“Matt. 7:
6 ¶ Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
3 Ne. 14:
6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.’
Looks like someone was guilty of plagiarism.
Why does the Book of Mormon repeat so much text from the Bible?
Many have objected to the Book of Mormon's frequent use of Old Testament material, quoting from many passages, especially Isaiah, where entire chapters are quoted. In some cases, the Biblical text is reworked or interposed with commentary. For example, 2 Nephi 27 is primarily a quotation of Isaiah 29, but it appears the Nephi has expanded portions of that chapter to add further prophetic details about the Restoration of the Gospel. Some critics have said that God does not need to repeat Himself, and that the Book of Mormon must be a fraud because it unnecessarily repeats scripture that God already gave. Such critics show amazing ignorance of the Bible. The words of Christ and nearly all New Testament writers frequently repeat Old Testament passages. Hundreds of New Testament verses are repetitions of text from the Old Testament, often applied to new situations to make a particular point - just as we find in the Book of Mormon.
The recent discovery of other ancient Jewish texts adds further credibility to the Book of Mormon practice of quoting heavily from the Old Testament and reworking Old Testament passages for special purposes. For example, Marilyn J. Lundberg writing for the University of Southern California's West Semitic Research Project, discusses the ancient Dead Sea Scroll text, "The Words of Moses" (document 1Q22 [1QDM])
The content of the manuscript is heavily influenced by the biblical book of Deuteronomy, which is primarily a long speech by Moses to the people of Israel before they enter the land of Canaan. Deuteronomy itself reviews, quotes and reworks some of the material from Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. The Words of Moses reworks material from Deuteronomy. This is not at all surprising, since much of the literature of this time (3rd century B.C.E. to 1st century C.E.) is based on older biblical texts. It was a common practice, as we can see from many of the Dead Sea Scrolls, to take passages from the Bible and rework them in some way for a particular religious purpose. The Words of Moses was perhaps intended to serve as a reminder to the people to obey the commandments given by God through Moses. It may also have served as a warning of what would happen if they did not.
Book of Mormon passages that draw upon the Old Testament strive for the same purpose: to remind the people to obey God and warn of what would happen if they did not (and, more importantly, to convince people that Jesus Christ is the Messiah).
If the Book of Mormon did not draw upon the words of the Old Testament, then one could rightly question its Semitic origins. The use of previous Jewish scriptures in the Book of Mormon only adds to its credibility as an ancient text with Semitic origins. ~ jeff Lindsay
~”Looks like someone was guilty of plagiarism.”~
Are the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ different for one people than for another?
Why should it surprise us that God’s prophets taught the people in the New World the same truths as taught by God’s prophets to the people in the Old World? The same spirit of revelation was speaking to them all, after all.
The Book of Mormon was not meant to replace the Bible. It was meant to reinforce it.