According to Donald Parry, parallelism is universally recognized as the characteristic feature of biblical Hebrew poetry. Chiasmus is a form of inverted parallelism in which the important words or ideas are conveyed in the pattern A-B-C-D-D-C-B-A. . . . A good example is found in Mosiah 15:20-23:
19. For were it not for the redemption which he hath made for his people, which was prepared from the foundation of the world, I say unto you, were it not for this, all mankind must have perished.
A But behold, the bands of death
B shall be broken.
C and the Son reigneth,
D and hath power over the dead;
E therefore, he bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead.
F And there cometh a resurrection,
G even a first resurrection;
H yea, even a resurrection of those that have been, and who are, and who shall be,
I even until the resurrection
J of Christ--
J for so shall he be called.
I And now, the resurrection
H of all the prophets, and all those that have believed in their words, or all those that have kept
the commandments of God,
G shall come forth in the first resurrection;
F therefore, they are in the first resurrection.
E They are raised to dwell with God who has redeemed them;
D thus they have eternal life
C through Christ,
B who has broken
A the bands of death.
[Donald W. Parry, The Book of Mormon Text Reformatted according to Parallelistic Patterns, p. 171]