I was issued a challenge.  I was told that the Book of Mormon couldn't be true because its Isaiah chapters are identical to the English version in the Bible.  I was told, “Translation doesn't happen like that.”

In other words, Joseph Smith must have plagiarized the Isaiah writings and borrowed them right from the Bible.

That would have been a foolish thing to do if he had been perpetrating a fraud.  It would have been fatal to the effort.

The fact of the matter is, of the 433 Isaiah verses in the Book of Mormon over half of them have differences.  (See footnote to 2 Nephi 12:16).  One very significant difference is 2 Nephi 12:16 or Isaiah 2:16.  The Book of Mormon says that the day of the Lord shall come “upon all the ships of the sea, and upon all the ships of Tarshish ...”

Interestingly the King James version of the Bible only says “upon all the ships of Tarshish,” while the Greek (Septuagint) version says “ships of the sea.”  The Book of Mormon has both.

Nephi copied the Isaiah verses from the plates of brass.  The plates of brass hadn't gone through the hands of copyists and translators like the English and Greek versions had.  The scriptures on the plates of brass were pure and intact.  Both phrases were there.  It's ludicrous to think that Joseph Smith, the barely-educated farm boy, would have been familiar with both the English and Greek versions.

Joseph Smith was the Lord's tool for bringing about a miracle.  Translators today have access to other translations, to lexicons, computers, encyclopedias, and all sorts of other aids.  A good, modern-day translator on a good day can translate at the rate of one page per day.  Joseph Smith translated eight to ten pages per day for something less than 60 days.  He was reading the words that the Lord gave him as Oliver Cowdery recorded.

Isaiah composed his writings under the Lord's direction.  The Lord directed Nephi to copy them onto the golden plates.  The King James version of the Bible is mostly the words of William Tyndale.  The Lord directed both William Tyndale and Joseph Smith as they made translations into English.  These are the Lord's words.  He is the author, and He knows what He wants them to say.  We can rest assured that what we have in the Book of Mormon is exactly the way the Lord wants it.

There are no errors there.

I love the accuracy of the Book of Mormon.

For instance, the Book of Mormon mentions houses made of cement.  (Hel. 3:7, 9, 11).  Early detractors of the book jumped on that as an anachronism, a thing out of place that couldn't be.  In 1830 when the Book of Mormon was published, it was widely known that cement had only recently been invented.  John Smeaton, a British engineer, first made cement in 1756.  It wasn't until decades later that thousands of structures made of cement were discovered in MesoAmerica.

Another point:  Everyone knows that Jesus Christ died on the cross at about 3:00 in the afternoon, and that His body spent parts of three days in the tomb.  The Book of Mormon gives a graphic description of three hours of elemental chaos on the American continent as Christ was being crucified, followed by three days of complete, palpable darkness.

“And it came to pass that thus did the three days pass away.  And it was in the morning, and the darkness dispersed from off the face of the land ...”  (3 Nephi 10:9).

Detractors of the Book of Mormon point out that if the three days of darkness began in the afternoon, they should have ended in the afternoon.  Therefore, the detractors say, the Book of Mormon contradicts the Bible.

People didn't move around and travel much in Joseph Smith's day, and he would certainly have not known much, if anything, about time zones.  It is fascinating to learn that if it was 3:00 p.m. in Jerusalem, it would have been around 7:00 in the morning where the writer in the Book of Mormon would have been located.  How would Joseph Smith have known to pay attention to such a detail?

The Book of Mormon and the Bible vindicate and substantiate and corroborate one another in every detail.

Jesus Christ also gave the Nephites the verbatim words of the prophet Malachi.  The words are identical to Malachi chapter four except that the Book of Mormon corrects the mistake that's in the Bible.  The Bible says “Sun of righteousness,” spelled s-u-n, while the Book of Mormon says, “Son of Righteousness,” spelled s-o-n.

I am distressed with translations of the Bible made by uninspired men.  We don't have such worries with the Book of Mormon.  The Standard Revised Version of the Bible, which many churches use, was made by a committee of men, some of whom were not even Christians.  They wanted to remove every reference from the Bible of Jesus Christ being the Son of God.  That got left in, but they did succeed in removing all reference to His birth as being a virgin birth.

I am grateful for the Book of Mormon.  We can depend upon it.  It is true in every detail.  It is a miracle.  It is the marvelous work and a wonder about which Isaiah prophesied.  It is the second book of scripture about which Ezekiel prophesied in the 37^th chapter of his book.  It is a light to the world.  It is the reason that I'm a member of the Church.  I owe my life, my family, my happiness, and my brilliant future to the Book of Mormon.

I love it.