View source for Source:Nibley:CW06:Ch6:3:Nephi's authentic Arabian desert language and imagery

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|category=Book of Mormon/Anthropology/Culture/Old World
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==Nephi's authentic Arabian desert language and imagery==

Shortly after landing in America, Nephi himself took his tents and all who would follow him and continued his wanderings in the new land as in the old ({{s|2|Nephi|5|5}}). The great man in his old age still speaks the language of the desert: "I may walk in the path of the low valley, that I may be strict in the plain road" ({{s|2|Nephi|4|32—33}}) is the purest Bedouin talk for "May I stick to the ''wady'' and not get off the clearly marked mainline that everyone follows!" One hears the echo of innumerable old desert inscriptions in his prayer: "O Lord, wilt thou make a way for mine escape before mine enemies! Wilt thou make my path straight before me! Wilt thou not place a stumbling block in my way—but that thou wouldst clear my way before me, and hedge not up my way, but the ways of mine enemy" ({{s|2|Nephi|4|33}}). The immemorial desert custom which required a sheikh to place the edge of his robe (''kuffah'') over the back of anyone seeking his protection is clearly recalled in Nephi's cry: "O Lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness!" ({{s|2|Nephi|4|33}}).<ref>{{Book:Nibley:CW06|pages=[http://publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1107&index=9 Chapter 6], {{sofr}}}}</ref></onlyinclude>

{{Endnotes sources}}

[[Category:Hugh Nibley]]
[[Category:An Approach to the Book of Mormon]]
[[Category:Collected Works of Hugh Nibley Vol. 06]]
[[Category:Egypt]]
[[Category:Bedouin|Bedouin]]
[[Category:Book of Mormon/Anthropology/Language/Hebraisms/Poetry|Poetry]]