printer's Manuscript: Oliver Cowdery, an unknown scribe, and Hyrum Smith.[39] The unknown scribe is the one who copied this portion of the book of Mormon from the Original Manuscript to the Printer's Manuscript. This unknown scribe may have been Martin Harris.[40] Royal Skousen argues persuasively that Oliver Cowdery likely meant to spell it "Cumorah" all nine times in the original manuscript and that Harris (when copying the original manuscript to the printer's manuscript) and the typesetter for the Book of Mormon, John Gilbert (when setting the type for the Book of Mormon), thought that some of Cowdery's uses of the letter "u" looked like uses of the letter "o" and "a." Cowdery also sometimes actually did write the wrong letter.[41] These may be the result of Oliver mishearing the pronunciation of Book of Mormon names by Joseph Smith as he dictated the text of the Book of Mormon.

Further, the use of "Cumorah" brings the name into greater parallel with other names in the Book of Mormon, including:

  • CUMENI
  • CUMENIHAH
  • CUMOMS
  • KISHKUMEN
  • KUMEN
  • KUMENONHI
  • PACUMENI
  • RIPLIANCUM
  • TEANCUM

We don't have a Book of Mormon name that includes "cam" or "kam" in its spelling.

There are "com" names in the Book of Mormon, such as:

  • COM
  • COMNOR
  • JACOM

We have plenty of evidence of the islands in general and/or Grande Comore in particular being referred to as Comora, Comoro, Comore, Comoros, etc. However, the textual evidence documented by Royal Skousen above suggests that the name was intentionally spelled Comorah (or something close to it) first and then changed later to Cumorah.

In each of the above scenarios and with each piece of supposed evidence used, the critics commit the fallacy of appeal to probability (discussed on the linked page) while trying to establish their arguments. Additionally, the probability has receded significantly that Joseph Smith cribbed these names when examining the evidence that the critics use to develop the likelihood.

6. Have faithful Latter-day Saint scholars found the Captain Kidd theory plausible?

No, there is no evidence that faithful Latter-day Saint scholars have found the Captain Kidd theory plausible

In his 2014 "debunking" of FAIR's response to the 2013 edition of the CES Letter, Jeremy T. Runnells claimed that "[f]or some Mormon apologists, the evidence is so compelling [that Captain Kidd stories influenced these names] that they have suggested that Lehi and his family may have encountered the Comoros islands on their initial voyage from the Arabian Peninsula to the western hemisphere, and that the Nephite civilization therefore may have retained a collective knowledge of the names of 'Comoros' and 'Moroni'."[42]

Runnells relied on a Wikipedia article that at one point stated the following to make his claim:

Alternative origin of the name

Close-up of 1808 map of Africa with the small Comoros islands labelled "Camora" (near center, just below marked line of latitude) [NOTE from author of this FAIR article: this map is shown above. The Wikipedia editor also wrongly claims that it says "Camora"]

Grant H. Palmer has theorized that Smith created the name "Cumorah" through his study of the treasure-hunting stories of Captain William Kidd, because Kidd was said to have buried treasure in the Comoros islands (known by the Arabic name, Camora, prior to being occupied by the French in 1841). Previous to announcing his discovery of the Book of Mormon, Smith had spent several years employed as a treasure seeker. Since the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon printed the name "Cumorah" as "Camorah," it has been suggested that Smith used the name of the islands and applied it to the hill where he found buried treasure—the golden plates. Complementing this proposal is the theory that Smith borrowed the name of a settlement in the Comoros—Moroni—and applied it to the angel which led him to the golden plates.

Others posit that this line of argument commits the logical error of appeal to probability. They also point out that it is highly unlikely that Smith had access to material which would have referred to the then-small settlement of Moroni, particularly since it did not appear in most contemporary gazetteers. However, other Mormon authors have suggested that the ancestors of the Nephite people may have encountered the Comoros islands on their initial voyage from the Arabian Peninsula to the western hemisphere, and that the Nephite civilization therefore may have retained a collective knowledge of the names "Comoros" and "Moroni."[43]

Notice the unusual language in the Wikipedia article, which suggests that Mormon authors accept the Captain Kidd theories. We go to the footnote for more information, which reads:

One Mormon author suggests that Lehi and his family may have re-supplied at Moroni during the voyage: W. Vincent Coon, Choice Above All Other Lands, pg. 68; see also “How Exaggerated Setting for the Book of Mormon Came to Pass” and “A Feasible Voyage." This position reflects the argument of others that the tradition that Lehi and his company voyaged across the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and finally the Pacific Ocean is "extreme" and non-authoritative: May, Wayne N., THIS LAND: They Came from the East, Vol. 3, pp. 12–15; Olive, P.C., The Lost Empires & Vanished Races of Prehistoric America, p. 39.[43]

The first thing we can rule out with all confidence is that Coon has connected the Captain Kidd stories to the Book of Mormon. He's still faithful, so he's not going to believe that Joseph plagiarized the stories to create the Book of Mormon. The next thing we need to learn is why some believe that the "tradition that Lehi and his company voyaged across the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and finally the Pacific Ocean is 'extreme' and non-authoritative." W. Vincent Coon is a hobbyist researcher of the Book of Mormon who believes that the Book of Mormon took place in the Heartland Geography (which encompasses primarily the Eastern to Mid United States). He was trying to find evidence that the Lehites were able to sail southward, away from the Arabian peninsula, around Africa, and then come from the east, through the Atlantic Ocean, to the Florida Peninsula or another area along the eastern seaboard of the United States. He used this as evidence of that assertion. He, like the other Heartland theorists mentioned in the Wikipedia quote, was trying to argue against Limited Geography Theories of Book of Mormon geography that place the Book of Mormon somewhere on the west side of the North American continent. Here's every source cited by Wikipedia that supposedly connects Coon to the Captain Kidd theory and what he actually said about the Comoros:

Source Quote
W. Vincent Coon, Choice Above All Other Lands, pg. 68 [p. 64 in e-book] After sailing more than 2,400 miles from Arabia, one of the first places Lehi’s family could have re-supplied, is the isle of Grande Comore, 200 miles off the eastern shore of Africa. The capital port city of Grande Comore, incidentally, has a Semitic name – “Moroni." Evidence shows that other groups of Israelites, leaving Jerusalem, sailed with the currents and seasonal winds from the southern coast of Arabia to the coast of Africa. (“Quest for the Lost Ark”, History Channel documentary, A&E Television Networks, 2007)
“How Exaggerated Setting for the Book of Mormon Came to Pass” One possible location where they may have re-supplied is the island of Grand Comore; about 200 miles off the eastern coast of Africa. The capitol port city of the island, by the way, has a Semitic name – "Moroni."
A More Feasible Voyage After sailing more than 2,400 miles from Arabia, one of the first places that Lehi's family could have re-supplied is the isle of Grande Comore, 200 miles off the eastern shore of Africa. The capital port city of Grande Comore, incidentally, has a Semitic name – "Moroni."

There's nothing here that suggests that either Coon is familiar with the Captain Kidd story or that he found it compelling. These sources only mention that there is a city, in Comore, with the name Moroni. Even if Coon is familiar with the Captain Kidd theory, he only says that Lehi and his family "may" have resupplied at Comore. Not that they positively did. Runnells seriously misread his source. This misreading was almost certainly deliberate.

Notes (click to expand)
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  1. ↑ Wade E. Miller and Matthew Roper, "Animals in the Book of Mormon: Challenges and Perspectives," Blog of Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture (April 21, 2014)
  2. ↑ Robert T. Hatt, “Faunal and archaeological researches in Yucatan caves.” Cranbrook Institute of Science 33 (1953), 1-42.
  3. ↑ Joaquin Arroyo-Cabrales and Oscar Polaco, “Caves and the Pleistocene vertebrate paleontology of Mexico.” In B. W. Schubert, J. I. Mead and R. W. Graham (eds.) Ice Age Faunas of North America (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2003), 273-291.
  4. ↑ Wade E. Miller and Matthew Roper, "Animals in the Book of Mormon: Challenges and Perspectives," Blog of Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture (April 21, 2014)
  5. ↑ C. Radulesco and P. Samson, Sur un centre de domestication du mouton dans le Mesolithique de grotte “La Adam, en Dobrogea,” Tierzüchlung und Züchtungsbiologic 76 (1962), 282-320.
  6. ↑ E. Raymond Hall and Keith R. Kelson, The Mammals of North America,” (New York, Ronald Press, 1959).1
  7. ↑ Valerius Geist, “Mountain Sheep: A Study in Behavior and Evolution,” (Chicago and London: University of Chicago press, 1971), 41.
  8. ↑ Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 1985), 296-97.
  9. ↑ Wade E. Miller and Matthew Roper, "Animals in the Book of Mormon: Challenges and Perspectives," Blog of Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture (April 21, 2014)
  10. ↑ A. Starker Leopold, “Wildlife of Mexico: The Game Birds and Mammals,” (Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1959), 493-500.
  11. ↑ S. T. Evans, “Ancient Mexico & Central America: Archaeology and Culture History,” (London, Thames & Hudson, Ltd., 2004).
  12. ↑ Joaquin Arroyo-Cabrales and Ticul Alverez, “A preliminary report of the late Quaternary mammal fauna from Loltún Cave, Yucatán, México,” In B. W. Schubert, J. I. Mead and R. W. Graham (eds.) Ice Age Faunas of North America (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2003), 266.
  13. ↑ Robert T. Hatt, Faunal and Archaeological Researches in Yucatan Caves (1953), 1-42.
  14. ↑ Wade E. Miller and Matthew Roper, "Animals in the Book of Mormon: Challenges and Perspectives," Blog of Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture (April 21, 2014)
  15. ↑ Robert T. Hatt, “Faunal and archaeological researches in Yucatan caves.” Cranbrook Institute of Science 33 (1953),29.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Mary Ann, "The Telephone Game: Evolving Misinformation Connecting Joseph Smith, Captain Kidd, and the Comoro Islands," Wheat and Tares, May 27, 2017, https://wheatandtares.org/2017/05/27/the-telephone-game-evolving-misinformation-about-joseph-smith-captain-kidd-and-the-comoro-islands/.
  17. ↑ "Pirate Round," Wikipedia, accessed January 25, 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Round.
  18. ↑ Charles Johnson, A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates (London: C. Rivington, 1724), 2:70. The second edition of same year is A General History of the Pyrates: from their first rise and settlement in the Island of Providence, to the present time, The second edition with considerable additions (London: T. Warner, 1724). This second edition contains no mention of Kidd.
  19. ↑ Jeremy Runnells, "Debunking FairMormon, 2014"
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Pomeroy Tucker, Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1867).
  21. ↑ Jeremy T. Runnells, CES Letter: My Search for Answers to My Mormon Doubts (n.p.: CES Letter Foundation, 2017), 16 argues that "Some apologists say that Tucker’s Mormonism: Its Origin, Rise, and Progress is “antiMormon” and thus anything in the book cannot be trusted. If this is true, why then did LDS scholar and Church History compiler B.H. Roberts quote Tucker for background information on Joseph Smith? Also, FairMormon has an article in which they quote Tucker’s book 4 times as support for Joseph, and they even refer to Tucker as an “eyewitness” to Joseph and his family. Is Tucker’s peripheral information only useful and accurate when it shows Joseph and the Church in a positive and favorable light?" It should be noted that the article Runnells links to is done by one author for one paper, and that the author only used Tucker to establish basic details about Joseph's life and not those that are contested, i.e. those for which critics and believers may be more biased about.
  22. ↑ Edmund C. Briggs, “A Visit to Nauvoo in 1856,” Journal of History 9 (October 1916): 454; transcribed in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820–1844, ed. John Welch with Erick B. Carlson (Salt Lake City/Provo, UT: Deseret Book and BYU Press, 2005), 129 (document 38). Briggs also related this story as an aside in “Interview with David Whitmer,” Saints’ Herald 31 (June 21, 1884): 396–397; quoted in Welch, “The Miraculous Translation of the Book of Mormon,” in Opening the Heavens, 106 n.23..
  23. ↑ Joseph Smith III, "Last Testimony of Sister Emma," The Saints' Herald 26, no. 19 (October 1879): 290.
  24. ↑ Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet and His Progenitors for Many Generations (1853; repr. 1995), 84. Cited in Richard Lloyd Anderson, "The Early Preparation of the Prophet Joseph Smith," Ensign 35, no. 12 (December 2005).
  25. ↑ "Money digging," Wayne Sentinel 2, no. 21 (February 1825).
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 26.5 Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 5 vols. (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1996–2003).
  27. ↑ Another source also states that Joseph Smith Sr. looked for Captain Kidd's treasure. See Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:624–25.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Noel A. Carmack, "Joseph Smith, Captain Kidd Lore, and Treasure-Seeking in New York and New England during the Early Republic," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 46, no. 3 (Fall 2013): 78–153.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 James Harrison Kennedy, Early Days of Mormonism: Palmyra, Kirtland, and Nauvoo (New York: Charles Scribener's Sons, 1888). As cited in Van Wagoner, Natural Born Seer, 185n53.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Richard S. Van Wagoner, Natural Born Seer: Joseph Smith, American Prophet, 1805–1830 (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2016).
  31. ↑ Fred Buchanan, "Perilous Ponderings," Sunstone 13, no. 3 (June 1989): 7–9.
  32. ↑ Ronald V. Huggins, "From Captain Kidd's Treasure Ghost to Angel Moroni: Changing Dramatis Personae in Early Mormonism," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 36, no. 4 (2003): 17–42.
  33. ↑ Jeremy Runnells, "Debunking FairMormon", 2014.
  34. ↑ Mark Ashurst-McGee, "Moroni as Angel and as Treasure Guardian," The FARMS Review 18, no. 1 (2006): 34–100; Larry E. Morris, "'I Should Have an Eye Single to the Glory of God': Joseph Smith's Account of the Angel and the Plates," The FARMS Review 17, no. 1 (2005): 11–81.
  35. ↑ Grant Palmer, "Joseph Smith, Captain Kidd, Cumorah, and Moroni," John Whitmer Historical Association vol. 34 no. 1 (Spring/Summer 2014): 50—57.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Jeremy T. Runnells, CES Letter: My Search for Answers to my Mormon Doubts (n.p.: CES Letter Foundation, 2017), 15.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Martin and Harriet Ottenheimer, "COMORO ISLANDS" (website) off-site
  38. ↑ See here for the listings and the manuscript listed on the Joseph Smith Papers website for confirmation of this.
  39. ↑ Royal Skousen, Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part 1 (Provo, UT: FARMS, 2014), 21.
  40. ↑ Royal Skousen, “Oliver Cowdery as Book of Mormon Scribe,” in Days Never to Be Forgotten: Oliver Cowdery, ed. Alexander L. Baugh (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2009), 53.
  41. ↑ Royal Skousen, Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part 6 (Provo, UT: FARMS, 2009), 3636–38.
  42. ↑ See Jeremy Runnells "Debunking FairMormon; July 2014 Revision"
  43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 "Cumorah - Alternative origin of the name," Wikipedia, accessed December 29, 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumorah#Alternative_origin_of_the_name.


