How Does a French Word Get in the Book of Mormon? Jacob 7:27

Some Anti’s have made a big thing out of Jacob using this word to say “goodbye” and “God Bless You” in the same words. They say the French language was not developed until hundreds of years after Jacob’s time. True. Neither was the English language developed until hundreds of years later! Obviously, Jacob spoke neither English nor French! Get real!

The translator, Joseph Smith, Jr., used it, not Jacob. “Adieu” means more than “goodbye” as it literally means “To God” short for “Go with God” or “Travel with God” or “God Bless You As You Travel.” If Joseph had known the Spanish word, “Adios” he might have used it instead. It conveys the exact same meaning. However, there was very little, if any, Spanish influence in Western New York in the early 1800’s. On the other hand. French for traders had been coming to Western New Work for over a hundred years and their influence was definite.

The Hebrew word, “Lebitra-‘ot”-or an abbreviated form thereof-conveys the same meaning (a goodbye with a blessing rather than a simple goodbye) and would be more likely the word used on the plates. The reason I say “or an abbreviated form used on the plates. The reason I say “or an abbreviated form thereof” is revealed in Mormon 9:32-33 where it states that the reformed Egyptian was a shorthand version of Hebrew. When you consider that two pages of Hebrew takes fifteen pages of English for the translation from Hebrew to English, you can see the reformed Egyptian must have really been an abbreviated language! Hopefully you can see from this that the Anti’s are up to their old tricks-mix a little bit of truth with shallow or false logic. This is why we must have prophets and apostles to lead us, so, as Paul says, “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby, they lie in wait to deceive.” Ephesians 4:14 See also D&C 12:12.