David E. Bokovoy and John A. Tvedtnes discuss the Semitic background to "head(s)" in the Book of Mormon.

Date
2003
Type
Book
Source
David Bokovoy
LDS
Hearsay
Direct
Reference

David E. Bokovoy and John A. Tvedtnes, Testaments: Links between the Book of Mormon and the Hebrew Bible (Tooele, UT: Heritage Press, 2003), 204

Scribe/Publisher
Heritage Press
People
John A. Tvedtnes, David Bokovoy
Audience
Reading Public
PDF
Transcription

Jacob wrote that Nephi instructed him regarding Nephite sacred preaching, revelations, and prophesies that “I should engraven the heads of them upon these plates” (Jacob 1:4). We really expect something more like “most important” to be used here. Indeed, the Hebrew word for the head of the body is sometimes used to describe things as “chief’ (Deuteronomy 33:15; Psalm 137:6; Proverbs 1:21; Amos 6:1) or “precious” (Song of Solomon 4:14; Ezekiel 27:22), which is probably the sense in which Jacob used the word.

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