"'Camora' and settlement 'Moroni' were common names in pirate and treasure hunting stories involving Captain William Kidd"

Template:CESLetterItemShort


The Book of Mormon and Captain Kidd

Figure 1. Portrait of Captain
William Kidd.

Summary: Critics of the Book of Mormon claim that Joseph Smith could have acquired the names “Moroni” and “Cumorah” from either maps he could have had access to as a youth, stories that he may have read associated with Captain William Kidd, or local Palmyra whalers that told stories of their journeys to places where Captain Kidd is also known to have operated.

The argument typically starts with the Captain Kidd stories. Joseph is supposed to have known about stories regarding Captain Kidd and either directly cribbed the names "Moroni" and "Cumorah" (or names close to those two) from the stories or, inspired by Kidd’s and/or other pirates' exploits on the four islands of the Comoros Archipelago (which is almost sandwiched between Mozambique and Madagascar in the Mozambique Channel), gone to maps to learn more about the area and found names on those maps that he could use for the supposedly fictitious creation of the Book of Mormon. On the maps, he would have found that the capital city of one of the islands in the archipelago is Moroni. On one of the islands in the Comoros, Anjouan (also sometimes called "Joanna" historically), there is a port city named "Meroni" (sometimes spelled "Merone").

Alternatively, as mentioned, American whalers could have sailed in the Comoros and talked about their travels in settings where Joseph could have heard them.

To reiterate, there are two places that Joseph Smith could have gotten the name “Moroni” from and three places that he could have gotten “Cumorah” from, according to these critics.

For Moroni:

  1. The capital city of the island Grand Comore is literally Moroni.
  2. There is an island named Anjouan (also known as "Joanna" by some historically) in the Comoros, and one of the port cities of that island is called "Meroni" (sometimes spelled "Merone").

For Cumorah:

  1. The islands are named the "Comoros Islands"
  2. The largest island of the Comoros is called "Grand Comore."
  3. Before French occupation in 1841, critics claim that Grand Comore was often called "Camora."

For this last potential source ("Camora"), critics note that, in the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon, Cumorah is always spelled "Camorah", suggesting that Joseph and/or Oliver merely added an h to the end of the name "Camora", placed it in the Book of Mormon, and then respelled it later on to perhaps cover their tracks more.

When weighing the probability that this theory is true, your mileage varies a little depending on what you assume regarding various questions, such as:

  1. Whether Joseph Smith had co-conspirators or not
  2. What you assume about how much Joseph Smith (and/or co.) knows about Captain Kidd
  3. What Joseph Smith (and/or co.) has read about him
  4. How much Joseph Smith (and/or co.) admires Captain Kidd and his (and/or their) corresponding desire to learn what he (and/or they) can about him
  5. How much Joseph Smith (and/or co.) admires other pirates and his (and/or their) corresponding desire to learn about them
  6. How much he (or they) has read about those pirates
  7. The proximity of maps and other sources containing resemblances of "Moroni" and "Cumorah" to Joseph (and/or co.)
  8. Joseph's (and/or co.'s) abilities to plausibly spin names in these sources to be Book of Mormon names and, finally
  9. The proximity and obviousness of sources like the 41 mentions of other islands in the Comoros in General History to Joseph (and/or co.) that may have motivated him (and/or them) to look at maps of the areas.

At nearly every step here, you're making dubious (and, in some of the cases of the critics above, false) claims/assumptions based on tenuous (and, in some of the instances of the critics above, entirely non-existent) strands of evidence.

As your evidence, you have the name "Comaro" once in General History; you have 41 mentions of other islands besides Comore in the Comoros in relation to different pirates, 12 of which are to Joanna; you have a handful of mostly late and mostly hostile (with the obvious exception of Orrin Porter Rockwell) statements that say that Joseph Smith sought for Captain Kidd's treasure and one contemporary newspaper account that says that citizens of Palmyra looked for that treasure; you have three late, hostile sources, one relying on the accuracy of the other, stating that Joseph Smith had a copy of an autobiography of or "novels" about Captain Kidd; you have five maps, all of which are detail maps of one island (out of two separate islands) in the Comoros, with names sometimes more similar and sometimes less similar to "Moroni" and "Cumorah", and two of which are in French; and you have some other potential sources documented by Carmack.

You're likely committing an appeal to probability fallacy and a texas sharpshooter fallacy to claim that the theory works and establish your case.

As far as the author's beliefs, the evidence really only carries you with certainty as far as Joseph Smith knowing about Captain Kidd and the treasure he buried in New York and looking for it. He also likely (but not certainly) read about Captain Kidd in some sources available to him. Past that, little can be certain. Little wonder Carmack says that whether Joseph Smith was aware of the Comoros before 1830 is difficult to determine conclusively. Any similarity, closer or further, between the Comoros Islands and the Book of Mormon is most likely coincidental and specious.

Both the main body of text and the footnotes of this article contain valuable information related to these arguments, and we encourage readers to review both.

Related article:A FairMormon Analysis of "From Captain Kidd's Treasure Ghost to the Angel Moroni: Changing Dramatis Personae in Early Mormonism" by Ronald V. Huggins, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 36 no. 4 (2003), 22.

1. Who was Captain Kidd?

Some background on Captain Kidd will be helpful as we continue with this article. This history lesson comes primarily from "MaryAnn", a blogger at the blog Wheat and Tares,[1] with some modifications by the author of this article:

Captain Kidd was Scottish-born but lived in New York. He was a successful privateer who typically worked the West Indies. An upstanding British citizen, he got hired in 1696 to go after pirates in the East Indies (and French merchants, because England and France weren’t on good terms). He and his crew were to be paid from the spoil they got, with a portion going back to his sponsors. Hiring these privateers was a way for the British government to supplement its navy and look after its interests on the high seas, while maintaining plausible deniability if the privateers ever did anything wrong.

With a brand-spankin' new ship (called the Adventure Galley) and a bunch of experienced New York seamen, Kidd made his way to the East Indies. It took a year, but Kidd and his crew finally reached Madagascar, a known pirate haven, in January 1697. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find any pirates. Whoops. After a month, he headed over to Johanna, the most popular island in the Comoro archipelago. He spent March and April in the Comoros, bouncing back and forth between the islands of Johanna and Mohilla. On Mohilla, he lost fifty men to sickness. Luckily, he got more men on the island of Johanna and was finally able to borrow enough money to repair his debilitated ship. He left the Comoro Islands an honest man, a little financially desperate, but an honest man. It wasn’t until a few months later that things started to get a little fishy.

Kidd traveled about a thousand miles north to Bab-el-Mandeb at the mouth of the Red Sea and unsuccessfully attacked a fleet in August 1697. So he decided to try his luck on the Malabar Coast, along the Western coast of India, over 3,000 miles away from the Comoros Islands. His crew grew antsy, and they attempted mutiny when Kidd refused to attack a Dutch ship. The leader of the mutiny, William Moore, later died when Kidd threw a bucket at him (this death became important later). Ultimately, he only ever took two French ships while sailing down India’s western coast, but the second, the Quedagh Merchant, was laden with valuables. Unfortunately, England was on better terms with France, so the capture of the ships was viewed as scandalous (turns out the latter boat was captained by an Englishman – double whoops). Once word of these activities reached London in late 1698, William Kidd was declared a pirate, and orders were given to apprehend him.

