The Book of Mormon

1 Nephi 5:11

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~600–592 BC

1830 Edition

And he beheld that they did contain the five Books of Moses, which gave an account of the creation of the world, and also of Adam and Eve, which was our first parents;

Influences

Romans 1:20 (KJV)
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Changes

And he beheld that they did contain the five Bbooks of Moses, which gave an account of the creation of the world, and also of Adam and Eve, whicho wasere our first parents;

Simple English

He saw that they contained the five Books of Moses, which told about the creation of the world and also about Adam and Eve, who were our first parents.

Paraphrase

He found they contained the five books of Moses, telling about the creation of the world and about Adam and Eve, our first parents.

Notes

5:11

We are told that the Nephites were "...strict in observing the ordinances of God, according to the law of Moses;..." (Alma 30:3).

What makes this claim curious is the seemingly lack of familiarity, or mention, of many essential Jewish customs. The Tanners observe, "Throughout the Book of Mormon there is a great deal of information regarding Jesus Christ and Christianity but hardly anything that would relate to the early Jewish religion and customs. The Nephites never mention celebrating Passover or any other festivals or feasts that were so important to the ancient Israelites. Very little appears about the sabbath day and nothing concerning the sabbatical years or jubilee. There seems to be no evidence that circumcision was actually practiced. The Book of Mormon also seems to be sadly deficient with regard to material regarding both tithing and the temple. The author of the Book of Mormon seems to know nothing about the laws concerning unclean foods and practices, and sacrifices are almost completely absent. In fact, the only time that the author of the Book of Mormon speaks of 'burnt offerings' he makes a serious mistake-an error which shows that he was entirely unfamiliar with the biblical material concerning offers." -Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, p. 209.

The Book of Mormon never makes mention of: the festival of Passover, feast of unleavened bread, feast of ingathering, the new moon festival, the sabbatical year, the jubilee year, or Yom Kippur (day of atonement).

The Book of Mormon makes mention of the Sabbath five total times, but three of the five (Mosiah 13:16, 18, 19) come directly from the Bible (Exodus 20: 8, 10, 11).

The Book of Mormon makes mention of circumcision five total times as well, but two of the places they appear (see 2 Nephi 8:24) are taken from Isaiah 52:1. Two other references (2 Nephi 9:33 and Helaman 9:21) refer to the "uncircumcised of heart." The only remaining reference is found in Moroni 8:8 which states, "the law of circumcision is done away in me."