Where Are the Seas?

In order to understand the writing of Mormon and his description of the seas around the Land of Promise, it helps to understand the meaning of the word he uses and Joseph Smith translated. First of all, the Hebrew word for sea/ocean is: “yam-mîm” יַמִּ֑ים  In fact, yâ m meaning “sea’ is used 396 times in the Old Testament.

The sea is an expanse of salt water that covers most of the earth's surface and surrounds its landmasses

In 1828, that word “sea” meant: “The ocean; as, to go to sea. The fleet is at sea, or on the high seas. The swell of the ocean in a tempest, or the direction of the waves; as, we head the sea.” The word “ocean” meant: The vast body of water which covers more than three fifths of the surface of the globe, called also the sea.”
    Thus, “ocean” and “sea” are interchangeable words with the same meaning. So when we find Nephi writing that “we did put forth into the sea and were driven forth before the wind towards the promised land” 1 Nephi 18:8), we can see he meant “ocean” or the Great Sea that covers most of the Earth. At the same time, when Jacob said, “the Lord has made the sea our path, and we are upon an isle of the sea” (2 Nephi 10:20), we can see that he was referring to the ocean over which they sailed. And that the island upon which they dwelt was in the midst of that ocean or sea.
    We can also see that when Mormon writes about the “Sea East” and the “Sea West” (Alma 22:27), he is referring to the oceans that surrounded the Land Southward (Alma 22:32). Thus, when Mormon abridges Helaman’s writing and states that “they did multiply and spread, and did go forth from the land southward to the land northward, and did spread insomuch that they began to cover the face of the whole earth, from the sea south to the sea north, from the sea west to the sea east” (Helaman 3:8), we can see that this island upon which Jacob said they were located, had seas all around it, which the Nephites referred to as directional seas, i.e., North, East, South, and West seas.
    For those theorists who love to misquote the Biblical text, let us consider the meaning of the word sea as used there:
• “And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:10).
• “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (Genesis 1:28).
    These two verses are speaking of the entire earth, separating land, the seas/oceans, etc. They are not talking about rivers or lakes.
• “Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon” (Genesis 49:13).

A haven which is a harbor or port that provides safety from the open sea

Haven: A harbor; a port; a bay, recess or inlet of the sea which affords good anchorage and a safe station for ships; a shelter; an asylum; a place of safety. Thus, a haven is applied to a place of security from the ocean, not a river.
• “They shall call the people unto the mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness: for they shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand” (Deuteronomy 33;19)
    Sand and sea are not conducive to a river, no matter how large—these are terms applied to the ocean.
• “For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up” (Job 6:3)
    Again, sand of the sea is the sand of the ocean, not of a lake or river.
• “The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas” (Psalm 8:8).
    The paths of the sea are the winds and currents that allow ships to sail along certain “paths” across the oceans. Such terminology does not apply to lakes or rivers.
• “Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea” (Psalm 46:2)
    Midst: The middle; surrounded by; in the depths of; in the midst of the ocean. It would be difficult to have a mountain carried into a river or lake—this instance obviously means sea or ocean.
• “Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people” (Psalm 65:7).
    The noise of the sea and the noise of the waves has to do with the ocean, not a river or lake.
• “Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moveth therein” (Psalm 69:34).
    Everything that moveth therein obviously relates to the oceans, where there is an abundant of life in its depths. 
• “He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea” (Psalm 78:27).
    Again, sand of the sea has to do with the ocean, not rivers or lake.
• “Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!” (Isaish 17:12).
    Noise of the seas is the ocean, not lakes or rivers; so is the rushing of mighty waters—mighty does not refer to rivers or lakes but to the vast and powerful oceans.
• “Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas” (Jeremiah 15:8).

Sand of the seas, is the sands of the oceans. It is a phrase often used in the Biblical text referring to counting the sands of the seashore.
• “Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty” (Ezekiel 27:4)
    In the midst of the sea is the ocean—midst of the ocean. It is not said of a lake or river—the term in the midst of the river, or in the midst of the lake is not a used phrase, as in the midst of the sea.
• “The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas. by rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas” (Ezekiel 17:25-26)
    The ships of Tarshish (Spain)  sailed the Mediterranean—they were not on lakes or rivers; the great waters and the midst of the sea refers to the ocean, or Great Western Sea of the Mediterranean.
• “Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin” (Ezekiel 27:27).
    This has to do with the ships of Tarshish, which were built by the Phoenicians, who were traders and built a vast trading empire within the Mediterranean Sea. The Phoenician seamen gradually built a thriving merchant fleet, and as profits grew and technology advanced, they constructed larger ships that could handle longer voyages and were 100-feet long. These oceangoing vessels were called “ships of Tarshish” since they could undertake the 2,500-mile journey from Phoenicia to southern Spain, the location of Tarshish. After reaching Cyprus, Sardinia, and the Balearic Islands, the Phoenicians followed the North African coastline in a westerly direction until they reached Spain.
• “For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me” (Jonah 2:3).
    “In the deep,” and “in the midst of the sea” are both terms applied to the oceans—not a lake or river)

The Seas of the Book of Mormon

The point is, when we read the word “sea” in the scriptural record, it has to do with the ocean—a vast sea. Therefore, the East Sea, West Sea, North Sea and South Sea, mentioned in Helaman has reference to the vast ocean that surrounded the island Jacob stated they were upon. This vast island was narrowed near the middle to a “small narrow neck of land between the land northward and the land southward” (Alma 22:32). Thus, it cannot be said that anywhere in the Heartland or Great Lakes or even North America fits this description and the many others about the seas. Nor does Mesoamerican, for all John L. Sorenson’s manipulation of words in trying to make it seem so.