Captain Kidd, unaware of his infamy, sailed the Quedagh Merchant to the Caribbean (after a brief, uncomfortable encounter with a real pirate at Madagascar). Upon his arrival in the West Indies, he used part of his treasure to purchase a new ship and left the Quedagh Merchant, now a liability, behind. Later, Kidd’s crew pillaged the ship and burned it. The remains of the Quedagh Merchant were rediscovered in 2007, just off the coast of Catalina Island.

Kidd sailed up to New York to appeal to higher-ups and hid a bunch of his treasure on Gardiners Island (fueling rumors that he or his associates were also burying treasure in other areas of the Northeastern United States). He never buried treasure in the Comoros. He was apprehended and taken to England. Found guilty of piracy and the murder of William Moore, Kidd was executed in 1701 with two associates, and his body was hanged for three years over the River Thames to discourage would-be pirates.

The following map is from Wikipedia and gives an overview of the locations and dates of arrival for Captain Kidd's journeys:

Figure 2. Map of Adventure Galley 's voyages from Wikipedia.

The Comoro Islands were indeed heavily utilized by pirates, but typically not for burying treasure. They were a part of the Pirate Round, a “sailing route followed by certain mainly English pirates, during the late 17th century and early 18th century. The course led from the western Atlantic, parallel to the Cape Route around the southern tip of Africa, stopping at Madagascar, then on to targets such as the coast of Yemen and India. The Pirate Round was briefly used again during the early 1720s. Pirates who followed the route are sometimes referred to as Roundsmen. The Pirate Round was largely co-extensive with the routes of the East India Company ships of Britain and other nations. The Pirate Round started from a variety of Atlantic ports, including Bermuda, Nassau, New York City, and A Coruña, depending on where the pirate crew initially assembled. The course then lay roughly south by southeast along the coast of Africa, frequently by way of the Madeira Islands. The pirates would then double the Cape of Good Hope, and sail through the Mozambique Channel to northern Madagascar. Pirates would frequently careen and refit their ships on Madagascar and take on fresh provisions before proceeding onward toward their targets further north. Particularly important pirate bases on Madagascar included the island of St. Mary's (often called by its French name, Île Sainte-Marie) and Ranter Bay (now called Antongil Bay), both on the northeastern side of the island."[2] The Comoros were sometimes used as a stopping point to prepare for the rest of the journey to India, Yemen, or other destinations.

2. Are there any places in stories about Captain Kidd that reference Grande Comore, Moroni, Meroni, or Merone?

Only one place in the Captain Kidd Stories that contains a reference to Grande Comore and no place that mentions Moroni nor Meroni/Merone

We'll start with stories about Captain Kidd, as contained in books, since critics typically cite those as the most likely source for Joseph's plagiarism.

References to Joseph Smith's interest in the adventures of Captain Kidd come from some of his contemporaries, years after the publication of the Book of Mormon. For example, Pomeroy Tucker in his 1867 book Origin, rise, and progress of Mormonism (37 years after the Book of Mormon was published and 23 years after Joseph's death), portrayed the Smith family as an "illiterate, whiskey-drinking, shiftless, irreligious race of people" and Joseph Smith, Jr. as the "laziest and most worthless of the generation."[5]:16 Tucker offers this "insight" regarding the young Joseph Smith and Captain Kidd:

Joseph, moreover, as he grew in years, had learned to read comprehensively, in which qualification he was far in advance of his elder brother, and even of his father; and this talent was assiduously devoted, as he quitted or modified his idle habits, to the perusal of works of fiction and records of criminality, such for instance as would be classed with the "dime novels" of the present day [Noted here is that the first “dime novel” did not appear until 1860. See Wikipedia article "Dime novel" off-site]. The stories of Stephen Burroughs and Captain Kidd, and the like, presented the highest charms for his expanding mental perceptions. As he further advanced in reading and knowledge, he assumed a spiritual or religious turn of mind, and frequently perused the Bible...[5]:17

It's important to note that Pomeroy Tucker did not connect the Captain Kidd stories to the Book of Mormon and attempt to argue that Joseph Smith plagiarized the former.

We would dispute Tucker's late portrayal of the Smith family as lazy and shiftless, as would the contemporaneous historical records (which are more reliable than late, hostile testimony obviously designed to discredit the Smiths).[6] We'd also dispute his characterization of Joseph as an avid reader. Emma Smith, Joseph's wife, remembered that during the translation of the Book of Mormon, he didn't know that Jerusalem had walls around it.[7] She also said "Joseph Smith...could neither write nor dictate a coherent and well-worded letter; let alone dictating a book like the Book of Mormon."[8] Lucy Smith, Joseph's mother, reminisced that Joseph was less inclined to the perusal of books and more to deep meditation.[9]

Main articles:Joseph and the family's early reputation
Contemporary witnesses regarded the Smiths as trustworthy and hard-working
Lazy Smiths?
Joseph's early work as a farmhand

However, knowing that Joseph was involved in treasure seeking, and that the great motivation for much of the treasure seeking being performed at the time was the result of a common belief that Captain Kidd had hidden treasure somewhere on the east coast of the United States, it is not unreasonable to assume that Joseph was familiar with the stories.

The Wayne Sentinel reported in 1825:

We are sorry to observe, even in this enlightened age, so prevalent a disposition to credit the accounts of the marvellous. Even the frightful stories of money being hid under the surface of the earth, and enchanted by the Devil or Robert Kidd [Captain Kidd], are received by many of our respectable fellow citizens as truths.[10]

Mostly hostile and, in most cases, clearly late sources reminisced that, in his early years, Joseph Smith "had spent his time for several years in telling fortunes and digging for hidden treasures, and especially for pots and iron chests of money, supposed to have been buried by Captain Kidd."[11]:3:154 Others insinuated that Joseph Smith "studied piracy while digging for the money [his] Father pretended old Bob Kidd <had> buried."[11]:1:597[12] Another stated that "[h]e had for a library a copy of the 'Arabian Nights,' stories of Captain Kidd, and a few novels."[11]:3:130 Another late, hostile source, "evidently relying on the published accounts of...Pomeroy Tucker",[11]:3:146 reported that Joseph had in his possession "'The Life of Stephen Burroughs,' the clerical scoundrel, and the autobiography of Capt. Kidd, the pirate" and that Kidd was Joseph's Smith's "hero."[11]:3:148 The "autobiography" in Joseph Smith's possession is not specified. Still, one author argued persuasively that the most likely source is Charles Johnson's General History of the Pyrates.[13]:pp. 109–110 One late, hostile source claims that Joseph Smith "saw Captain Kidd sailing on the Susquehanna River during a freshet, and that he buried two pots of gold and silver. He claimed he saw writing cut on the rocks in an unknown language telling where Kidd buried it, and he translated it through his peep-stone." That same source reports that Joseph "dug...for Kidd’s money, on the west bank of the Susquehanna, half a mile from the river, and three miles from his salt wells."[11]:4:182–84. James Harrison Kennedy, a non-Latter-day Saint and then-editor of the Magazine of Western History, wrote in an account of Church history published in 1888 that Joseph Smith Sr. was reportedly "at times" engaged in the hunt for Captain Kidd's treasure.[14]:p. 8 Kennedy also wrote that Joseph Smith had told him that the autobiography of Captain Kidd "made a deep impression upon him."[14]:p. 13 Kennedy cites no source for this statement, however. These sources may very well contain fabrications and exaggerations. They are certainly designed to convince others that Joseph Smith Sr. and Jr. Smith are/were mendacious swindlers as well as fanciful, superstitious lunatics.

"Orrin Porter Rockwell, Joseph's neighbor in Manchester, New York, told Elizabeth W. Kane in the early 1870s that '[n]ot only was there religious excitement, but the phantom treasure of Captain Kidd were sought for far and near, and even in places like Cumorah'."[15]:p. 185n53

See also: Joseph Smith/Money digging

Critics have more recently attempted to link the stories to Joseph, as Captain William Kidd is known to have visited the Comoros Islands during his life.

The first to propose the Comoros/Moroni/Captain Kidd connection seems to be Fred Buchanan, then an associate professor in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of Utah, in the June 1989 issue of Sunstone Magazine.[16] Buchanan spoke about a "rendezvous at Comoro and Moroni" that Kidd had. Yet Kidd never set foot on Comore nor Moroni.

Years later, in a 2003 article, critic Ronald V. Huggins asserted that Captain Kidd was "hanged for crimes allegedly committed in the vicinity of Moroni on Grand Comoro."[17] Except he wasn't. Similarly, critic Jeremy T. Runnells claimed that Kidd "was...arrested for capturing a treasure ship called the 'Quedagh Merchant' in the Indian Ocean near the Comoros islands."[18] Except he wasn't even close to the Comoros. Kidd was charged with crimes/declared a pirate only after he seized the ship Quedagh Merchant on January 30, 1698. Recall that the seizing of the ship occurred along the western coast of India—over 3,000 miles away from the Comoros! Kidd and his crew spotted the ship about 25 leagues from Kochi. Kidd was hanged in 1701 in London for stealing the Quedagh Merchant and for murdering his ship's gunner, William Moore, during a mutiny which occurred around the same time as the seizure of the Quedagh Merchant. None of these actions was related to the city of Moroni or the Comoros generally. The association of these events with "Moroni on Grand Comoro" is an unsupported assertion by Huggins, and these specific names have nothing to do with Kidd's execution. This seems to be a stretching attempt by Huggins to tie Kidd's execution with Joseph Smith and Mormonism more closely. Huggins' other abuses of historical sources and problematic conclusions have been thoroughly exposed by historians Mark Ashurst-McGee and Larry E. Morris.[19] We've reviewed some of Huggins' claims here on the FAIR wiki.

Eleven years after Huggins, ex-Mormon critic Grant H. Palmer asserted in a 2014 article that Joseph Smith acquired the names "Cumorah" and "Moroni" by reading stories of Captain Kidd in his youth. Palmer concludes that it is "reasonable to assert that Joseph Smith's hill in the 'land of Camorah' [Comorah/Cumorah], 'city of Moroni,' and 'land of Moroni/Meroni,' is connected with the ilhas [islands] de Comoro/'Camora,' the Moroni/Meroni settlements, and these pirate adventures."[20] Similarly, critic Jeremy T. Runnells in the 2017 edition of his CES Letter claims that "'Camora' [Grand Comore] and settlement 'Moroni' were names in pirate and treasure hunting stories involving Captain William Kidd (a pirate and treasure hunter) which many 19th century New Englanders – especially treasure hunters – were familiar with."[21] But that's negligibly true. The primary inspiration for Captain Kidd stories and legends, Daniel Defoe's (aka Captain Charles Johnson) 1724 book A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates, mentions Grande Comore once and fails to mention "Moroni/Meroni/Maroni." Neither Grande Comore nor Meroni/Merone/Maroni are connected to Kidd. This is the case for both volumes of General History which can be read/checked online (Vol. 1

3. Are any maps or other sources containing the names Moroni, Meroni, Comoros, Camora, or Grande Comore known to have existed close to Joseph Smith?

Maps and other Sources that Contain the Names Moroni, Meroni, Comoros, Camora, or Grand Comore are not proximate to Joseph Smith

When popular maps and other contemporary sources related to Joseph Smith's translation of the Book of Mormon are examined, the possibility that Joseph saw Comoros and Moroni on these maps recedes, and the idea becomes less plausible.

