The Book of Mormon

Alma 5:48

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~83 BC

1830 Edition

I say unto you, that I know of myself that whatsoever I shall say unto you concerning that which is to come, is true; and I say unto you, that I know that Jesus Christ shall come; yea, the Son of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace, and mercy, and truth. And behold, it is he that cometh to take away the sins of the world; yea, the sins of every man which steadfastly believeth on his name.

Influences

John 1:17 (KJV)
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
John 1:14 (KJV)
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John 1:29 (KJV)
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
John 1:12 (KJV)
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Changes

I say unto you, that I know of myself that whatsoever I shall say unto you, concerning that which is to come, is true; and I say unto you, that I know that Jesus Christ shall come; yea, the Son of, the oOnly bBegotten of the Father, full of grace, and mercy, and truth. And behold, iIt is he that comeths to take away the sins of the world; yea, the sins of every man whicho steadfastly believeths on his name.

Simple English

I tell you that I know for myself that what I tell you about the future is true. I know that Jesus Christ will come. He is the Son of the only Son of the Father. He is full of kindness, mercy, and truth. He comes to take away the sins of the world. The sins of every person who truly believes in his name.

Paraphrase

I tell you that I know for myself that whatever I say to you about what’s to come is true. I know that Jesus Christ will come—the Son of the Father’s only begotten, full of grace, mercy, and truth. He’s the one who comes to take away the sins of the world—the sins of everyone who steadfastly believes in his name.

Notes

5:48-50

"When one begins to read the Book of Mormon, if he is well-acquainted with the Bible, he will at once be impressed with the large scale use of biblical materials in the book. Not only is there an unskilled mimicking of the style of the King James Version, but there is an artificial clarity added to that portion of the Book of Mormon that claims to date from the Old testament period. The contrived clarity is the result of writing back into that Old Testament period New Testament words, phrases and quotations, as well as the introduction of New Testament concepts and teachings into that time-frame... The frequency with which the Book of Mormon introduces this chronologically misplaced material into its text would required that God supernaturally provided this American colony with virtually the entire New testament text, as well as those portions of the Old Testament which postdated their departure for America... passages from the New Testament... are sprinkled generously into the speeches and sermons of Book of Mormon characters in the same manner as one might find them in the sermons of a Methodist or Baptist preacher of Joseph Smith's day....New testament concepts, interpretations and theology are all worked into the text itself." -Wesley P. Walters, The Use of the Old Testament in the Book of Mormon, (Master's thesis, Covenant Theological Seminary, St. Louis Missouri, 1981), p. 7, 10-13.