The Book of Mormon

4 Nephi 1:31

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~AD 35–321

1830 Edition

Nevertheless, and notwithstanding all these miracles the people did harden their hearts, and did seek to kill them, even as the Jews at Jerusalem sought to kill Jesus, according to his word,

Influences

John 7:25 (KJV)
Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill?
2 Maccabees 1:1 (KJV)
The brethren, the Jews that be at Jerusalem and in the land of Judea, wish unto the brethren, the Jews that are throughout Egypt health and peace:

Changes

Nevertheless, and notwithstanding all these miracles, the people did harden their hearts, and did seek to kill them, even as the Jews at Jerusalem sought to kill Jesus, according to his word,.

Simple English

But even after all these miracles, the people made their hearts hard. They tried to kill them. This was just like the Jews in Jerusalem tried to kill Jesus.

Paraphrase

Yet despite all these miracles, people hardened their hearts. They tried to kill the disciples, just as the Jews in Jerusalem had tried to kill Jesus.

Notes

1:31

"There are thirty-two interesting parallels between material found in three books of the Apocrypha and the Book of Mormon story of Nephi....Interestingly, twenty-eight of the thirty-two parallels to the Apocrypha are found in the first five chapters of the Book of Mormon. This constitutes an extraordinary cluster of similarities..." -Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, p. 29.

Parallel: The introduction to the first chapter of 2 Maccabees contains a four-word phrase which is also found in the Book of Mormon. "the Jews at Jerusalem" (Introductory statement at the start of 2 Maccabees).

For other parallels, please see: 1 Nephi 1:1, 1 Nephi 1:17, 1 Nephi 4:20-24, 1 Nephi 4:27, 1 Nephi 2:4-6, 1 Nephi 3:3, 1 Nephi 3:16, 1 Nephi 3:25, 1 Nephi 3:31, 1 Nephi 4:1-2, 1 Nephi 4:4-5, 1 Nephi 4:7-9, 1 Nephi 4:18, 1 Nephi 4:19-24 & 38, 1 Nephi 4:20, 1 Nephi 5:9, 1 Nephi 13:40, 2 Nephi 5:8, Mosiah 10:13, 4 Nephi 1:31.

For a full note on the use of the Apocrypha, please see the annotation at 1 Nephi 1:1.