One critic, Noel A. Carmack, took up an exhaustive searching of maps, gazetteers, and other sources proximate to Joseph Smith and observes "that [whether] Joseph Smith Jr. had pre-1830 knowledge of the East Indian Ocean pirate haunt ["pirate haunt" being a place pirates like to frequent habitually]—the Comoro Island group and its sultan town, Moroni—is difficult to conclusively determine." He further states that "[n]o extant pre-1830 chart or map shows Moroni as a place name on the larger island [of Grande Comore]."[13]:p. 130

Carmack does note that there is a 1778 map of Grande Comore (called "Comoro" in this map) with the town spelled as "Moroon" (hardly the kind of easy grab for Joseph Smith the critics want):

Figure 3. Carmack's caption reads: "Detail of inset map, 'Comoro the Highest Island', from A Chart of the Inner Passage between the Coast of Africa and the Isle of Madagascar, from Mr. D’Anville with Several Additions. In The Oriental
Pilot (1778) by R. Sayer and J. Bennett. Courtesy the Map Section at the National Library of Australia, Canberra, Australia."


There is also this detail map from 1774 with the names as "Comoro" and "Moroon":

Figure 4. Carmack's caption: "Detail of 'Plan of the w. side of Comoro or Anga-Zecha, showing 'AIngando,' (Itzanda), and 'Moroon' (Moroni), Alexander Sibbald, 1774, from Dalrymple's Charts (1807?). Courtesy the Map Section at the National Library of Australia, Canberra, Australia.


Are we really going to expect Joseph Smith to look at one of these two maps of one island, Comore, flip the name "Moroon" to become "Moroni", flip the name "Comoro" to "Cumorah", and stick it in the Book of Mormon? When there's one mention of Comore and no mention of Moroon in the source closest to him (General History)?

There is also this 1748 map done by French hydrographer Jacque-Nicolas Bellin of the island of Joanna with the names "Comore" and "Meroni" on it:

Figure 5. Carmack's caption: "Full map, Carte de l’Isle d’Anjouan, by
Jacque-Nicolas Bellin. Courtesy the author’s collection."


Figure 6. Carmack's caption: "Detail of map, Carte de l’Isle d’Anjouan, Une des
Isles de Comore par le Cape Cornwal, from Abbé Prévost’s sixteen-volume
Histoire Générale des Voyages (1748) by Jacque-Nicolas Bellin. Courtesy the
author’s collection."


A 1752 version of the same map has the name spelled as "Merone":

Figure 7. 1752 version of Bellin map.


A map from 1745–47 of Anjouan also contains the names "Komoro" and "Meroni":

Figure 8. Carmack's caption: "Detail of map, Johanna, or Anjuan, One of the
Komoro Islands by Cap. Cornwall, from Green and Astley’s A New Collection of
Voyages and Travels (1745–47). Courtesy the Map Section at the National
Library of Australia, Canberra, Australia."


But are we really going to expect that Joseph Smith is going to look at one of these three maps of one island, two of which are in French (and by which reason there's little motivation for Joseph to seek these maps out), spin the tiny port town "Meroni" and "Comore" to become "Moroni" and "Cumorah", and stick them in the Book of Mormon? When there's relatively little mention of Joanna (and especially in transitory contexts) and no mention of Meroni in the Captain Kidd stories? Why doesn't Joseph Smith look at a globe or other global map? Why a map as specific as one of these?

This is the closest anyone has come to date in placing potential inspiration for both Moroni and Cumorah in the same source.

4. Could Joseph Smith have gotten the names Moroni and Cumorah from local American whalers?

This is just an argument from silence

Figure 9. Imaginative
drawing of Captain William
Kidd burying treasure.

There is another speculation put forth by critics regarding how Joseph Smith might have heard the names "Moroni" and "Cumorah" that is not related to Captain Kidd. The assumption made on one website is that he "heard about these exotic places from stories of American whalers."[22] The website notes, "The Comoro islands were visited by a large number of American whaling ships beginning before the appearance of The Book of Mormon. Sailors aboard these ships, when they returned to the whaling ports of New England, told of their adventures in the western Indian Ocean. By the time The Book of Mormon first appeared in the 1820s, both Moroni and Comoro were words known to some Americans living in the eastern United States."[22] One would have to assume, however, that Joseph came into contact with "some Americans living in the eastern United States" who were familiar with the names. Critics have posited that there may be such a connection with Solomon Mack, Joseph's grandfather and "a retired sea captain...who plied the same New England waters once haunted by Kidd[.]"[15]:p. 185n53. See also pp. 50–51 therein. Evidence for this, however, is lacking. This "connection" is based on pure conjecture. Given that the stories regarding Kidd mention "Comaro" once and never mention "Moroni" nor "Meroni", how would Solomon Mack even learn the names (or close enough matches that could become the names) "Cumorah" and "Moroni"?

What makes the theory especially lacking in the author's view is that if we're looking for words that are spelled and pronounced roughly the same that Joseph Smith could have cribbed from, we can eventually find what we're looking for, and it would have no bearing on the Book of Mormon's authenticity. To demonstrate, consider an experiment done by David Snell, a Latter-day Saint and host of the Faith and Beliefs segment of the YouTube show Saints Unscripted. Snell made up several names that sounded like Book of Mormon names and picked a random state in the United States: Kentucky. Next, Snell searched for place names in Kentucky that sounded like his made-up Book of Mormon-sounding names. He found matches or near matches for three of his five made-up names. His experiment begins at 4:20 of the video below:

Load video
YouTube


Snell aptly demonstrates the fallacies that critics commit when making the Captain Kidd argument against the Book of Mormon.

5. What about "Cumorah" being spelled "Camorah" in the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon?

The Original Manuscript and the Printer's Manuscript of the Book of Mormon Undermine this Claim

To more closely associate the Book of Mormon with the Comoros Islands, Grant Palmer and other critics note that "Cumorah" is spelled "Camorah" in the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon. Both Palmer and Jeremy Runnells claim that "[p]rior to its French occupation in 1841, the islands were known by its Arabic name, 'Camora.'"[21] The name "Cumorah" figures 9 times in the Book of Mormon text, all within the book of Mormon.

The first thing to note is that the spelling of Grande Comore as "Camora" does not appear in any source that the author has been able to locate. Both Grant Palmer and Jeremy Runnells inaccurately identify an 1808 map of the Comoros as calling the group of islands "Camora." The following screenshot is from Runnells' CES Letter:

Figure 10. CES Letter (2017 edition), pg. 15. Jeremy Runnells' inaccurate claim(s)
that this 1808 map refers to all the Comoros Islands as "Camora."


One will see two things. First, Runnells wrongly claims that "Camora" on the map refers to all the Comoros Islands when it actually refers only to Grande Comore. As evidence, one can see that the islands of Mohilla and Johanna are also mentioned. Mayotta is not mentioned. Second, you'll see that the name here is "Comora" rather than "Camora" as Runnells wrongly claims. For example, compare the "o" in "Comora" on the map above with the "o" of "Mohilla" and the "a" of "Joanno" just below and to the right of Mohilla for evidence that the map indeed says "Comora." So, even with the uniform spelling of Cumorah as "Camorah" in the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon, there is little likelihood that Joseph Smith or Oliver Cowdery cribbed the name from maps of the Comoros.


Figure 11. 1830 Book of Mormon showing the spelling "Camorah"


But pursuing this further, Oliver Cowdery stated that "Camorah" was a spelling error in the July 1835 issue of the Latter Day Saint's Messenger and Advocate. Oliver Cowdery states:

By turning to the 529th and 530th pages of the book of Mormon you will read Mormon's account of the last great struggle of his people, as they were encamped round this hill Cumorah. (It is printed Camorah, which is an error.)

This assertion from Oliver matches evidence from the Printer's Manuscript of the Book of Mormon where the name is spelled "Camorah" once, "Cumorah" seven times, and "Comorah" twice.[23] The portion of the Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon containing the book of Mormon is no longer extant. There were three scribes for the Printer's Manuscript: Oliver Cowdery, an unknown scribe, and Hyrum Smith.[24] The unknown scribe is the one who copied this portion of the book of Mormon from the Original Manuscript to the Printer's Manuscript. This unknown scribe may have been Martin Harris.[25] Royal Skousen argues persuasively that Oliver Cowdery likely meant to spell it "Cumorah" all nine times in the original manuscript and that Harris (when copying the original manuscript to the printer's manuscript) and the typesetter for the Book of Mormon, John Gilbert (when setting the type for the Book of Mormon), thought that some of Cowdery's uses of the letter "u" looked like uses of the letter "o" and "a." Cowdery also sometimes actually did write the wrong letter.[26] These may be the result of Oliver mishearing the pronunciation of Book of Mormon names by Joseph Smith as he dictated the text of the Book of Mormon.

Further, the use of "Cumorah" brings the name into greater parallel with other names in the Book of Mormon, including:

  • CUMENI
  • CUMENIHAH
  • CUMOMS
  • KISHKUMEN
  • KUMEN
  • KUMENONHI
  • PACUMENI
  • RIPLIANCUM
  • TEANCUM

We don't have a Book of Mormon name that includes "cam" or "kam" in its spelling.

There are "com" names in the Book of Mormon, such as:

  • COM
  • COMNOR
  • JACOM

We have plenty of evidence of the islands in general and/or Grande Comore in particular being referred to as Comora, Comoro, Comore, Comoros, etc. However, the textual evidence documented by Royal Skousen above suggests that the name was intentionally spelled Comorah (or something close to it) first and then changed later to Cumorah.

In each of the above scenarios and with each piece of supposed evidence used, the critics commit the fallacy of appeal to probability (discussed on the linked page) while trying to establish their arguments. Additionally, the probability has receded significantly that Joseph Smith cribbed these names when examining the evidence that the critics use to develop the likelihood.

6. Have faithful Latter-day Saint scholars found the Captain Kidd theory plausible?

No, there is no evidence that faithful Latter-day Saint scholars have found the Captain Kidd theory plausible

In his 2014 "debunking" of FAIR's response to the 2013 edition of the CES Letter, Jeremy T. Runnells claimed that "[f]or some Mormon apologists, the evidence is so compelling [that Captain Kidd stories influenced these names] that they have suggested that Lehi and his family may have encountered the Comoros islands on their initial voyage from the Arabian Peninsula to the western hemisphere, and that the Nephite civilization therefore may have retained a collective knowledge of the names of 'Comoros' and 'Moroni'."[27]

Runnells relied on a Wikipedia article that at one point stated the following to make his claim:

Alternative origin of the name

Close-up of 1808 map of Africa with the small Comoros islands labelled "Camora" (near center, just below marked line of latitude) [NOTE from author of this FAIR article: this map is shown above. The Wikipedia editor also wrongly claims that it says "Camora"]

Grant H. Palmer has theorized that Smith created the name "Cumorah" through his study of the treasure-hunting stories of Captain William Kidd, because Kidd was said to have buried treasure in the Comoros islands (known by the Arabic name, Camora, prior to being occupied by the French in 1841). Previous to announcing his discovery of the Book of Mormon, Smith had spent several years employed as a treasure seeker. Since the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon printed the name "Cumorah" as "Camorah," it has been suggested that Smith used the name of the islands and applied it to the hill where he found buried treasure—the golden plates. Complementing this proposal is the theory that Smith borrowed the name of a settlement in the Comoros—Moroni—and applied it to the angel which led him to the golden plates.

