The Isaiah Passages in the Book of Mormon: a Non-Aligned Text
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Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 2001 The Isaiah Passages in the Book of Mormon: A Non-Aligned Text Carol F. Ellertson Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, and the Mormon Studies Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Ellertson, Carol F., "The Isaiah Passages in the Book of Mormon: A Non-Aligned Text" (2001). Theses and Dissertations. 4663. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4663 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. THE ISAIAH PASSAGES IN THE BOOK OF MORMON A NON ALIGNED TEXT by carol F elleilellertsoneilertsonEliertsonentsonernson A thesis submitted to the faculty of brigham young university in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements for the degree of master ofarts the david M kennedy center brigham young university august 2001 copyright 0 2001 carol F ellertson all rights reserved BRIGHAM YOUNG university GRADUATE COMMITTEE APPROVAL of a thesis submitted by carol frogley ellertson this thesis has been read by each member ofthe following graduate committee and by majority vote has been found to be satisfactory j3njsnjan adraar J am date 3mdonald W parry chair XL n p 1 Dtad J 2212&j2oap6pa ada2da 5tw6o b kabk4b datetjd stephiabinb ricks 25 4 W L date paul Y Hhoiss6i0 Is U in BRIGHAM YOUNG university As chair of the candidates graduate committee I1 have read the thesis of carol F ellertson in its final form and have found that 1 its format citations and bibliographical style are consistent and acceptable and fulfill university and department style requirements 2 its illustrative materials including figures tables and charts are in place and 3 the final manuscript is satisfactory to the graduate committee and is ready for submission to the university library 1 03oa jrsnqi adf I o3j31 51 rj datejrpn donald W parry chair graduate committee accepted for the department accepted for the college donaldnaid B holsinger director david M kennedy center for international studies ivIV ABSTRACT THE ISAIAH PASSAGES IN THE BOOK OF MORMON A NON ALIGNED TEXT carol F ellertson the david M kennedy center master of arts since the advent ofthe dead sea scrolls four biblical textual scholars have emerged at the forefront of the dialogue concerning textual evolution they are frank moore cross emanuel tov Shemaryashemaryahuhu talmon and eugene ulrich though there is some overlap in their hypotheses each scholar has put forth a framework ofbiblical textual development in light of these new discoveries if a new biblical text were discovered today how would each scholar approach it this thesis evaluates each scholars views and concludes that emanuel tovskovs criteria for judging a newly discovered text is the most thorough and explanatory tovskovs views provide for texts that appear to have evolved away from other known biblical texts his descriptive categories for discovered texts recognize the possibility that a discovered text could be unaligned with any text known thus far to the scholarly world he terms this category non aligned the other scholars do not provide for such a category they assume that all texts are closely related in families or literary editions and that all texts evolved in relative close proximity to one other with either occasional or frequent contact book ofmormon isaiah was removed from the biblical textual evolutionary process that was takingtailingtalking place in palestine ca 600 BC where does it fit into this process as put forth by scholars Is it a text closely related to any ofthe families described by these four scholars this thesis evaluates the textual variants between book ofmormon isaiah and isaiah in the septuagint the masoretic text and Qumraqumransns isaiah scrolls of the 433 verses of isaiah in the book of mormon 216 50 contain 370 variants 119 of these are related to italicized words in the king james version 76 variants appear to agree with the septuagint 28 agree with isaiah at quaranqumran 52 are supported by the masoretic text and 150 variants are non aligned these facts are accurately predicted and explained by emanuel tovskovs theories ofthe four he is the only scholar that conceives of the idea of a text not closely aligned with any other extant text book ofmormon isaiah contains approximately 13 of the chapters in the masoretic text using tovskovs theories when 433 verses contain 370 variants this fits the criteria of an independent or non aligned text book of mormon isaiah is a proof text for his theories CONTENTS definitiontermsDefinition Terms 3 part 1 introduction 5 biblical textual