“I and My Brethren Did Consult”

Alan C. Miner

Angela Crowell asserts that in Biblical Hebrew, when the compound subject consists of different persons, the first person (the person speaking) precedes any others (Davidson 1950:159). In proper English usage, the order is reversed: the speaker always comes last. We say, "My father and I" instead of "I and my father," as in Hebrew. This phenomenon in Hebrew is a literal translation, i.e., "I" is written in Hebrew before "and my father." A good example of this is found in 1 Nephi 3:10, "I and my brethren did consult . . . " [Angela M. Crowell, "Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon," in Recent Book of Mormon Developments, Vol. 2, p. 6]

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

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