Others posit that this line of argument commits the logical error of appeal to probability. They also point out that it is highly unlikely that Smith had access to material which would have referred to the then-small settlement of Moroni, particularly since it did not appear in most contemporary gazetteers. However, other Mormon authors have suggested that the ancestors of the Nephite people may have encountered the Comoros islands on their initial voyage from the Arabian Peninsula to the western hemisphere, and that the Nephite civilization therefore may have retained a collective knowledge of the names "Comoros" and "Moroni."[28]

Notice the unusual language in the Wikipedia article, which suggests that Mormon authors accept the Captain Kidd theories. We go to the footnote for more information, which reads:

One Mormon author suggests that Lehi and his family may have re-supplied at Moroni during the voyage: W. Vincent Coon, Choice Above All Other Lands, pg. 68; see also “How Exaggerated Setting for the Book of Mormon Came to Pass” and “A Feasible Voyage." This position reflects the argument of others that the tradition that Lehi and his company voyaged across the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and finally the Pacific Ocean is "extreme" and non-authoritative: May, Wayne N., THIS LAND: They Came from the East, Vol. 3, pp. 12–15; Olive, P.C., The Lost Empires & Vanished Races of Prehistoric America, p. 39.[28]

The first thing we can rule out with all confidence is that Coon has connected the Captain Kidd stories to the Book of Mormon. He's still faithful, so he's not going to believe that Joseph plagiarized the stories to create the Book of Mormon. The next thing we need to learn is why some believe that the "tradition that Lehi and his company voyaged across the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and finally the Pacific Ocean is 'extreme' and non-authoritative." W. Vincent Coon is a hobbyist researcher of the Book of Mormon who believes that the Book of Mormon took place in the Heartland Geography (which encompasses primarily the Eastern to Mid United States). He was trying to find evidence that the Lehites were able to sail southward, away from the Arabian peninsula, around Africa, and then come from the east, through the Atlantic Ocean, to the Florida Peninsula or another area along the eastern seaboard of the United States. He used this as evidence of that assertion. He, like the other Heartland theorists mentioned in the Wikipedia quote, was trying to argue against Limited Geography Theories of Book of Mormon geography that place the Book of Mormon somewhere on the west side of the North American continent. Here's every source cited by Wikipedia that supposedly connects Coon to the Captain Kidd theory and what he actually said about the Comoros:

Source Quote
W. Vincent Coon, Choice Above All Other Lands, pg. 68 [p. 64 in e-book] After sailing more than 2,400 miles from Arabia, one of the first places Lehi’s family could have re-supplied, is the isle of Grande Comore, 200 miles off the eastern shore of Africa. The capital port city of Grande Comore, incidentally, has a Semitic name – “Moroni." Evidence shows that other groups of Israelites, leaving Jerusalem, sailed with the currents and seasonal winds from the southern coast of Arabia to the coast of Africa. (“Quest for the Lost Ark”, History Channel documentary, A&E Television Networks, 2007)
“How Exaggerated Setting for the Book of Mormon Came to Pass” One possible location where they may have re-supplied is the island of Grand Comore; about 200 miles off the eastern coast of Africa. The capitol port city of the island, by the way, has a Semitic name – "Moroni."
A More Feasible Voyage After sailing more than 2,400 miles from Arabia, one of the first places that Lehi's family could have re-supplied is the isle of Grande Comore, 200 miles off the eastern shore of Africa. The capital port city of Grande Comore, incidentally, has a Semitic name – "Moroni."

There's nothing here that suggests that either Coon is familiar with the Captain Kidd story or that he found it compelling. These sources only mention that there is a city, in Comore, with the name Moroni. Even if Coon is familiar with the Captain Kidd theory, he only says that Lehi and his family "may" have resupplied at Comore. Not that they positively did. Runnells seriously misread his source. This misreading was almost certainly deliberate.

Notes (click to expand)
Back to Top
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Mary Ann, "The Telephone Game: Evolving Misinformation Connecting Joseph Smith, Captain Kidd, and the Comoro Islands," Wheat and Tares, May 27, 2017, https://wheatandtares.org/2017/05/27/the-telephone-game-evolving-misinformation-about-joseph-smith-captain-kidd-and-the-comoro-islands/.
  2. ↑ "Pirate Round," Wikipedia, accessed January 25, 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Round.
  3. ↑ Charles Johnson, A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates (London: C. Rivington, 1724), 2:70. The second edition of same year is A General History of the Pyrates: from their first rise and settlement in the Island of Providence, to the present time, The second edition with considerable additions (London: T. Warner, 1724). This second edition contains no mention of Kidd.
  4. ↑ Jeremy Runnells, "Debunking FairMormon, 2014"
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Pomeroy Tucker, Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1867).
  6. ↑ Jeremy T. Runnells, CES Letter: My Search for Answers to My Mormon Doubts (n.p.: CES Letter Foundation, 2017), 16 argues that "Some apologists say that Tucker’s Mormonism: Its Origin, Rise, and Progress is “antiMormon” and thus anything in the book cannot be trusted. If this is true, why then did LDS scholar and Church History compiler B.H. Roberts quote Tucker for background information on Joseph Smith? Also, FairMormon has an article in which they quote Tucker’s book 4 times as support for Joseph, and they even refer to Tucker as an “eyewitness” to Joseph and his family. Is Tucker’s peripheral information only useful and accurate when it shows Joseph and the Church in a positive and favorable light?" It should be noted that the article Runnells links to is done by one author for one paper, and that the author only used Tucker to establish basic details about Joseph's life and not those that are contested, i.e. those for which critics and believers may be more biased about.
  7. ↑ Edmund C. Briggs, “A Visit to Nauvoo in 1856,” Journal of History 9 (October 1916): 454; transcribed in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820–1844, ed. John Welch with Erick B. Carlson (Salt Lake City/Provo, UT: Deseret Book and BYU Press, 2005), 129 (document 38). Briggs also related this story as an aside in “Interview with David Whitmer,” Saints’ Herald 31 (June 21, 1884): 396–397; quoted in Welch, “The Miraculous Translation of the Book of Mormon,” in Opening the Heavens, 106 n.23..
  8. ↑ Joseph Smith III, "Last Testimony of Sister Emma," The Saints' Herald 26, no. 19 (October 1879): 290.
  9. ↑ Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet and His Progenitors for Many Generations (1853; repr. 1995), 84. Cited in Richard Lloyd Anderson, "The Early Preparation of the Prophet Joseph Smith," Ensign 35, no. 12 (December 2005).
  10. ↑ "Money digging," Wayne Sentinel 2, no. 21 (February 1825).
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 5 vols. (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1996–2003).
  12. ↑ Another source also states that Joseph Smith Sr. looked for Captain Kidd's treasure. See Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:624–25.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Noel A. Carmack, "Joseph Smith, Captain Kidd Lore, and Treasure-Seeking in New York and New England during the Early Republic," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 46, no. 3 (Fall 2013): 78–153.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 James Harrison Kennedy, Early Days of Mormonism: Palmyra, Kirtland, and Nauvoo (New York: Charles Scribener's Sons, 1888). As cited in Van Wagoner, Natural Born Seer, 185n53.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Richard S. Van Wagoner, Natural Born Seer: Joseph Smith, American Prophet, 1805–1830 (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2016).
  16. ↑ Fred Buchanan, "Perilous Ponderings," Sunstone 13, no. 3 (June 1989): 7–9.
  17. ↑ Ronald V. Huggins, "From Captain Kidd's Treasure Ghost to Angel Moroni: Changing Dramatis Personae in Early Mormonism," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 36, no. 4 (2003): 17–42.
  18. ↑ Jeremy Runnells, "Debunking FairMormon", 2014.
  19. ↑ Mark Ashurst-McGee, "Moroni as Angel and as Treasure Guardian," The FARMS Review 18, no. 1 (2006): 34–100; Larry E. Morris, "'I Should Have an Eye Single to the Glory of God': Joseph Smith's Account of the Angel and the Plates," The FARMS Review 17, no. 1 (2005): 11–81.
  20. ↑ Grant Palmer, "Joseph Smith, Captain Kidd, Cumorah, and Moroni," John Whitmer Historical Association vol. 34 no. 1 (Spring/Summer 2014): 50—57.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Jeremy T. Runnells, CES Letter: My Search for Answers to my Mormon Doubts (n.p.: CES Letter Foundation, 2017), 15.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Martin and Harriet Ottenheimer, "COMORO ISLANDS" (website) off-site
  23. ↑ See here for the listings and the manuscript listed on the Joseph Smith Papers website for confirmation of this.
  24. ↑ Royal Skousen, Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part 1 (Provo, UT: FARMS, 2014), 21.
  25. ↑ Royal Skousen, “Oliver Cowdery as Book of Mormon Scribe,” in Days Never to Be Forgotten: Oliver Cowdery, ed. Alexander L. Baugh (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2009), 53.
  26. ↑ Royal Skousen, Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part 6 (Provo, UT: FARMS, 2009), 3636–38.
  27. ↑ See Jeremy Runnells "Debunking FairMormon; July 2014 Revision"
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 "Cumorah - Alternative origin of the name," Wikipedia, accessed December 29, 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumorah#Alternative_origin_of_the_name.


"'View of the Hebrews' compared to the Book of Mormon"

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View of the Hebrews and the Book of Mormon

Summary: One of the longest-running naturalistic theories of Book of Mormon authorship proposes that Joseph Smith drew heavily from the 1823 book View of the Hebrews, written by Ethan Smith. The theory gained prominence because both books discuss Israelites in the Americas and contain certain broad thematic similarities. However, the evidence for direct borrowing is weak, and the differences between the two books outweigh the similarities.

Could Joseph Smith have used Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews as a guideline for creating the Book of Mormon?

Book of Mormon Central, KnoWhy #502: Is the Book of Mormon Like Any Other Nineteenth Century Book? (Video)

Criticisms related to View of the Hebrews and the Book of Mormon

  • It is claimed that a 19th century work by Ethan Smith, View of the Hebrews, provided source material for Joseph Smith's construction of the Book of Mormon.
  • Some also postulate a link between Ethan Smith and Oliver Cowdery, since both men lived in Poultney, Vermont while Smith served as the pastor of the church that Oliver Cowdery's family attended at the time that View of the Hebrews was being written.

Many of the criticisms proposed are based upon B. H. Roberts' list of parallels, which only had validity if one applied a hemispheric geography model to the Book of Mormon

The View of the Hebrews theory is yet another attempt to fit a secular origin to the Book of Mormon. Many of the criticisms proposed are based upon B. H. Roberts' list of parallels, which only had validity if one applied a hemispheric geography model to the Book of Mormon. There are a significant number of differences between the two books, which are easily discovered upon reading Ethan Smith's work. Many points that Ethan Smith thought were important are not mentioned at all in the Book of Mormon, and many of the "parallels" are no longer valid based upon current scholarship.[1]

Advocates of the Ethan Smith theory must also explain why Joseph, the ostensible forger, had the chutzpah to point out the source of his forgery. They must also explain why, if Joseph found this evidence so compelling, he did not exploit it for use in the Book of Mormon text itself, since the Book of Mormon contains no reference to the many "unparallels" that Ethan assured his readers virtually guaranteed a Hebrew connection to the Amerindians.

Was the View of the Hebrews theory of Book of Mormon origin advanced during the lifetime of Joseph Smith?

