The Book of Mormon

Alma 12:27

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~82 BC

1830 Edition

But behold, it was not so; but it was appointed unto man that they must die; and after death, they must come to judgment; even that same judgment of which we have spoken, which is the end.

Influences

Hebrews 9:27 (KJV)
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Changes

But behold, it was not so; but it was appointed unto maen that they must die; and after death, they must come to judgment;, even that same judgment of which we have spoken, which is the end.

Simple English

But that’s not what happened. Everyone must die. After they die, they must be judged. This is the judgment we have talked about. This is the end.

Paraphrase

'But that’s not what happened. People were meant to die. And after death comes judgment—the same judgment we’ve been talking about, which is the final judgment.

Notes

12:27

Dr. David P. Wright observes, "I will show that Alma chapters 12-13, traditionally dated to about 82 B.C.E., depend in part on the New Testament epistle to the Hebrews, dated by critical scholars to the last third of the first century C.E. The dependence of Alma 12-13 on Hebrews thus constitutes an anachronism and indicates that the chapters are a composition of Joseph Smith...The parallels between these two texts are too precise to be coincidental; some sort of interdependence must exist. This interdependence is confirmed by the texts' focusing on the same four motifs outside the quotations' contexts. What is the nature of this dependence? On the basis of the texts that stand before us, the conclusion is that the Alma 12 passage depends on that in Hebrews 3. The logic is this. Hebrews 3 and Alma 12 depend ostensibly on different sources for their citations. But it would be a tremendous coincidence for them to have the same motifs and the same citation structure if they came from separate sources... The citation in Hebrews 3 derives from an attested source, Psalm 25, whereas that in Alma 12 derives from an unattested source. This suggests that Alma 12's citation does not really rely on an unknown source but on the citation and context of Hebrews 3 itself. Alma 12 invents a citation, thus transforming the sense of the Hebrews material for its own ends. This invented quotation is a good example of Smith's creative reworking of the Bible..." -David P. Wright, "In Plain Terms that We May Understand: Joseph Smith's Transformation of Hebrews in Alma 12-13," in New Approaches to the Book of Mormon, pp. 165-166.