The Book of Mormon

Ether 3:17

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~2200 BC

1830 Edition

And now, as I Moroni, said I could not make a full account of these things which are written, therefore it sufficeth me to say, That Jesus shewed himself unto this man in the spirit, even after the manner and in the likeness of the same body, even as he shewed himself unto the Nephites;

Influences

Revelation 22:19 (KJV)
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Ephesians 3:6 (KJV)
That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

Changes

And now, as I, Moroni, said I could not make a full account of these things which are written, therefore it sufficeth me to say, Tthat Jesus sheowed himself unto this man in the spirit, even after the manner and in the likeness of the same body, even as he sheowed himself unto the Nephites;.

Simple English

I, Moroni, cannot write everything about these things. So I will just say this: Jesus showed himself to this man in the spirit. He looked the same way he looked when he showed himself to the Nephites.

Paraphrase

Now I, Moroni, can’t give a full account of everything written here, so I’ll just say this: Jesus showed himself to this man in the spirit—in the same form and likeness he would later show himself to the Nephites.

Notes

3:17

The phrase, "sufficeth me" can be found in 2 Nephi 11:1; Jarom 1:2; Ether 3:17.

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), "it must needs be" (1 Nephi 15:33; Alma 32:28; 3 Nephi 5:1; D&C 48:3), "save it were" (Helaman 3:23; 4 Nephi 1:5; D&C 18:35), "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.