The theory the Joseph Smith plagiarized View of the Hebrews was never advanced during Joseph Smith's lifetime

The theory the Joseph Smith plagiarized View of the Hebrews was never advanced during his lifetime. The prevailing theory of the day was the Spalding Theory, which quickly lost credibility upon the discovery of an actual Spalding manuscript in 1884 which bore no resemblance to the Book of Mormon. There are no records which indicate that Joseph Smith came into contact with the View of the Hebrews during the period of time that he was translating the Book of Mormon. The View of the Hebrews theory was in fact first proposed by I. Woodbridge Riley in 1902, 58 years after the death of the prophet.[2]

Joseph Smith quoted View of the Hebrews as supporting the Book of Mormon

There was, however, a reference to View of the Hebrews within Joseph Smith's lifetime, but it came from the prophet himself. In an article published in the Times and Seasons on June 1, 1842, Joseph quoted View of the Hebrews in support of the Book of Mormon:

If such may have been the fact, that a part of the Ten Tribes came over to America, in the way we have supposed, leaving the cold regions of Assareth behind them in quest of a milder climate, it would be natural to look for tokens of the presence of Jews of some sort, along countries adjacent to the Atlantic. In order to this, we shall here make an extract from an able work: written exclusively on the subject of the Ten Tribes having come from Asia by the way of Bherings Strait, by the Rev. Ethan Smith, Pultney, Vt., who relates as follows: "Joseph Merrick, Esq., a highly respectable character in the church at Pittsfield, gave the following account: That in 1815, he was leveling some ground under and near an old wood shed, standing on a place of his, situated on (Indian Hill)... [Joseph then discusses the supposed phylacteries found among Amerindians, citing View of the Hebrews p. 220, 223.][3]

It strains credulity to claim that Joseph drew attention to the work from which he derived most of his ideas. Why would he call attention to the source of his forgery?

What did B.H. Roberts say about View of the Hebrews and the Book of Mormon?

B.H. Roberts was playing "devil's advocate" when he examined View of the Hebrews, and showing what a critic might do

Main article:B.H. Roberts and Studies of the Book of Mormon

The View of the Hebrews theory was examined in detail by B. H. Roberts in 1921 and 1922. Roberts took the position of examining the Book of Mormon from a critical perspective in order to alert the General Authorities to possible future avenues of attack by critics. The resulting manuscripts were titled Book of Mormon Difficulties and A Parallel. Roberts, who believed in a hemispheric geography for the Book of Mormon, highlighted a number of parallels between View of the Hebrews and The Book of Mormon. Roberts stated,

[C]ould the people of Mulek and of Lehi...part of the time numbering and occupying the land at least from Yucatan to Cumorah...live and move and have their being in the land of America and not come in contact with other races and tribes of men, if such existed in the New World within Book of Mormon times? To make this seem possible the area occupied by the Nephites and Lamanites would have to be extremely limited, much more limited, I fear, than the Book of Mormon would admit our assuming.[4]

Roberts concluded that, if one assumed that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon himself, that View of the Hebrews could have provided him with a foundation for creating the book. In fact, many of the issues highlighted by Roberts vanish when a limited geography theory is considered. The acceptance of the View of the Hebrews theory is therefore contingent upon the acceptance of a hemispheric geography model for the Book of Mormon. In order to promote View of the Hebrews as a source, critics necessarily reject any limited geography theory proposal for the Book of Mormon.

Roberts rejected the idea that the Book of Mormon was not divine

In 1985, Roberts' manuscripts were published under the title Studies of the Book of Mormon. This book is used by critics to support their claim that B. H. Roberts lost his testimony after performing the study. Roberts, however, clearly continued to publicly support the Book of Mormon until his death, and reaffirmed his testimony both publicly and in print.

What are the similarities and differences between View of the Hebrews and the Book of Mormon?

Examples of parallels and differences

Some parallels do exist between the two books. For example, View of the Hebrews postulates the existence of a civilized and a barbarous nation who were constantly at war with one another, with the civilized society eventually being destroyed by their uncivilized brethren. This has obvious similarities to the story of the Nephites and the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon.

"Parallels" that actually aren't parallels

Many of the "parallels" that are discussed are not actually parallels at all once they are fully examined:

Both speak of... View of the Hebrews Book of Mormon
...the destruction of Jerusalem... ...by the Romans in A.D. 70. ...by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.
...Israelites coming to the American continent... ...via dry land across the Bering Strait. ...via the ocean on board a ship.
...colonists spread out to fill the entire land... ...from the North to the South. ...from the South to the North.
...a great lawgiver (whom some assume to be associated with the legend of Quetzalcoatl)... ...who is identified as Moses. ...who is identified as Jesus Christ.
...an ancient book that was preserved for a long time and then buried... ...because they had lost the knowledge of reading it and it would be of no further use to them. [5] ...in order to preserve the writings of prophets for future generations.
...a buried book taken from the earth... ...in the form of four, dark yellow, folded leaves of old parchment.[6] ...in the form of a set of gold metal plates.
...the Egyptian language, since ...an Egyptian influence is present in hieroglyphic paintings made by native Americans.[7] ...a reformed Egyptian was used to record a sacred history.

Parallels that are everywhere

Some "parallels" between the Book of Mormon and View of the Hebrews are actually parallels with the Bible as well:

The Book of Mormon View of the Hebrews The King James Bible
The Book of Mormon tells the story of inspired seers and prophets. View of the Hebrews talks of Indian traditions that state that their fathers were able to foretell the future and control nature. The Bible tells the story of inspired seers and prophets.
The Book of Mormon was translated by means of the Nephite interpreters, which consisted of two stones fastened to a breastplate, and later by means of a seer stone, both of which were later referred to by the name "Urim and Thummim" three years after the translation was completed. View of the Hebrews describes a breastplate with two white buttons fastened to it as resembling the Urim and Thummim. The Bible describes the Urim and Thummim as being fastened to a breastplate (Exodus 28:30).

This highlights the fact that general parallels are likely to be found between works that treat the same types of subjects, such as ancient history. In what ancient conflict did one side not see themselves as representing light and civilization against the dark barbarism of their enemies?

"Unparallels"

Critics generally ignore the presence of many "unparallels"—these are elements of Ethan Smith's book which would have provided a rich source of material for Joseph to use in order to persuade his contemporaries that the Book of Mormon was an ancient history of the American Indians, and that they were descended from Israel. Yet, the Book of Mormon consistently ignores such supposed "bulls-eyes," which is good news for proponents of the Book of Mormon's authenticity, since virtually all of Ethan's "evidences" have been judged to be false or misleading.

The lack of such "unparallels" is bad news, however, for anyone wanting to claim that Joseph got his inspiration or information from Ethan Smith.

Main article: "Unparallels": superficially-appealing evidence from View of the Hebrews that the Book of Mormon ignores

Scripture use in View of the Hebrews and the Book of Mormon

If the View of the Hebrews served as the basis for the Book of Mormon, one would think that the Bible scriptures used by Ethan Smith would be mined by Joseph Smith for the Book of Mormon. Yet, this is not the case.

Main articles: Analysis of Isaiah scriptures used in Book of Mormon and View of the Hebrews and Analysis of non-Isaiah scriptures used in Book of Mormon and View of the Hebrews

Why was this only discovered later?

No contemporary critic of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon pointed out the supposedly "obvious" connection to the View of the Hebrews and the Book of Mormon. It is only with the failure of the Spaulding theory that critics began seeking a new naturalistic explanation for Joseph's production of a 500+ book of scripture. As Stephen Ricks notes:

Beyond these "unparallels," there is a further question that must be answered by proponents of the View of the Hebrews hypothesis: why do none of the early critics of the Book of Mormon mention Ethan Smith in their attacks on it? If the parallels are so evident, why weren't they noticed by individuals who were not only acquainted with Ethan Smith's book, but were also existentially interested in its claims? Why wasn't it prominently mentioned as a source for the Book of Mormon until the beginning of the twentieth century, when the book itself had only an antiquarian interest and its contents were no longer so widely a part of popular discussion? My suspicion is that what appear today to be "distinctives" of View of the Hebrews, eschatological and otherwise, seemed less so in the early part of the nineteenth century, when these ideas flowed freely in published and unpublished forums.[8]

Has the book View of the Hebrews been readily available?

Because availability was limited, BYU's Religious Studies Center re-published the 1825 edition of View of the Hebrews in 1996

The View of the Hebrews theory became more popular as the availability of the book itself diminished. The best evidence that argues against View of the Hebrews as the primary source for the Book of Mormon is a reading of the text itself, yet the ability to access that text had become more difficult over the years. In order to provide the interested reader with the ability to decide for themselves, BYU's Religious Studies Center re-published the 1825 edition of View of the Hebrews in 1996.[9] It is also available at wikisource.

Is there a link between Ethan Smith, author of View of the Hebrews, and Oliver Cowdery?

Both Ethan Smith and Oliver Cowdery lived in Poultney, Vermont while Smith served as the pastor of the church that Oliver Cowdery's family attended

Critics postulate a link between Ethan Smith and Oliver Cowdery, since both men lived in Poultney, Vermont while Smith served as the pastor of the church that Oliver Cowdery's family attended at the time that View of the Hebrews was being written. Beyond speculation based upon this circumstantial evidence, there is no indication of a connection between View of the Hebrews, Oliver Cowdery, and the Book of Mormon.

This article from BYU Studies shows that the type of connection that critics align with Oliver and Ethan almost certainly did not exist.

Testimony from Lorenzo Saunders

At least one critic has attempted to place Oliver Cowdery on the Joseph Smith farm beginning in 1826 based on the testimony of one Lorenzo Saunders to strengthen the supposed connection between Ethan Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and the origins of the Book of Mormon.[10] Dan Vogel writes:

On 19 Janaury 1885, Thomas Gregg of Hamilton, Hancock County, Illinois, wrote to Lorenzo Saunders living near Reading, Michigan, requesting information about Mormon origins. Gregg's letter, as reproduced by Charles A. Shook reads as follows:

Charles A. Shook wrote an expose of Mormonism in 1914 called The True Origin Of The Book of Mormon. He quoted this letter from Lorenzo (brother-in-law to Sally and Willard Chase —the same Chases who had trouble with Joseph) as a means of placing Oliver close to Joseph Smith in years before the publication of the Book of Mormon. However, as Vogel himself writes as commentary in a footnote to this letter:

4. Saunders' claim that Cowdery first came to Palmyra and Manchester in the summer of 1826 is not corroborated in any other source. However, it is known that Cowdery's brother Lyman was in the area as early as 1825 and possibly taught school in Manchester prior to Oliver's arrival for the 1828-1829 winter term. This is another example of Saunders' tendency to remember things in conformity with the demands of his interviewers, which should be considered when assessing his statements regarding Rigdon's appearances in the Palmyra/Manchester area (see note 10 below).[11]

Thus we have:

  1. A late source as the letter comes a little more than 5 decades after Saunders was supposed to have seen Saunders on the farm.
  2. A biased source as Thomas Gregg was an avid Spaulding theorist and Saunders was certainly no friend to Joseph.
  3. A more than plausible alternative for this supposed presence of Oliver on the Smith farm in 1826 which Saunders can easily misremember or remember in conformity with the demands of the situation which, as Vogel notes, is something he was wont to do.

