“Thou Knowest That I Believe”: Invoking The Spirit of the Lord as Council...
Abstract: The Book of Mormon features an esoteric exchange between the prophet Nephi and the Spirit of the Lord on an exceedingly high mountain. The following essay explores some of the ways in which...
View ArticleNephi’s Good Inclusio - Matthew L. Bowen
As John Gee noted two decades ago, Nephi is best explained as a form of the Egyptian word nfr, which by Lehi’s time was pronounced neh-fee, nay-fee, or nou-fee. Since this word means “good,” “goodly,”...
View ArticleThe “Fiery Darts of the Adversary” in 1 Nephi 15:24 - Stephen O. Smoot
After receiving a revelation (1 Nephi 11–14) that clarified the meaning of his father Lehi’s dream (1 Nephi 8), Nephi explained to his rebellious brothers the significance of the various symbols of...
View ArticleNephi’s Change of Heart - Dennis Newton
How long did it take Nephi to compose his portions of the “small account?” Careful text analysis and data mining suggest that “Nephi’s” texts may have been composed across periods as great as forty...
View Article“O Ye Fair Ones” — Revisited - Matthew L. Bowen
The best explanation for the name “Nephi” is that it derives from the Egyptian word nfr, “good,” “goodly,” “fine,” “fair,” “beautiful.” Nephi’s autobiographical wordplay on his own name in his...
View ArticleNephi’s Use of Inverted Parallels - Dennis Newton
Did Nephi intentionally use chiasmus in his writings? An analysis of fifteen multi-level chiasm candidates in Nephi’s writings demonstrates a high statistical probability (99%+) that the poetic form...
View Article“Their Anger Did Increase Against Me”: Nephi’s Autobiographical Permutation...
Nephi’s record on the small plates includes seven distinct scenes in which Nephi depicts the anger of his brethren against him. Each of these scenes includes language that recalls Genesis 37:5-10, 20,...
View ArticleMusings on the Making of Mormon’s Book: Preliminary: Nephi as Author
As I was reading Karel Van der Toorn, Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible ((Karel Van der Toorn, Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible (Cambridge and London: Harvard...
View ArticleNephi the Good: A Commentary on 1 Nephi 1:1–3
The most often read passage in the Book of Mormon is almost certainly its very first verse—what Latter-day Saint is not familiar with the opening line, “I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents”?...
View ArticleUnderstanding Nephi with the Help of Noah Webster
Dictionaries, especially Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, can be useful and informative resources to help us better understand the language of the Book of Mormon. This...
View ArticleNephi: A Postmodernist Reading
Authors inevitably make assumptions about their readers as they write. Readers likewise make assumptions about authors and their intentions as they read. Using a postmodern framing, this essay...
View ArticleThe Hilt Thereof Was of Pure Gold
Finding Laban drunk in the streets of Jerusalem, Nephi “beheld his sword, and [he] I drew it forth from the sheath thereof; and the hilt thereof was of pure gold, and the workmanship thereof was...
View ArticleLDS Perspectives Podcast: Nephi and Isaiah with Joseph Spencer
Listen to an interview with Joseph Spencer about his new book discussing Isaiah in the Book of Mormon. Second Nephi has a reputation for being a bit dry. Missing is the drama of the Book of Mormon....
View Article“And the Meek Also Shall Increase”: The Verb yāsap in Isaiah 29 and Nephi’s...
Abstract: Beyond his autobiographic use of Joseph’s name and biography, Nephi also considered the name Joseph to have long-term prophetic value. As a Semitic/Hebrew name, Joseph derives from the verb...
View ArticleLabor Diligently to Write: The Ancient Making of a Modern Scripture
[Editor’s Note: We are pleased to present the first installment from a book entitled Labor Diligently to Write: The Ancient Making of a Modern Scripture. It is being presented in serialized form as an...
View ArticleLabor Diligently to Write: The Ancient Making of a Modern Scripture —...
