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Plagiarism by Joseph Smith?

I'm sure that the references I make in this section can be found elsewhere. They are examples that I found while preparing my lessons:

Mosiah 20:1-5 Judges 21:20-23
NOW there was a place in Shemlon where the daughters of the Lamanites did gather themselves together to sing, and to dance, and to make themselves merry. And it came to pass that there was one day a small number of them gathered together to sing and to dance. And now the priests of king Noah, being shamed to return to the city of Nephi, yea, and also fearing that the people would slay them, therefore they durst not return to their wives and their children. And having tarried in the wilderness, and having discovered the daughters of the Lamanites, they laid and watched them; And when there were but few of them gathered together to dance, they came forth out of their secret places and took them and carried them into the wilderness; yea, twenty and four of the daughters of the Lamanites they carried into the wilderness. Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, Be favourable unto them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not give unto them at this time, [that] ye should be guilty. And the children of Benjamin did so, and took [them] wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them.

  • It appears that Moroni 10:8-17 was adapted from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians:

    Moroni 10:8-17 1 Cor 12:4-11
    And again, I exhort you, my brethren, that ye deny not the gifts of God, for they are many; and they come from the same God. And there are different ways that these gifts are administered; but it is the same God who worketh all in all; and they are given by the manifestations of the Spirit of God unto men, to profit them. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
    For behold, to one is given by the Spirit of God, that he may teach the word of wisdom; And to another, that he may teach the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
    And to another, exceedingly great faith; and to another, the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
    And again, to another, that he may work mighty miracles; And again, to another, that he may prophesy concerning all things; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy;
    And again, to another, the beholding of angels and ministering spirits; to another discerning of spirits;
    And again, to another, all kinds of tongues; And again, to another, the interpretation of languages and of divers kinds of tongues. to another [divers] kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
    And all these gifts come by the Spirit of Christ; and they come unto every man severally, according as he will. But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

  • It appears that 2 Nephi 4:17 was adapted from Romans 7:24:

    2 Nephi 4:17 Romans 7:24
    Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

  • The final address of King Benjamin appears to have benefited from the farewell address of Paul to the Ephesians:

    Mosiah 2 Acts 20
    29 And moreover, I say unto you that I have caused that ye should assemble yourselves together, that I might declare unto you that I can no longer be your teacher, nor your king; 25 And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.
    28 I say unto you that I have caused that ye should assemble yourselves together that I might rid my garments of your blood, at this period of time when I am about to go down to my grave, that I might go down in peace, and my immortal spirit may join the choirs above in singing the praises of a just God. 26 Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I [am] pure from the blood of all [men].
    32 But, O my people, beware lest there shall arise contentions among you, and ye list to obey the evil spirit, which was spoken of by my father Mosiah. 29-30 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
    12 I say unto you that as I have been suffered to spend my days in your service, even up to this time, and have not sought gold nor silver nor any manner of riches of you;
    14 And even I, myself, have labored with mine own hands that I might serve you, and that ye should not be laden with taxes, and that there should nothing come upon you which was grievous to be borne--and of all these things which I have spoken, ye yourselves are witnesses this day.     		33 I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel.



    34 Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.

  • Although the best examples (Isaiah, Sermon on the Mount, Gifts of the Spirit) have already been mentioned above, here's another one that was harder to detect:

    Helaman 12:25 And I would that all men might be saved. But we read (in the New Testament) that in the great and last day there are some who shall be cast out, yea, who shall be cast off from the presence of the Lord; 2 Thessalonians 1:9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
    Helaman 12:26 Yea, who shall be consigned to a state of endless misery, fulfilling the words (in the New Testament) which say: They that have done good shall have everlasting life; and they that have done evil shall have everlasting damnation. And thus it is. Amen. John 5:29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.(Even the punctuation after life ";" has been copied).

    Use of the name "JEHOVAH"

    2 Nephi 22:2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation.

    Isaiah 12:2 Behold, God [is] my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH [is] my strength and [my] song; he also is become my salvation.

    The name Jehovah did not exist until the Reformation when Reformation translators misapplied the vowel pointings for the name of God. The fact that Jehovah is used in the quotation from Isaiah exactly as it was improperly done in the KJV provides support to the claim that Joseph Smith copied (with minor modifications) Isaiah from the KJV. Another problem is that the BoM doesn't indicate Lord as LORD as we have in the KJV. This is important because LORD means the same thing as Jehovah (Yahweh) and does not translate as Lord or lord. It is most unlikely that the Golden Plates were written with the same mistaken name for God that was made over two thousand years later during the Reformation.

    Use of the name "LUCIFER"

    Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

    2 Nephi 24:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! Art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations!

    The question here is the use of Lucifer. This scripture makes reference to the bright morning star we now know as the planet Venus. In the ancient world, they didn't know that Venus appeared as both a morning star and as an early evening star, so they gave the morning and evening appearances different names. The Hebrew name for the morning star was heylel {hay-lale'} a masculine noun. We don't get Lucifer from the Hebrews but from the Romans, who using Latin called the morning star Lucifer, the evening star was called Vesper. The Greeks called the morning star Hesperos and the evening star was called Phosphoros. "Lucifer" came to the KJV through the Latin Vulgate and the interpretation of the early Catholic Church that associated the name Lucifer with Satan. As in 41, it is most unlikely that the Brass Plates would have had a Latin word in them and again points to a strong relationship between the KJV and the BoM.

    The prophet Jeremiah's warning about false prophets!

    Therefore, behold, I [am] against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words (many parts of the Book of Mormon and D&C) every one from his neighbour. Behold, I [am] against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith (D&C). Behold, I [am] against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies (plural wives), and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.

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