This source is nearly worthless in establishing anything of value in the historical record. Any claims of the evidence being "inconclusive" for Oliver's presence on the Smith farm or meeting Joseph before 1829 based upon this source are of the the same value.

What "non-parallels" are apparent in a comparison of View of the Hebrews and the Book of Mormon?

There are many elements of Ethan Smith's book which would have provided a rich source of material for Joseph Smith, but he didn't use them

Critics generally ignore the presence of many "unparallels"—these are elements of Ethan Smith's book which would have provided a rich source of material for Joseph to use in order to persuade his contemporaries that the Book of Mormon was an ancient history of the American Indians, and that they were descended from Israel. Yet, the Book of Mormon consistently ignores such supposed "bulls-eyes," which is good news for proponents of the Book of Mormon's authenticity, since virtually all of Ethan's "evidences" have been judged to be false or misleading. The lack of such parallels is bad news, however, for anyone wanting to claim that Joseph got his inspiration or information from Ethan Smith. Some examples follow:

Hebrew Evidence View of the Hebrews claim (not present in Book of Mormon)

No revelation?
  • "We are to expect no new revelation from heaven. And the days of miracles are thought to be past" (127).
  • View of the Hebrews denies new revelation or miracles. The Book of Mormon was emphatically a new revelation, and it insists that miracles continue today (Mormon 9꞉7-20).

Ark of the covenant
  • "The Indians have had their imitation of the ark of the covenant in ancient Israel" (68).
  • "we have an account that the Shawano Indians in an excursion captured the Indian warrior called Old Scranny, of the Muskhoge tribe, and condemned him to a fiery torture. He told them the occasion of his falling into their hands was, he had forfeited the protection of the Divine Power by some impurity or other, when carrying the holy ark of war against his devoted enemy" (121).
  • The Book of Mormon never mentions the ark of the covenant, or anything like it. (The only reference to "ark" is to Noah's ark—Ether 6꞉7.)

Circumcision
  • "The American Indians have practised circumcision" (69).
  • The pre-Christian Book of Mormon peoples never mention circumcision, much less emphasize it as a vital rite (Moroni 8꞉8 notes its passing).
  • Why did not Joseph emphasize this supposed parallel with the Amerindians?

Fire god conflated with Israel's god
  • ""The Indians have had much of an apprehension that their one Great Spirit had a great affinity to fire. And the Peruvians, it seems, went so far as to embody him in the sun. Here seems a shred of mixture of the Persian idolatry, with the theocracy of Israel. As the more ancient Israelites caught a degree of the idolatrous distemper of Egypt, as appears in their golden calf; so the ten tribes, the time they resided in Media, and before they set off for America, may have blended some idea of fire with their one God" (72).
  • The Book of Mormon never mentions fire or sun worship, despite it being a known part of pre-Columbian religion.

Indians used Hebrew terms
  • "In their sacred dances, these authors assure us the Indians sing "Halleluyah Yohewah;"—praise to Jah Jehovah. When they return victorious from their wars, they sing, Yo-he-wah; having been by tradition taught to ascribe the praise to God.
"The same authors assure us, the Indians make great use of initials of the mysterious name of God, like the tetragrammaton of the ancient Hebrews; or the four radical letters which form the name of Jehovah; as the Indians pronounce thus, Y-O-He-wah. That like the ancient Hebrews, they are cautious of mentioning these together, or at once. They sing and repeat the syllables of this name in their sacred dances thus; Yo-yo, or ho-ho-he-he-wah-wah. Mr. Adair upon the same, says; "After this they begin again; Hal-hal-le-le-lu-lu-yahyah. And frequently the whole train strike up, hallelu-halleluhalleluyah- halleluyah." They frequently sing the name of Shilu (Shilo, Christ) with the syllables of the name of God added; thus, "Shilu-yo-Shilu-yo-Shilu-he-Shilu-he-Shilu-wah-Shilu-wah." Thus adding to the name of Shilu, the name of Jehovah by its sacred syllables. Things like these have been found among Indians of different regions of America" (72).
"He says the general name of all their priestly [113] order is Ishtoallo. And the name of the high priest's waiter is Sagan. Mr. Faber (remarking upon this) thinks the former word is a corruption of Ish-da-eloah, a man of God; see original of 2 Kings, iv. 21,22, 25, 27, 40, and other places. And of the latter word he says, "Sagan is the very name by which the Hebrews called the deputy of the high priest, who supplied his office, and who performed the functions of it in the absence of the high priest. See Calmet's Dict, vox Sagan.'"
"Here then is evidence to our purpose, that those Indians should call their order of priests, and the high priest's waiter, by those ancient Hebrew names of a man of God, and a deputy of the high priest. How could these events have occurred, had not those natives been Hebrew, and brought down these names by Hebrew tradition?" (112–113)
  • The Book of Mormon never mentions the use of such terms as "Shilo[h]" or "Hallelujah." It gives no names of priests or priestly orders.
  • The name "Jehovah" is only used in the last verse of the Book of Mormon, and in a citation from Isaiah.

Language affinities
  • Ethan Smith claimed that a number of Indian words were evidence that their language was connected with Hebrew. The Book of Mormon relies on nothing like this.
  • Click here (bottom) and here (top) to see the language lists.

Tribal totems
  • VoH claims that the Amerindian tribes use animal emblems which recall Jacob's blessing to his twelve sons:
The Indians being in tribes, with their heads and names of tribes, affords further light upon this subject. The Hebrews not only had their tribes, and heads of tribes, as have the Indians; but they had their animal emblems of their tribes. Dan's emblem was a serpent; Issachar's an ass; Benjamin's a wolf; and Judah's a lion. And this trait of character is not wanting among the natives of this land. They have their wolf tribe; their tiger tribe; panther tribe; buffalo tribe; bear tribe; deer tribe; raccoon tribe; eagle tribe; and many others. What other nation on earth bears any resemblance to this? Here, no doubt, is Hebrew tradition.
Various of the emblems given in Jacob's last blessing, have been strikingly fulfilled in the American Indians. "Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that the rider shall fall backwards. Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey; and at night he shall divide the spoil" [Gen 49:17, 27]. Had the prophetic eye rested on the American aborigines, it seems as though no picture could have been more accurate" (81, italics removed).
  • The Book of Mormon makes no mention of Jacob's prophecy, such tribal characteristics, or totem or tribal signs of this type. Yet another dramatic evidence, well-known to Americans on the frontier, was ignored.

Cities of refuge
  • "Their having an imitation of the ancient city of refuge, evinces the truth of our subject" (81).
  • No cities of refuge are described in the Book of Mormon, nor does Nephite law mention the right of refuge.

Passover
  • "The Hebrews were commanded to eat their passover with bitter herbs; Exod. xii. 8. The Indians have a notable custom of purifying themselves with bitter herbs and roots. Describing one of their feasts, the writer says, "At the end of the notable dance, the old beloved women return home to hasten the feast. In the mean time every one at the temple drinks plentifully of the Cussena, and other bitter liquids, to cleanse their sinful bodies, as they suppose" (88).
  • The Book of Mormon never uses the term "Passover," or describes the passover meal.

High Priest and garments
  • "The Indian high priest makes his yearly atonement for sin. He appears at their temple, (such as it is) arrayed in his white deer skin garments, seeming to answer to the ancient ephod" (89).
  • "Here, as in Mr. Adair's account, is their high priest's robe and breast plate. On ordinary occasions, they retire secretly (Mr. H. adds) to their sacred places, and invoke the assistance of the Great Spirit, and make the most solemn vows to him, which they never fail to perform, should events correspond to their prayers. But at times more momentous, such as the declaration of war, conclusion of peace, or the prevalence of epidemics, &c. they impose on themselves long fastings, and severe penance, take narcotics and nauseating drugs" (125).
  • The Book of Mormon says nothing of Nephite priesthood's dress, and does not discuss the day of atonement rituals. Any Nephite teaching is focused on Christ as redeemer (e.g., Mosiah 2-5), not the use of a mortal high priest as intermediary.
  • The term "ephod" is never mentioned in the Book of Mormon, and there is no mention of narcotics or nauseating drugs.

Indian Ritual = Hebrew
  • "Mr. Adair describes the Indian feasts, and speaks of them as bearing a very near resemblance of the stated feasts in ancient Israel. He gives accounts that when the Indians are about to engage in war, they have their preparatory sacrifices, purifications, and fastings. He speaks of their daily sacrifice, their ablutions, marriages, divorces, burials, mournings for the dead, separations of women, and punishment of various crimes, as being in his opinion manifestly of Hebrew origin" (90).
  • The Book of Mormon never mentions feasts, preparations for war, ritual purification, washings, marriage forms, divorce forms, or separation of women.

War preparations
  • "The purifications, fasting, abstinences, and prayers, to prepare for war, appear to be Hebrew. Adair says; "Before the Indians go to war, they have many preparatory ceremonies of purification and fasting, like what is recorded of the Israelites. When the leader begins to beat up for volunteers, he goes three times round his dark winter house, contrary to the course of the sun, sounding the war-whoop, [90] singing the war song, and beating a drum.* He addresses the crowd, who come about him, and after much ceremony, he proceeds to whoop again for the warriors to come and join him, and sanctify themselves for success against the common enemy, according to their ancient religious law. A number soon join him in his winter house, where they live separate from all others, and purify themselves for the space of three days and three nights, exclusive of the first broken day. On each day they observe a strict fast till sunset, watching the young men very narrowly (who have not been initiated in war titles) lest unusual hunger should tempt them to violate it, to the supposed danger of all their lives in the war, by destroying the power of their purifying, beloved physic, which they drink plentifully during that time. They are such strict observers of their law of purification, and think it so essential in obtaining health and success in war, as not to allow the best beloved trader that ever lived among them, knowingly, to enter the beloved ground appropriated to the duty of being sanctified for war, much less to associate with the camp in the woods, at such a time, though he is united with them in the same war design. They oblige him to walk and encamp separately by himself, as an impure, dangerous animal, till the leader hath purified him, according to the usual time and method, with the consecrated things of the ark" (90).
  • This vivid material would have resonated deeply with nineteenth century Americans, who were either fascinated or fearful of warlike Amerindians. Yet, no such dramatic or picturesque material graces the Book of Mormon accounts of war—its descriptions are pedestrian, describing only the making of weapons, or the preparations of supplies. The Book of Mormon view of warfare is pragmatic, not romantic or exotic.

Burial rites
  • "The Indians, when one dies, wash and anoint the body. The Hebrews did the same" (92).
  • Burial rites are rarely described in the Book of Mormon (see Alma 19꞉43, Alma 20꞉1-5). Generally all we are told is that the dead were buried (Alma 3꞉1, Alma 30꞉1-2, Alma 53꞉1-3) or (on rare occasions) cast into a river because of the number of the dead (Alma 44꞉21-22).
  • No discussion of washing or anointing the body of the dead appears.

Widowhood laws
  • "A widow among them is bound by a strict Indian custom, to mourn the death of her husband for three years or more, unless the brother of her deceased husband wishes to take her. In that case, she is released from this law, as soon as it is known that the brother makes love to her. She may then throw off her [93] mourning habits, and dress and paint like others. Certainly this appears to have originated in that Mosaic law" (92–93).
  • No laws or regulations are discussed in the matter of widows. The one widow discussed deviates from the pattern which Ethan Smith assures us is a clear sign of Hebrew behavior (Alma 47꞉32-35)—another lost opportunity for Joseph's forgery!

