Continuing with more
of our reader’s comments and our responses, and information about Royal
Skousen’s CriticalTest Project and Webster’s monumental dictionary.
8. Drugs. “But
they are cast out, and consigned to partake of the fruits of their labors or
their works, which have been evil; and they drink the dregs of a bitter cup”
(Alma 40:26).
In another case of a word being
changed that should not have, and Skousen agreeing with the change that alters
the meaning of the statement when changing the original word “drugs” in a later
revision to the word “dregs.”
Webster: Dregs means sediment,
grounds, waste; drugs, as a noun, means: deadly drug or a deadly poison.
In the scripture above, those
who have been evil will not just drink the dregs, or sediment, of their work;
but will drink the poison of the bitter cup, cutting them off from eternal
progression and exaltation.
Joseph Smith’s original
transcription of the word “drugs” is correct. “Dregs” is far too mild of a word
to substitute the horrendous results await those living an evil life.
9. Wrecked. “My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is
pained no more” (Mosiah 27:29).
This is a case where
a difference of opinion determined a change in the scriptural record.
Originally, the word transcribed and written down was “wrecked,” not “racked.”
Racked means “tortured,
tormented, strained to the utmost.” By the way, tortured means “tormented.”
Wrecked,on the other
hand, means “dashed on the rocks, stranded and ruined.”
Skousen claims Cowdery should
have written down “My soul was racked (tormented) with eternal torment;
however, as can be seen, that is merely repeating the same word and meaning
twice (my soul was tormented with
eternal torment), and would not have been the original meaning of the sentence
since nowhere are word meanings repeated in the scriptural record or Hebrew
writing.
On the other hand, “my soul was
dashed, it was stranded and ruined with eternal torment,” is a correct
phraseology, especially since the next part of the sentence reads: “but I am
snatched, and my soul is pained no more.” Thus, Joseph’s original translation
would have read “My soul hath been
redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the
darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was wrecked
with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more,” i.e.,
his soul was redeemed from its ruined state of torment (torture) and seized
suddenly by the marvelous light of God and he has been redeemed (delivered)
from the bitter gall (bitterness of mind and malignity) of iniquity. That
is, his soul was dashed, it was
stranded and ruined with eternal torment, but he was snatched (seized
suddenly), and his soul was pained no more.
Once again, making the change
from the original loses some in the translation from its original intent.
Joseph Smith was correct with his first interpretation and the scribe wrote it
down correctly.
10. Wrapped. “And the earth should be wrapped together as a scroll” (3
Nephi 26:3).
Skousen claims that “wrapped” in
this case meant “roll” from 1350-1650, and then not used afterward and was
archaic in Joseph Smith’s day. He then went into a lengthy discussion on the
meaning of the verse that it was to roll all things together.
However, Webster in 1828 defines
wrapped as not only “wind,” but also to “cover, involve, hide, inclose in
secrecy or obscurity,” and “to involve totally,” which is the correct
explanation of the verse.
We need to keep in mind what the
overall scripture is talking about before we start recommending changes or
other meanings. First of all, in the two other verses Skousen draws attention
to in the use of this word we find:
1. “And Elijah took his mantle
and wrapped it together and smote the
waters” (2 Kings 2:8);
2. “And
the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself”
(John 20:7)
The first no doubt means rolled,
but the second means folded, both modern renditions of wrapped.
So how was “wrapped” used in the
Book of Mormon? Well, in checking the overall meaning, we find that Jesus was
chiding the Nephites in their not having some of the scriptures (3 Nephi
23:11-13), then expounded upon all the scriptures they had brought up to date
(3 Nephi 23:14), then commanded the Nephites to write the words which the
Father had given unto Malachi (3 Nephi 24:1), then Jesus expounded upon those
words of Malachi they had written down (3 Nephi 26:1), saying, “These
scriptures, which ye had not with you, the Father commanded that I should give
unto you; for it was wisdom in him that they should be given unto future
generations” (3 Nephi 26:2).
Christ then expounded
all things, “even from the beginning until the time that he should come in his
glory -- yea, even all things which should come upon the face of the earth,
even until the elements should melt with fervent heat, and the earth should be wrapped together as a scroll, and the
heavens and the earth should pass away” (3 Nephi 26:3). In fact, Christ spoke
about “even unto the great and last day, when all people, and all kindreds, and
all nations and tongues shall stand before God, to be judged of their works,
whether they be good or whether they be evil” (3 Nephi 26:4). Mormon then
concludes this thought with: “And now there cannot be written in this
book even a hundredth part of the things which Jesus did truly teach unto the
people; But behold the plates of Nephi do contain the more part of the things
which he taught the people” (3 Nephi 26:6-7).
Now, within this idea, Mormon
tells us by quoting a little of what Christ said and expounded upon, that this
information—Christ’s explanation of these scriptures he made sure the Nephites
included—would not be available to us, that it would be wrapped in secrecy or
inclosed, which means to surround, to shut in, to confine on all sides, to
separate from common grounds, to encompass, (there was no use of the word “enclose” in 1828). In this simple
statement that Skousen wants to change because he must not understand it, the
Lord is telling the Nephites that the full gospel as he was expounding upon,
clear to the end of time, would be hidden, secret, obscure to people in general
“until the time that he should come in his glory –
"Yea, even all things
which should come upon the face of the earth, even until the elements should
melt with fervent heat, and the earth should be wrapped together as a scroll
(covered, inclosed, hidden), totally involving all things—that is, all of this
shall be wrapped together as a scroll, meaning kept within the inclosure
(separated, shut up or encompassed), that is held in obscurity until the end
time.
We find, then, as
Webster defines the word in use in 1828, that “wrapped” is the correct word in
this case, and Joseph Smith, once again, used the correct word and the scribe
wrote it down correctly. This is borne out by Mormon’s concluding remarks on
this subject: “And these things have I written, which are a lesser part
of the things which he taught the people; and I have written them to the intent
that they may be brought again unto this people, from the Gentiles, according
to the words which Jesus hath spoken. And when they shall have received this,
which is expedient that they should have first, to try their faith, and if it
shall so be that they shall believe these things then shall the greater things
be made manifest unto them” (3 Nephi 26:8-9).
(See the next post, “The
Critical Text Project or Webster’s 1828 Dictionary: An Interesting
Comparison-PtIX,” for more of the reader’s comments and our responses, and
information about Royal Skousen’s project and Webster’s monumental dictionary)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment