King James English in the Book of Mormon

An oddity in the Book of Mormon, published in 1830, is that it uses antiquated English resembling the style of the King James Version (KJV) Bible.

• Joseph Smith's other writings, such as his history and diary, reflect the Modern English era of his day. Thus the Book of Mormon was deliberately written to read like the antiquated KJV.

Overkill: the King James Versionization of the Book of Mormon

Skeptics say the author tried too hard to make the narrative read like the KJV.

The author labored to give his words and phrases the quaint old fashioned sound and structure of our King James translation of the scriptures. The result is a mongrel, half modern glibness and half ancient simplicity and gravity. The latter is awkward and constrained, the former natural, but grotesque by the contrast. Whenever he found his speech growing too modern, which was about every sentence or two, he labeled in a few such scriptural phrases as, "exceeding sore," "and it came to pass," etc. and made things satisfactory again. "And it came to pass," was his pet. If he had left that out, his bible would have been only a pamphlet.

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Mark Twain, Roughing It, p.127-128

• "and it came to pass"
  Readers of the KJV will recognize this phrase. The Book of Mormon uses it proportionately 882% more than the KJV. To contrast, the phrase is used about once every 100 verses in the KJV, and about 1 in 5 verses in the Book of Mormon.
• "exceedingly"
  "Exceedingly" is used in the Book of Mormon proportionately 1,963% more than in the KJV.
• Other words that are magnified in frequency in the Book of Mormon when compared to the KJV.

  Word	Usage	Word	Usage	Word	Usage
  insomuch	2,586%	notwithstanding	558%	whoso	233%
  naught	1,800%	nevertheless	536%	smitten	224%
  durst	1,267%	meaneth	533%	ye	208%
  beholdest	1,100%	hitherto	417%	thus	199%
  inasmuch	1,033%	oft	400%	doth	191%
  believest	1,000%	wherefore	355%	bringeth	175%
  repenteth	850%	wax	350%	hearken	167%
  beheld	711%	whoredomes	300%	iniquity	152%
  didst	633%	nay	259%	wroth	150%

• In his zeal to make the narrative antiquated, the author went overboard in adding "-est", "-eth", "-st", etc.

  advocateth	allotteth	atoneth	awaiteth	beginneth
  beheldest	beholdest	cheateth	claimeth	comprehendeth
  confoundeth	counseleth	covenanteth	decreeth	deniest
  enacteth	exlaimeth	fulfilleth	granteth	shouldst
  manifesteth	mattereth	mingleth	murdereth	sweepeth
  numbereth	overpowereth	pretendeth	scorcheth	turneth
  showeth	spouteth	spurneth	supposeth
  swelleth	tortureth	trampleth	transformeth
  whispereth	wondereth	wouldst	yoketh

Conclusion

An 1830 translation should read like the language of the 1800's, not 1600's Victorian English.

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