This study has shown that while the possibility could always exist in the minds of some that the Book of Mormon was plagerized from some other source; there was almost no evidence found which would support the idea of Joseph Smith's having used Ethan Smith as a springboard in his use of Isaiah and the other Old Testament prophets.

Fawn M Brodie may find need to re-evaluate her statement that Joseph Smith had erred in following too closely Ethan Smith's example of his copious and exclusive use of Isaiah. Although Joseph Smith was almost exclusive in his use of Isaiah from the books of the Old Testament, the 6 percent the Isaiah verses contributed to the Book of Mormon was by no means a copious contribution. Even though Ethan Smith was certainly copious in his quoting and referring to Old Testament prophets, he was by no means exclusive in his use of the prophet Isaiah the study of the Isaiah passages used in the Book of Mormon and View of the Hebrews definitely showed that Joseph Smith did not use Ethan Smith as a reference for the Isaiah passages found in the Book of Mormon.

FINDINGS

1. Since View of the Hebrews was published prior to the Book of Mormon, the possibility of Ethan Smith being a springboard for Joseph Smith did exist in the minds of some critics.

2. Though Palmyra, New York and Poultney, Vermont were in close geographical proximity, proof has never been established that Joseph Smith ever knew of Ethan Smith or any of his works.

3. The Book of Mormon quoted Isaiah passages more exclusively than did Ethan Smith, in that the Book of Mormon makes very few references to other Old Testament prophets.

4. With all the changes which were made by both men from the Isaiah text, only in leaving out the word "their" in Isaiah 3:18 were these changes exactly the same.

5. Ethan Smith's purpose for using Isaiah and the other Old Testament prophets was to add proofs for his thesis of the Ten Tribes being the ancestors of the American Indians. The Book of Mormon prophets used Isaiah's teachings to give further instructions on the concepts of the gospel.

6. The changes Ethan Smith made in the Isaiah text were to support his thoughts on the dispersion and gathering of the Ten Tribes. The changes Joseph Smith made in the Isaiah text were to bring Isaiah's teachings closer to the truths as he understood them and to clarify the meaning.

7. The similarities of usage of other Old Testament prophets in the two books were almost non-existant.

8. The Book of Mormon introduces added prophets to ponder about in referring to Neum, Zenoch, and Zenos.

CONCLUSIONS

1. Little if any connection was shown between Ethan Smith using Isaiah and the use of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon.

2. The dissimilarities between the ways the two authors used Isaiah's writings greatly outnumbered any similarities which might exist.

3. There was almost no correlation with the other Old Testament prophets in the two books.

4. The evidence showed that Joseph Smith borrowed nothing from Isaiah portions of View of the Hebrews in publishing the Book of Mormon.