[Editor’s Note: We are pleased to present the second installment from a book entitled Labor Diligently to Write: The Ancient Making of a Modern Scripture. It is being presented in serialized form as an...
View ArticleLabor Diligently to Write: The Ancient Making of a Modern Scripture —...
[Editor’s Note: We are pleased to present the third installment from a book entitled Labor Diligently to Write: The Ancient Making of a Modern Scripture. It is being presented in serialized form as an...
View ArticleLabor Diligently to Write: The Ancient Making of a Modern Scripture —...
[Editor’s Note: We are pleased to present the fourth installment from a book entitled Labor Diligently to Write: The Ancient Making of a Modern Scripture. It is being presented in serialized form as an...
View ArticleLabor Diligently to Write: The Ancient Making of a Modern Scripture —...
[Editor’s Note: We are pleased to present the fifth installment from a book entitled Labor Diligently to Write: The Ancient Making of a Modern Scripture. It is being presented in serialized form as an...
View ArticleLabor Diligently to Write: The Ancient Making of a Modern Scripture —...
[Editor’s Note: We are pleased to present the sixth installment from a book entitled Labor Diligently to Write: The Ancient Making of a Modern Scripture. It is being presented in serialized form as an...
View ArticleLabor Diligently to Write: The Ancient Making of a Modern Scripture —...
[Editor’s Note: We are pleased to present the seventh installment from a book entitled Labor Diligently to Write: The Ancient Making of a Modern Scripture. It is being presented in serialized form as...
View ArticleLabor Diligently to Write: The Ancient Making of a Modern Scripture — Preface
[Editor’s Note: We are pleased to present the eighth (and final) installment from a book entitled Labor Diligently to Write: The Ancient Making of a Modern Scripture. It is being presented in...
View ArticleAn Other Approach to Isaiah Studies
Abstract: A recent review of Joseph M. Spencer’s book The Vision of All: Twenty-Five Lectures on Isaiah in Nephi’s Record made the case that the book contains several challenges and problems, in...
View ArticleThe Importance of Authorial Intention
Abstract: It is important when evaluating the words of others to consider the intention of their writing. It also does not hurt to consider what may go on behind the scenes before an article (or a book...
View ArticleHow Not to Read Isaiah
Abstract: In the Book of Mormon, Nephi draws upon his own knowledge of the Jewish people, their culture and language, and the surrounding area to add to his understanding of Isaiah’s words, and...
View Article“All Can Partake, Freely”
Abstract: The Interpreter Foundation welcomes faithful ideas, insights, and manuscripts from people of all backgrounds. In this brief essay, I share some that were recently shared with me regarding...
View Article“Wherefore, for This Cause”: The Book of Mormon as Anti-type of the Brass...
Abstract: Nephi1 represents the sacred record that becomes the Book of Mormon as a new brass serpent to heal the nations. Nephi’s typological project is reasonable given that he self-identifies with...
View ArticleAnd the One Pointed the Way: Issues of Interpretation and Translation...
Abstract: In describing the operation of the spindles in the Liahona, Nephi’s statement that “the one pointed the way” in 1 Nephi 16:10 is frequently taken to mean that one of the two spindles...
View ArticleNephi’s Gethsemane: Seventeen Comparisons from the Literary Record
Abstract: This note explores a literary comparison between Nephi’s confronting of Laban and shrinking from the act of shedding blood, to Jesus’s experience in the Garden of Gethsemane of shrinking from...
View Article“The Lord God Will Proceed”: Nephi’s Wordplay in 1 Nephi 22:8–12 and the...
Abstract: Nephi quotes or alludes to four distinct Old Testament passages — Genesis 22:18; Isaiah 29:14; Isaiah 49:22–23; and Isaiah 52:10 — twice each in 1 Nephi 22:6, 8–12. These four texts form the...
