Question: Does the Book of Mormon rely primarily on those chapters from Isaiah mentioned in Ethan Smith's ''View of the Hebrews''?

< Back to FAIR Answers Index

Question: Does the Book of Mormon rely primarily on those chapters from Isaiah mentioned in Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews?

An analysis of the use of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon and View of the Hebrews does not suggest that the former relies upon the latter

Isaiah scriptures in both	Isaiah in View of Hebrews only	Isaiah in Book of Mormon only
Isaiah 11 - all Isaiah 3:18-21, 24-25 Isaiah 5:13, 26 Isaiah 6:11 Isaiah 7:8, 18 Isaiah 9:6 Isaiah 10:20-22 Isaiah 11:1, 11, 12, 13, 15 Isaiah 14:1 Isaiah 49:1, 11-13, 18-23 Isaiah 51:11	Isaiah 18 - all Isaiah 60 - all (twice) Isaiah 63 - all Isaiah 18:1-7, 8-9 Isaiah 26:3, 19 Isaiah 28:1,2,3, 5, 8 Isaiah 35:1,5 Isaiah 36:19 Isaiah 40:1-2, 5 Isaiah 41:14, 18-20 Isaiah 42:19-20 Isaiah 43:1-2,4, 16, 19-20 Isaiah 44:3-4 Isaiah 51:3 Isaiah 54:5 Isaiah 56:8 Isaiah 59:19, 21 Isaiah 60:1,3, 8, 9 Isaiah 61:9 Isaiah 63:1-6, 16, 17-18 Isaiah 65:3, 7,8-9, 23 Isaiah 66:18-21, 30	Isaiah 48:1-22 [1 Nephi 20] Isaiah 49:2-10, 14-17, 24-46 [1 Nephi 21] Isaiah 50:1-11 [2 Nephi 7] Isaiah 51:1-10, 12-23 [2 Nephi 8:1-10, 12-23] Isaiah 52:1-2 [2 Nephi 8:24-25] Isaiah 2:1-22 [2 Nephi 12] Isaiah 3:1-17, 22-23, 26 [2 Nephi 13] Isaiah 4:1-6 [2 Nephi 14] Isaiah 5:1-12, 14-25, 27-30 [2 Nephi 15] Isaiah 6:1-10, 12-13 [2 Nephi 16] Isaiah 7:1-7, 9-17, 19-25 [2 Nephi 17] Isaiah 8:1-22 [2 Nephi 18] Isaiah 9:1-5, 7-21 [2 Nephi 19] Isaiah 10:1-19, 23-34 [2 Nephi 20] Isaiah 12:1-6 [2 Nephi 22] Isaiah 13:1-22 [2 Nephi 23] Isaiah 14:2-32 [2 Nephi 24]
TOTAL = 30 verses in common; 31.6% of VoH Isaiah verses and 8.3% of BoM Isaiah verses	TOTAL = 65 verses only in VoH; 68.4% of VoH Isaiah verses	TOTAL = 332 verses only in Book of Mormon; 91.7% of BoM Isaiah verses

An analysis of the use of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon and View of the Hebrews does not suggest that the former relies upon the latter, for the following reasons:

• the Book of Mormon tends to quote large portions (i.e., complete chapters) of Isaiah and then provide commentary. View of the Hebrews uses short segments of Isaiah (at most a few verses; often only a phrase or few words) to make the argument that the Amerindians are the lost ten tribes. The style and pattern of usage is not analogous—merely claiming that both works quote Isaiah does not accurately reflect how Isaiah is used, and to what extent.
• The vast majority of the Book of Mormon's Isaiah verses are not found in View of the Hebrews; almost two-thirds of the View of the Hebrews references are not found in the Book of Mormon at all. If anything, the Book of Mormon avoids the texts which View of the Hebrews finds so compelling.
• Only 30 verses are shared between the two works. The actual text which they share is even less, since View of the Hebrews often cites fragments of the verses, while the Book of Mormon always reproduces the entire verse.
• The Book of Mormon neglects to use all of the verses which Ethan Smith claims refer to America—a strange omission for the Book of Mormon, which the critics believe represents Joseph's attempt to write a history of the Americas.

Notes (click to expand)

BACK TO TOP