Why is there some of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon?
"...that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I did read unto them that which was written by the Prophet Isaiah..." (1 Nephi 19:23)
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<< Dead Sea Scrolls-Isaiah
Why did the Lord have Mormon include nearly 21 complete chapters of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon when he knew that we would already have the book of Isaiah in the Bible? Why this duplication of the Book of Isaiah?
The prophet Nephi indicates that this repetition of Isaiah passages is for the benefit of the people “in the last days” and especially for the benefit of his own descendants:
“For I know that they shall be of great worth unto [mine own people] in the last days; for in that day shall they understand them; wherefore, for their good have I written them” (2 Nephi 25:8)
One benefit from Mormon including some of the book of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon is the correction of some errors in our English translation, the King James Version. The Isaiah text in the Book of Mormon is an inspired rendering of text taken originally from the brass plates of Laban and which consequently predates our current Isaiah texts by several centuries.
After Lehi’s departure from Jerusalem with the writings of Isaiah on the brass plates, some changes apparently occurred in the Isaiah manuscripts from which our current Bibles have been translated.
A few interesting example of change occurs in the following scriptures:
The King James Bible states, that the priests of ancient Israel “stay themselves on the God of Israel...." (Isaiah 48:2)
The Book of Mormon states that priests of ancient Israel “do not stay themselves on the God of Israel...” (1 Nephi 20:2)
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King James Bible; Isaiah 29:10, reads, “For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.”
Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 27:5 corrects this passage to read: “The Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep. For behold, ye have closed your eyes, and ye have rejected the prophets; and your rulers, and the seers hath he covered because of your iniquity”
Those few words make a big difference in the meaning!
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Source & Information and Additional Information:
Book of Mormon Commentary on Isaiah, (Ensign Sept. 1998)
Why does the Book of Mormon match the King James Version of the Bible so closely?, (FairMormom)
Isaiah Variants in the Book of Mormon, (BYU Religious Education, by John A. Tvedtnes)
If the Book of Mormon is an accurate translation, why would it contain translational errors that exist in the King James Bible? (Fair Mormon)