View ArticleInterpreting Interpreter: Echoes of Joseph in 1 Nephi 22
This post is a summary of the article “‘The Lord God Will Proceed’: Nephi’s Wordplay in 1 Nephi 22:8–12 and the Abrahamic Covenant” by Matthew L. Bowen in Volume 50 of Interpreter: A Journal of...
View ArticleLehi and Nephi as Trained Manassite Scribes
Abstract: This paper brings together contemporary Ancient Near East scholarship in several fields to construct an updated starting point for interpretation of the teachings of the Book of Mormon. It...
View ArticleInterpreting Interpreter: Reynolds’ Scribal Proposal
This post is a summary of the article “Lehi and Nephi as Trained Manassite Scribes” by Noel B. Reynolds in Volume 50 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. The full...
View ArticleSerpents of Fire and Brass: A Contextual Study of the Brazen Serpent...
Abstract: The story of the Israelites getting bitten in the wilderness by “fiery serpents” and then being miraculously healed by the “serpent of brass” (Numbers 21:4–9) is one of the most frequently...
View ArticleInterpreting Interpreter: Ancient Fiery Serpents
This post is a summary of the article “Serpents of Fire and Brass: A Contextual Study of the Brazen Serpent Tradition in the Book of Mormon” by Neal Rappleye in Volume 50 of Interpreter: A Journal of...
View ArticleKhor Rori: A Maritime Resources-Based Candidate for Nephi’s Harbor
Abstract: Khor Rori, which forms the mouth of Wadi (Valley) Darbat, is the largest inlet along the Dhofar coast of southern Arabia. The khor was excavated into a harbor by the erosive action of the...
View ArticleInterpreting Interpreter: Reframing Nephi’s Shipbuilding
This post is a summary of the article “Khor Rori: A Maritime Resources-Based Candidate for Nephi’s Harbor” by George D. Potter in Volume 51 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and...
View ArticleLehi’s Dream, Nephi’s Blueprint: How Nephi Uses the Vision of the Tree of...
Abstract: This essay harnesses the late twentieth-century discovery of Hebrew rhetoric by Bible scholars to identify Lehi’s dream as the foundation of the carefully constructed unity in Nephi’s...
View ArticleInterpreting Interpreter: Visions as Scriptural Blueprint
This post is a summary of the article “Lehi’s Dream, Nephi’s Blueprint: How Nephi Uses the Vision of the Tree of Life as an Outline for 1 and 2 Nephi” by Noel Reynolds in Volume 52 of Interpreter: A...
View Article“For Their Good Have I Written Them”: The Onomastic Allusivity and Literary...
Abstract: Nephi’s writings exhibit a distinctive focus on “good” and divine “goodness,” reflecting the meaning of Nephi’s Egyptian name (derived from nfr) meaning “good,” “goodly,” “fine,” or “fair.”...
View ArticleInterpreting Interpreter: For Their Good
This post is a summary of the article ““For Their Good Have I Written Them”: The Onomastic Allusivity and Literary Function of 2 Nephi 25:8” by Matthew L. Bowen in Volume 53 of Interpreter: A Journal...
View ArticleAssyria and the “Great Church” of Nephi’s Vision
Abstract: The Book of Mormon begins at a pivotal point in Israelite history and in the history of the ancient Near East more broadly. With the fall of Assyria and the power vacuum that grew out of...
View ArticleInterpreting Interpreter: An Assyrian “Great Church”
This post is a summary of the article “Assyria and the “Great Church” of Nephi’s Vision” by Todd Uriona in Volume 55 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. An introduction...
View ArticleNephi’s “Bountiful”: Contrasting Both Candidates
Abstract: In May 2022, George Potter published an article that makes the most comprehensive case to date that Khor Rori in southern Oman is the most likely location for the place “Bountiful” described...
View ArticleInterpreting Interpreter: Comparing Bountifuls
This post is a summary of the article “Nephi’s “Bountiful”: Contrasting Both Candidates” by Warren P. Aston in Volume 55 of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship. An...
View Article