Use of KJV English rhetoric in the LDS Cannon

        In the KJV the sacred name YHWH was rendered LORD in all caps.
Where the Hebrew had Lord YHWH the KJV placed "Lord GOD" in the english.
The sacred name only appears in the KJV four times (Ex. 6:3; Ps. 83: 18;
Is. 12:2 & Is. 26:4) as "Jehovah."  Likewise the Book of Mormon only
contains the sacred name twice (2Ne. 22:2; Moroni 10:34) as "Jehovah."  The
first of these is quoting Is. 12:2 where the KJV also has "Jehovah."  The
other passage (Moroni 10:34) is the last occurance in the Book of Mormon,
perhaps to tip us off that the name was there in the text.  Obviously this
was to make the Book of Mormon acceptable to an 1830 audiance, by making it
more similar to the KJV.  Unfortunately the Book of Mormon never has "LORD"
in all caps (even when it quotes from the Tenach) but always has "Lord."  .
        Another example of KJV influence is the phrase "Kingdom of Heaven."
Now the phase "Kingdom of YHWH" is a Tenakh euphamism for the "Kingdom of
Israel" (see 1Chron. 28:5; 2Chron. 13:8).  The phrase "Kingdom of God" of
course, has the same meaning as "Kingdom of YHWH."  Around the second
temple era it had become common to substitute other words for the word for
"God" so as not to utter the word for "God" so often.  One of the words
subsituted for "God" is the word "Heaven"  (as in Mt. 5:3; 21:25; Lk. 15:18
& Jn. 3:27 also in the Pseudepigrapha where 1Enoch 6:1-2 parallels Gen.
6:1-2 but substitutes "Heaven" for "God.")  One of the prime examples of
this substitution was the term "Kingdom of God" = "Kingdom of Heaven."
Often the synoptic gospels record Yeshua making the same statement, one
recording the phrase "Kingdom of Heaven" while another records "Kingdom of
God."  The appearance of both phrases in the Book of Mormon points clearly
to KJV influence.
        Another evidence for the KJV influence on the Book of Mormon is
that when the Book of Mormon quotes from the Tenach it generally uses the
KJV language, however when a passage from the Tenach is merely cited, more
literal translations often appear.  For example in Mosiah 13:21 and 3Ne.
12:21, the Tenach (Ex. 20:13 = Dt. 5:17) is quoted just as it appears in
the KJV with the Hebrew word RATZAKH translated "kill" just as it appears
in the KJV.  However in 2Ne. 26:32 this Tenach passages is meley cited, and
here the Hebrew word RATZAKH is more literally rendered "murder."  Another
example is Mosiah 14:3-4 where Is. 53:3-4 is quoted with the KJV language,
however in   Alma 7:11 Is. 53:3-4 is merely cited, and here Hebrew
KHALA is rendered more literally as "pains" and MAKOV is rendered more
literally as "afflictions/sickness."
        The way the Hebrew phrase Ruakh HaKodesh is translated in the Book
of Mormon is yet another evidence of the KJV influence.  On most occasions
the Book of Momon renders this phrase "Holy Ghost" (though rendering Ruakh
as "spirit" everywhere else).  On some occasions however the Book of Mormon
has "Holy Spirit" for Ruakh HaKodesh instead of Holy Ghost.
        The Book of Mormon rendering of the "good eye" idiom as "single
eye" in 3Ne. 13:22 & Mormon 8:14-15 also is indicative of KJV influence.
        In addition to these examples, there are also places where an
ambiguous Hebrew word is not translated into the Book of Mormon with the
best english translation, altogh a word for word translation appears.  For
example the Hebrew word ERETZ which can mean "earth" or "land" is
translated "earth" in several passages where "land" is clearly the meaning
(Ether 13:17;  3Ne. 8:17; 12:5).  One of these passages (3Ne. 12:5)
paralles a New Testament passage (Mt. 5:5) which in the KJV (and many other
translations) mistranslates with "earth."  Since both passages (3Ne. 12:5 &
Mt. 5:5) quote from the Tenakh (Ps. 37:11) where ERETZ clearly means "land"
and not "earth."
        The rendering "Red Sea" in the BoM (throughout) is also a KJVism as
the Hebrew literally translates "Reed Sea."
        One final KJVism is when the BoM calls Yeshua (Jesus) the Alpha and
Omega.  Certainly the Nephites did not speak Greek, nor use the Greek
alphabet.  While no Alphabetic script has yet been discovered in
meso-America the BoM does acert that the Nephites used "altered" Hebrew
characters.  Thus it is clearly "Alef and Tav" and not "Alpha and Omega"
that are meant.


Append by Kurt Neumiller
(kurtn@crssa.rutgers.edu)

Other KJVisms that I noticed made it into the LDS cannon are:

  The "cut short in righteousness" of Romans 9:28 which appear in
  D&C 84:97, D&C 109:59.

  Also, the "peculiar people" ref. (Ex. 19:5, Dt. 14:2, Dt. 26:18,
  Ps. 135:4, Eccl 2:8, Titus2:14, 1 Pt 2:9) which appears in the
  JST Hebr. 11:3.  I was a little suprised this one never made it
  into the BofM or D&C.

I suppose "quicken" and "by and by" also qualify as KJVisms, though
more archaic english than anything else.