The Book of Mormon

Mosiah 27:19

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~100 BC

1830 Edition

And now the astonishment of Alma was so great, that he became dumb, that he could not open his mouth; yea, and he became weak, even that he could not move his hands; therefore he was taken by those that were with him, and carried helpless, even until he was laid before his father.

Changes

And now the astonishment of Alma was so great, that he became dumb, that he could not open his mouth; yea, and he became weak, even that he could not move his hands; therefore he was taken by those that were with him, and carried helpless, even until he was laid before his father.

Simple English

Alma was so surprised that he couldn’t speak. He couldn’t open his mouth. He became so weak that he couldn’t move his hands. The people with him picked him up. They carried him because he couldn’t move. They brought him to his father.

Paraphrase

Alma was so stunned he couldn’t speak. He went completely silent. He became so weak he couldn’t even move his hands. His companions had to carry him, helpless, and lay him before his father.

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