The Book of Mormon

Mosiah 27:9

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~100 BC

1830 Edition

And he became a great hinderment to the prosperity of the church of God; stealing away the hearts of the people; causing much dissention among the people; giving a chance for the enemy of God to exercise his power over them.

Influences

James 4:4 (KJV)
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Changes

And he became a great hinderment to the prosperity of the church of God; stealing away the hearts of the people; causing much dissentsion among the people; giving a chance for the enemy of God to exercise his power over them.

Simple English

He made it hard for God’s church to grow. He stole people’s hearts away. He caused lots of problems among the people. He gave God’s enemy a chance to have power over them.

Paraphrase

He became a huge obstacle to the church of God. He stole people’s hearts away, caused constant conflict, and gave the enemy of God a foothold among them.

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