evolution since quaranqumran 7 frank moore cross 11 Shemaryashemaryahuhu talmontaimon 22 emanuel tov 27 eugene ulrich 32 how would each scholar view and evaluate a previously unknown recently discovered text 35 cross 35 talmontaimon 36 ulrich 38 tov 40 part 2 the variants in book of mormon isaiahisaiah4343 preliminary information on isaiah at quaranqumran 43 previous studies on book of mormon isaiah variantsvariants5050 the evolution of book of mormon isaiah 53 variants in book of mormon isaiah 55 evaluation ofthe variants 57 viivilvn part 3 conclusion 71 the book of mormon variants are accurately predicted and explained by TOYS theories 71 cross theory has no category for B ofofmM isaiahisaiah7474 talmonssalmonsTalmons view of a new text ofisaiah 75 ulrichs view of a new text of isaiah 78 variants with support from hebrew literary devicesdevices8282 A final word book of mormon serves as a proof text85text 85 appendix 87 table I11 verse comparison 88 table 2 book ofmormon variants with LXX supportsupportl75175 table 3 book of mormon variants supported by Qq176176 table 4 book of mormon variants supported by M against KJV 177 table 5 book of mormon variants that restore poetic parallel patterns in isaiah 178 bibliography 179 vinviiivill CHARTS chart A the local text theory 12 chart B the strengths and weaknesses of each ScholarscholartheoriesseholartheoriesTheories 42 ixIX definition OF TERMS abinadi A book of mormon prophet who quoted isaiah in his prophesying ca 148 BC see mosiah 14 conflation A combination of readings from different texts or different parts of the same text consonantal text the ancient text of the hebrew bible that consisted of consonants only before the Masomasoretesretes rabbis added vowels from the sixth to the ninth century brass plates A scriptural record kept by laban and retrieved by nephi and his brothers as they left palestine spoken ofin the book ofmormon and containing the law part of the books ofthe prophets and the writings as well as the genealogy of lents family istast1 I1st nephi 51116511 16 dittography A copying error occurring when a scribe copied a letter or several letters twice gloss A scribal insertion intended to explain an obscure word or phrase hexapla six column work oforigenoforigen contained the hebrew text greek transliteration ofthe hebrew the revisions ofaquilaaquliaofaquila symmachusSymmachus and theodotiontheodocionTheodotion as well as brigensorigensOrigens own revision of the septuagint haplography A copying error involving a loss oftext when two identical or similar letters or groups of letters occur in sequence and are copied only once harmonization the elimination of contradictions within a text by a scribal insertion or alteration jacob A book of mormon prophet who quoted isaiah in his prophesying see 2 nephi 686 8 kethiekethiv that which is written text variants represented by the consonants that are writtenprintedwritten printed in the text laban keeper of the scriptural record for lehislehtsgehis extended family in palestine lehiteslekites A group of israelites consisting chiefly of a family headed by father lehilehtlehllehr that immigrated from palestine to the new world ca 600 BC they are spoken of in the book of mormon local text A text type whose similarities are explained according to a hypothesized common geographic origin maccabean pertaining to the maccabees who reigned in judea from ca 167 to 37 BC masoretic text M the traditional rabbinic text of the hebrew bible deriving from certain tiberian families ofthe sixth to tenth centuries ad and characterized by vocalization and bassoraMasmassorasora bassoramassora A corpus of notes on the text and transmission ofthe hebrew bible morphology the patterns of word formation in a particular language nephi son ofoflehilehilehlthe first prophetrecordprophet record keeper in the book of mormon for which the books of first nephi and second nephi are named old greek the original greek translation ofthe hebrew forerunner ofthe LXX 2 orthography the rules and conventions of spelling poetic parallelisms words phrases or sentences which correspond compare or contrast one with another or are found to be in repetition one with another proto masoretic text the text family with greatest representation in the biblical manuscripts at quaranqumran very similar to the consonantal text later preserved by the Masomasoretesretes paleography the study of ancient scripts their form and development pentateuch the first five books of the old testament quaranqumran formally khirbet quaranqumran an archearcheologicalarchaeologicalological site on the northwest coast of the dead sea where the dead sea scrolls were found qere that which is read text