The Book of Mormon

Mosiah 3:4

Back to chapter
~124 BC

1830 Edition

For the Lord hath heard thy prayers, and hath judged of thy righteousness, and hath sent me to declare unto thee that thou mayest rejoice; and that thou mayest declare unto thy people, that they may also be filled with joy.

Influences

2 Timothy 1:4 (KJV)
Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;

Simple English

The Lord has heard your prayers. He knows you are good. He sent me to tell you this so you can be happy. You can tell your people so they can be happy too.

Paraphrase

'The Lord has heard your prayers and sees your faithful heart. He sent me so you can celebrate—and so you can tell your people this news and they can celebrate too.'

Notes

3:2-8

It appears evident that King Benjamin is claiming revelation from an angel revealing the name Jesus Christ to him, and his people should take upon them the name of Christ (see also Mosiah 1:11-12; Mosiah 6:2).

"This address raises a very serious question with regard to the material which appears in the book of 2 Nephi. Why would King Benjamin have to receive a special revelation informing him of the name of Christ if the plates of Nephi already contained this information? According to Mormon, 'Amaleki had delivered up these plates [the small plates of Nephi] into the hands of King Benjamin' (Words of Mormon 1:10). Furthermore, King Benjamin also had the large plates of Nephi. Benjamin himself told his sons that the 'plates of Nephi' were 'true' and instructed them to 'remember to search them diligently' (Mosiah 1:6-7). In the small plates alone, the name Jesus appears ten times and the word Christ is found eighty-two times (See 2 Nephi 25:16, 26; 2 Nephi 31:13)..In light of this information, it seems highly unreasonable to believe that King Benjamin and his people would have been completely in the dark concerning the 'name of Christ' before the angel visited Benjamin and revealed this information."-Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible in the Book of Mormon, p. 217.

See also the Book of Mormon 1830 edition, page 28 (1 Nephi 12:18). The 1830 edition says, ".. and Jesus Christ." This was changed to read, "... and the Messiah" in 1837. Current editions read, "... and the Messiah."