Question: Is the phrase "a mock and a bye-word among all nations" in Gilbert Hunt's ''The Late War'' a "rare phrase"?

Revision as of 20:01, 27 June 2017 by FairMormonBot (talk | contribs) (Bot: Automated text replacement (-{{FME-Source\n\|title=(.*)\n\|category=(.*)\n}} +{{FairMormon}}))

FAIR Answers—back to home page

Question: Is the phrase "a mock and a bye-word among all nations" in Gilbert Hunt's The Late War a "rare phrase"?

The critics note that "These phrases are rare—meaning that they are not found in other contemporary books of Joseph's time, and that they are not found in the King James Version of the bible" [1]

Chris Johnson, Duane Johnson, ""A Comparison of The Book of Mormon and The Late War Between the United States and Great Britain," http://wordtreefoundation.github.io/thelatewar/

In order to make this a "rare phrase," the critics note that "mock" is synonymous with "hiss," and removed "and be hated" from the Book of Mormon

  • The Late War 2:9: "a mock and a bye-word among all nations"
  • Book of Mormon 1 Nephi 19:14: "a hiss and a by-word, and be hated among all nations"

The core phrase "a byword, among all nations" is not rare

  • Deuteronomy 28:37: "a byword, among all nations"
  • 2 Chronicles 7:20: "a byword among all nations"

If we expand the definition, as the critics did, to include synonymous words "nations," "heathen," and "people,"we find several other instances of the phrase

  • Psalms 44:14: "a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people"
  • Job 17:6: "a byword of the people"
  • 1 Kings 9:7: "a byword among all people"


Notes

  1. Chris Johnson, Duane Johnson, ""A Comparison of The Book of Mormon and The Late War Between the United States and Great Britain," http://wordtreefoundation.github.io/thelatewar/