The Book of Mormon

Alma 32:28

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~74 BC

1830 Edition

Now we will compare the word unto a seed. Now if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the spirit of the Lord, behold it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves, It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding; yea, and it beginneth to be delicious to me.

Influences

Matthew 17:20 (KJV)
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Matthew 3:9 (KJV)
And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Matthew 18:7 (KJV)
Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

Changes

Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the sSpirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves, —It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding;, yea, and it beginneth to be delicious to me.

Simple English

We will compare the word to a seed. If you make room for a seed to be planted in your heart, if it is a true seed or a good seed, if you do not throw it out with your lack of belief or fight against the Spirit of the Lord, it will begin to grow inside you. When you feel it growing, you will begin to say to yourself: This must be a good seed. The word must be good. It is making my soul bigger. It is making my mind understand more. It is starting to taste good to me.

Paraphrase

'Think of the word as a seed. If you make room for a seed to be planted in your heart—if it’s a true seed, a good seed—and you don’t throw it out through unbelief or resist the Spirit, it will begin to swell inside you. When you feel it growing, you’ll start to think, 'This must be a good seed. This word must be good, because it’s expanding my soul. It’s enlightening my understanding. It’s starting to taste sweet to me.''

Notes

32:28

The phrase, "it must needs be" can be found in 1 Nephi 15:33; Alma 32:28; 3 Nephi 5:1; D&C 48:3.

Other common phrases include "dwindled in unbelief" (2 Nephi 26:15; Helaman 15:11, Ether 4:3, D&C 3:18), "expedient that" (2 Nephi 9:15; Alma 34:9; Mosiah 13:27; D&C 9:3), "save it were" (Helaman 3:23; 4 Nephi 1:5; D&C 18:35), "sufficeth me" (2 Nephi 11:1; Jarom 1:2; Ether 3:17), "would that ye should" (Alma 38:5; Mosiah 1:3; Omni 1:2; D7C 46:7).

"After noticing that the same phrases of two or more words appear time after time throughout Joseph Smith's scriptures, we did a computer search to identify these groups of words and feel that they provide evidence that the Book of Mormon, the Inspired Version of the Bible, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price were all the product of one mind.... When we find a number of different Book of Mormon writers-e.g., Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Moroni and Mormon-all using many of the same unusual word combinations, we begin to suspect that all these books were actually written by one person."-Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, p. 39.