“It Was the Place of the New Jerusalem Which Should Come Down Out of Heaven”

Brant Gardner

[it was the place of the New Jerusalem]: The verb tense here is confusion. The second phrase makes it clear that the New Jerusalem “should come down out of heaven,” placing that event properly in the future. This contrasts, then with the verb “was” that appears to indicate that the New Jerusalem had already been on this land. This is a tense error in the translation, and the context clearly indicates that the New Jerusalem is a future condition, not a past one. The topic of the New Jerusalem comes up because it is part of a vision of Ether, and that necessarily indicates the future once again. Once again, however, we have a reference to an instance in the plates of Ether without the actual citation of that instance.

Multidimensional Commentary on the Book of Mormon

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