The Book of Mormon

Alma 5:49

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~83 BC

1830 Edition

And now I say unto you, that this is the order after which I am called; yea, to preach unto my beloved brethren; yea, and every one that dwelleth in the land; yea, to preach unto all, both old and young, both bond and free; yea, I say unto you, the aged, and also the middle aged, and the rising generation; yea, to cry unto them that they must repent and be born again;

Influences

John 3:7 (KJV)
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Changes

And now I say unto you, that this is the order after which I am called; yea, to preach unto my beloved brethren; yea, and every one that dwelleths in the land; yea, to preach unto all, both old and young, both bond and free; yea, I say unto you, the aged, and also the middle aged, and the rising generation; yea, to cry unto them that they must repent and be born again;.

Simple English

This is how I am called. To teach my dear brothers. To teach everyone who lives in the land. To teach everyone, both old and young, both slave and free. The old, the middle aged, and the young. To call out to them that they must turn from their sins and be born again.

Paraphrase

This is the order I’m called to: to preach to my beloved brothers and sisters, to everyone who lives in the land. I’m to preach to everyone—old and young, slave and free. I’m to cry out to the elderly, the middle-aged, and the rising generation that they must repent and be born again.

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.