Why are the quoted chapters of Isaiah exactly the same in the Book of Mormon as the Old Testament? If they were once plain and precious, wouldn't Nephi's also be plain and precious? Are they exactly the same because the LDS version of the Bible used the quoted versions from the Book of Mormon? Maybe this is the more plain and precious version! I have always wondered about that. Does anybody know??
Well I was fascinated to find a partial answer in the footnotes for 2 Nephi 12:2 today:
"Comparison with the King James Bible in English shows that there are differences in more than half of the 433 verses of Isaiah quoted in the Book of Mormon, while about 200 verses have the same wording as KJV."
WhAt?!? There actually are differences in how Isaiah is quoted in the Book of Mormon from the actual Book of Isaiah? I was sure glad I was reading my actual Book of Mormon today instead of the online version, otherwise I would have never caught that. My eye was drawn down to the bottom of my scriptures because it was such a long footnote. And with a little more searching I found a few more verses that were worded differently. The thing is though, they were only worded slightly differently like one or two words in the whole verse. For example, 2 Nephi 12:2--
"2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, awhen the bmountain of the Lord’s chouse shall be established in the top of the dmountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it."
Now Isaiah 2:2--
"2 And it shall come to pass in the alast days, that the bmountain of the Lord’s chouse shall be destablished in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all enations shall flow unto it."
Very subtle difference in the words "when" and "that." So I feel my question isn't fully answered because they are still so similar! How can that be if the Bible was changed so much? I am starting to wonder if the KJV version of Isaiah really does have the plain and precious things taken out of it, like I had previously assumed... Maybe this is just how Isaiah wrote, so that only those truly in tune to the Spirit and desirous to understand would get what he was trying to say. And like beautiful poetry, would find his words so symoblic and varied in meaning that it would capture the essence of the gospel with so much more depth than just coming out saying, ok this is how it is... Follow steps A through Z and you will make it to heaven. I wonder??
Another great thing I found out with a little more searching is that the actual cross references to 2 Nephi 12-24 are quite different than those of Isaiah 2-14. It was so cool to see different insights in each version. Now I can get twice the help and understanding for Isaiah that I so desperately need!
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