Eric Skousen (personal communication, 19 August 2003) has noted that there seems to be a problem here with the use of the word say. We expect rather write (thus “when he had written this”) since moments earlier Korihor had been struck dumb and was consequently writing to Alma and the chief judge:
Over the years, various readers have noted a potential problem with having the chief judge write to Korihor in verse 51:
The chief judge, one might think, could have spoken to Korihor, given that later Alma seems to have spoken directly to Korihor:
Nonetheless, as we shall see, it is more likely that Alma actually wrote what he “said” to Korihor.
When we look at the larger context here in Alma 30, we find that the text uses the word saying to refer to what is specifically being written:
These two examples clearly show that anything written can be thought of as being said. Thus the two subsequent examples that refer to Korihor and Alma as saying something does not necessarily mean that they actually spoke these words:
Here the verb say is more general and basically means ‘to communicate’. Moreover, Korihor was probably also struck deaf, so that he would not have been able to hear if the chief judge and Alma had actually spoken to him. In fact, deafness might have been a contributing factor in Korihor’s death in Antionum, the land of the Zoramites:
There are at least eight other cases in the Book of Mormon where something written is referred to as saying something:
This usage is also in the King James Bible and reflects a literal translation of the Hebrew and the Greek:
The last of these is particularly relevant since Zacharias, like Korihor, had been struck dumb and was forced to communicate by writing, yet the King James Bible literally translates the Greek as wrote saying. The form lego¯n ‘saying’ comes from the Greek verb legein, which means ‘to speak’; legein is related to logos ‘word’, which generally refers to thought and conceptualization, especially communication and only more specifically to speaking. Thus the use of “wrote saying” means ‘wrote thus communicating’. As pointed out by David Calabro (personal communication), Zacharias (like Korihor) was also deaf since in the previous verse the text explains that “they made signs to his father how he would have him called” (Luke 1:62). Undoubtedly, Zacharias’s asking for a writing tablet was also done with signs.
Summary: The Book of Mormon text frequently uses the verb say when quoting what someone has written; similar examples can be found in the King James Bible; in Alma 30, Korihor wrote after he was struck dumb, as stated in verse 52 (“and Korihor put forth his hand and wrote saying”) and by implication in verse 54 (“now when he had said this”); this same conclusion applies to Alma’s reply to Korihor in verse 55 (“and Alma said unto him”) since earlier in verse 51 the text refers to the chief judge as writing to Korihor (“he put forth his hand and wrote unto Korihor saying”), probably because Korihor had also been struck deaf.