The Book of Mormon

Mosiah 27:12

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~100 BC

1830 Edition

and so great was their astonishment, that they fell to the earth, and understood not the words which he spake unto them.

Influences

Acts 20:38 (KJV)
Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship.

Changes

aAnd so great was their astonishment, that they fell to the earth, and understood not the words which he spake unto them.

Simple English

They were so surprised that they fell to the ground. They couldn’t understand what he said to them.

Paraphrase

They were so stunned that they collapsed to the ground. They couldn’t even understand what he was saying at first.

Notes

27:8-32

In Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, Jerald and Sandra Tanner list at least 17 significant parallels between the Apostle Paul in the Bible and Alma in the Book of Mormon.

Both Alma and Paul were very wicked men before their conversation (Compare Mosiah 27:8 with 1 Timothy 1:12-13).

Both Alma and Paul were out on one of their missions of persecution on the day of their conversion (Compare Mosiah 27:10-11 with Acts 26:11-13).

In both cases of Alma and Paul's conversion, the people present fell to the earth. (Compare Mosiah 27:12 with Acts 26:14).

In the vision which followed, both Alma and Paul were asked why they fought against the work of the Lord (Compare Mosiah 27:13 with Acts 9:43).

Both Alma and Paul became helpless after the vision and had to be helped by their friends (Compare Mosiah 27:19 with Acts 9:8).

Both Alma and Paul went without food for a period of time (Compare Mosiah 27:23 with Acts 9:9).

Both Alma and Paul were converted to the Lord (Compare Mosiah 27:23-24 with Acts 9:18).

After their conversation, both Alma and Paul traveled about preaching the Word of God (Compare Mosiah 27:32 with Acts 9:20).

Other parallels between Paul and Alma can be found at: Alma 36:6, Alma 36:14, Alma 30:32, Alma 15:11, Alma 14:22, Alma 14:26, Alma 14:27, Alma 14:28