Medicine bag
  • "This tribe of Chippeways, (Mr. Herman informs,) call their sacred sack, their "medicine bag." The contents appear to be essentially the same, and for the same end, with the contents of the sacred ark in other tribes" (105).
  • No medicine bag or parallel to the ark of the covenant is discussed in the Book of Mormon.

Kosher
  • "Eagles of every kind they esteem unclean food; likewise ravens, crows, bats, buzzards, swallows, and every species of owl." This he considers as precisely Hebrew; as also their purifications of their priests; and purification for having touched a dead body, or any other unclean thing" (114).
  • The Book of Mormon never mentions kosher laws, or describes the animals to be avoided.

Architecture
  • Extensive descriptions of pyramids are given as impressive evidence (136, 154–156).
  • Geometry in architecture is stressed: "They have left us perfect specimens of circles, squares, octagons, and parallel lines, on a grand and noble scale" (144, see also 147).
  • The Book of Mormon ignores geometry, and does not indulge in descriptions of buildings intended to impress or awe the audience.

Phylacteries
  • Wherever they went then, they would have these phylacteries with them. If they brought them to this country, they would keep them with diligence. They would most naturally become some of the most precious contents in their holy ark, as their nation formerly kept the holy law in the ark. Here such a phylactery would be safe through ever so many centuries. This is so far from being improbable, that it is almost a moral certainty" (italics in original) (172).
  • Once again, Joseph Smith ignores a supposed "home run" bit of evidence—there are no phylacteries in the Book of Mormon.

Quetzalcoatl
  • View of the Hebrews associates Quetzalcoatl with Moses and discusses this figure at length (156–160).
  • The Book of Mormon makes no mention of Quetzalcoatl, even though later Latter-day Saints would find the legends compelling descriptions of Christ. Once again, however, Joseph Smith ignores the rich vein of material that Ethan Smith provided.

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How does the use of scripture compare between the Book of Mormon and View of the Hebrews?

KJV scripture VoH Page BoM Use? Comments and/or text (as it appears in View of the Hebrews)

Isaiah 6:11
  • 43
  • Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant; and the houses without man; and the land be utterly desolate; and the Lord have removed man far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.

Isaiah 11:1
  • 56
  • ...the stem from the root of Jesse is promised....

Isaiah 11:11
  • 56–57
  • And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again, the second time, to gather the remnant of his people, who shall be left, from Assyria and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Humah, and from the isles of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah, from the four corners of the earth.

Isaiah 11:15
  • 57
  • ...seven streams...

Isaiah 14:1
  • 62–63
  • For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them on their own land. And the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.

Isaiah 49:18-23
  • 63
  • VoH only mentions the verses; it does not cite the text. Book of Mormon reproduces the entire chapter of Isaiah 49.

Isaiah 49:18-22
  • 70–72
  • removing to and fro; left alone; Who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had [have – BoM] they been?

Isaiah 11:12
  • 70
  • ...assemble the outcasts of Israel; and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

Isaiah 11:12
  • 242
  • ...where God sets his hand a second time to gather his Hebrew family from all nations and regions beyond sea; doubtless from America, as well as other nations; and it is promised, "He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth."

Isaiah 11:13
  • 72
  • The envy also of Ephraim [also, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off – BoM] shall depart; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.

Isaiah 49:21
  • 73
  • ...these, where had [have-BoM] they been?

Isaiah 3:18-21
  • 110
  • The bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet; their cauls, and round tires like the moon; their chains, bracelets, mufflers, bonnets, ornaments of the legs; head bands, tablets, ear rings, rings, and nose-jewels; the mantles, the wimples; and the crisping pins.

Isaiah 3:24-25
  • 111
  • They are represented by the prophet as sitting on the ground; having their secret parts discovered; having given to them instead of a sweet smell, a stench; instead of a girdle, a rent; instead of well set hair, baldness; instead of a stomacher, a girding of sackcloth; and burning, instead of beauty.

Isaiah 9:6
  • 163
  • Their infant to be born, was "the mighty God, the everlasting Father"

Isaiah 11:
  • 179–180
  • Ephraim and Judah are both restored, the one from his "dispersed." the other from his "outcast" state; and their mutual envies are forever healed. And the places from which they are recovered are noted; among which are "the isles of the sea;" or lands away over the sea, and "the four corners of the earth."

Isaiah 5:26
  • 181-182
  • ...in both of which passages [see below for other], the hiss was to call distant heathen....

Isaiah 7:18
  • 181-182
  • ...in both of which passages [see above for other], the hiss was to call distant heathen

Isaiah 5:13
  • 182–183
  • Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge.

Isaiah 7:8
  • 183
  • ...within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken that it be not a people.

Isaiah 10:20-22
  • 199–200
  • And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the Mighty God. For though the people of Israel be as the sand of the sea; yet a remnant of them shall return.

Isaiah 49:1,11-13
  • 202–203
  • Listen, O isles, unto me; (or ye lands away over the sea) hearken ye people from afar. I will make all my mountains a way; and my highways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall come from far; and lo, these from the north, and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.--Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains; for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.

Isaiah 51:11
  • 202–203
  • And the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away"


Isaiah 11:12
  • 214–215
  • And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

Isaiah 11:13
  • 214
  • It is predicted, in Isai. xi. 13, as one peculiarity of these two branches of Israel, after their final restoration, that they shall envy each other no more.

Analysis

The Book of Mormon and View of the Hebrews have only 30 verses from Isaiah in common, some of which are in Isaiah 11, which entire chapter Ethan Smith references but does not quote. Only ten chapters of Isaiah are mentioned by both works.


Source(s) of the criticism
Critical sources
  • Richard Abanes, Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism (Harvest House Publishers: 2005). 60-61, 360n59-63. ( Index of claims ) (Sources: Tanner, Persuitte)
  • Richard Abanes, One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003), 69 ( Index of claims ) (Sources: Persuitte)
  • John Ankerberg and John Weldon, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Mormonism (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1992), 279–80, 301–2
  • Peter Bartley, Mormonism: The Prophet, the Book, and the Cult (Dublin: Veritas, 1989), 28–29.
  • Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 46–47. ( Index of claims )
  • Maurice C. Burrell, Wide of the Truth: A Critical Assessment of the History, Doctrines and Practices of the Mormon Religion (London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1972).
  • Marvin W. Cowan, Mormon Claims Answered, (Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1997 [original self-published, 1975]), ???.
  • Charles A. Crane & Steven A. Crane, Ashamed of Joseph : Mormon Foundations Crumble (Joplin, Mo. : College Press Pub. Co., 1993), 123–5
  • Ed Decker and Dave Hunt, The God Makers (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1984),. (Detailed review)
  • John Dehlin, "Why People Leave the LDS Church," (2008).
  • Ronald Enroth, A Guide to Cults and New Religions (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity , 1983).
  • Gordon H. Fraser, Is Mormonism Christian? (Chicago: Moody Press, 1957).
  • Ralph L. Foster, The Book of Mormon on Trial (Salt Lake City: n.p., 1963).
  • G. T. Harrison, Mormons Are Peculiar People (New York: Vantage, 1954).
  • Mervin B. Hogan, " "A Parallel': A Matter of Chance vs. Coincidence," Rocky Mountain Mason (January 1956): 17–31.
  • Harold H. Hougey, "A Parallel"?The Basis of the Book of Mormon (Concord, CA: Pacific, 1963).
  • Robert N. Hullinger, "The Lost Tribes of Israel and the Book of Mormon," Lutheran Quarterly 22:3 (August 1970): 319–29.
  • Larry Jonas, Mormon Claims Examined (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1961).
  • Wesley M. Jones, A Critical Study of Book of Mormon Sources (Detroit: Harlo Press, 1964).
  • Thomas O'Dea, The Mormons (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957).
  • Brigham D. Madsen, ed., B. H. Roberts: Studies of the Book of Mormon (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1985), ???.
  • Richard N. and Joan K. Ostling, Mormon America: The Power and the Promise, (New York:HarperCollins Publishers, 2000), 29. ( Index of claims )
  • Grant H. Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002) 58–64. ( Index of claims )
  • David Persuitte, Joseph Smith and the Origins of The Book of Mormon (2nd edition), (McFarland & Company, October 2000), ( Index of claims )
  • John A. Price, "The Book of Mormon vs. Anthropological Prehistory," The Indian Historian 7:3 (Summer 1974): 35–40.
  • Leslie Rumble, "The Book of Mormon," The Homiletic and Pastoral Review 60:4 (January 1960): 338–45.
  • James M. Sire, Scripture Twisting: 20 Ways the Cults Misread the Bible (Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 1980).
  • George D. Smith, "Defending the Keystone: Book of Mormon Difficulties," Sunstone 6 no. 3 (May–June 1981), 45–50. off-site
  • George D. Smith, "'Is There Any Way to Escape These Difficulties?' The Book of Mormon Studies of B. H. Roberts," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 17 no. 2 (Summer 1984), 94–111.
  • George D. Smith, "Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon," Free Inquiry 4:1 (Winter 1983): 21–31.
  • Simon Southerton, Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church (Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books, 2004) 153. ( Index of claims )
  • Jerald Tanner and Sandra Tanner, Mormonism—Shadow or Reality?, 5th ed. (Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1987).
  • Jerald Tanner and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Moody Press, 1979), 126–8.( Index of claims )
  • Dan Vogel, Indian Origins and the Book of Mormon: Religious Solutions from Columbus to Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Book, 1986), 48–49, 68 (the argument is suggested more than stated outright.
  • I. Wiley Woodbridge, The Founder of Mormonism (New York, 1902), 124–126.


Notes (click to expand)
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  1. ↑ John W. Welch, "View of the Hebrews: 'An Unparallel'," in Reexploring the Book of Mormon, edited by John W. Welch (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1992), 83–87.
  2. ↑ I. Woodbridge Riley, The Founder of Mormonism (New York, 1902), 124–126.
  3. ↑ Joseph Smith, Jr., "From Priest's American Antiquities," (1 June 1842) Times and Seasons 3:813-815.
  4. ↑ Brigham H. Roberts, Studies of the Book of Mormon, ed. Brigham D. Madsen (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1985).
  5. ↑ View of the Hebrews: 1825 2nd Edition Complete Text by Ethan Smith, edited by Charles D. Tate Jr., (Provo: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1996), 223. ISBN 1570082472. off-site wikisource
  6. ↑ Ethan Smith, 220.
  7. ↑ Ethan Smith, 184-185.
  8. ↑ Stephen D. Ricks, "Review of The Use of the Old Testament in the Book of Mormon by Wesley P. Walters," FARMS Review of Books 4/1 (1992): 235–250. off-site
  9. ↑ Andrew H. Hedges, "Review of: View of the Hebrews," FARMS Review of Books 9/1 (1997): 63–68. off-site
  10. ↑ Jeremy Runnells, "Debunking FairMormon" under Witnesses. Last updated 4 June 2014
  11. ↑ Dan Vogel, ed., Early Mormon Documents 5 vols. (Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books, 1996-2003) 3:176-7


"The Book of Mormon taught and still teaches a Trinitarian view of the Godhead"

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"God" changed to "Son of God" in the Book of Mormon


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