How can you claim that ancient Israelites wrote a sacred text, the Book of Mormon, in an Egyptian script? Everyone knows that the Jews hated the Egyptians. They would never adopt their writing style.

Anonymous, 7/5/2009

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AllAboutMormons.com Webmaster from La Jolla, California:




Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon has been translated into many languages.
Au contraire, mon ami. In fact the ancient Israelites repeatedly used the “languages of their enemies.” The non-LDS scholar Nili S. Fox has pointed out that Egyptian hieratic numerals were used in Hebrew texts during the ninth, eight, and seventh centuries B.C., demonstrating that Israelite scribes were familiar with the Egyptian writing system. Also, in ancient times the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Arabic and Greek, two “languages of the Hebrew's enemies.”

The best illustration comes from Papyrus Amherst 63, from the second century B.C. This papyrus contains Aramaic words written in the demotic Egyptian script, a kind of “reformed Egyptian.” Aramaic is closely related to Hebrew; the Book of Daniel from the Old Testament was originally written in Aramaic, and Aramaic was the language that Jesus and His disciples spoke. An ancient Semitic document written using a reformed Egyptian script? Suddenly the Book of Mormon account doesn't seem so implausible...

If you have a question, you might find it helpful to chat with a Mormon missionary online.

Pamela Dean from Clarenville:



I would like to address two parts of your question.

Firstly, the Jews and the Egyptians actually went through periods of changing relations. For a period of about 500 years during the reign of the shepherd kings in Egypt the Isrealites were welcomed and settled throughout the land. About 1700 bc their troubles started, when the new empire began with the slaughter of the shepherd kings by the upper Egyptian rulers. As a result of this act, the Jews were hated by the new rulers because they were close associates of the shepherds and were thus forced into slavery by them. During the time of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian conquest of Palestine, archaeologists believe that Jews fled to Egypt as refugees. It seems highly unlikely that they would flee one enemy only to voluntarily go straight into the arms of another. 320 to 301 BC is another suspected period of intense migration of the Jews into Egypt. During Solomon's time there was an alliance between Solomon and Egypt, which lasted until Egypt allied with Solomon's enemies. This enmity lasted until the times of the Romans, where the Alexander mentioned by St. Paul in the Acts of the Apostles was unquestionably the foremost Jew in Egypt, and who was undoubtedly one of the richest men in the ancient world - so rich in fact that he lent money to the other rulers and furnished much of the resources used for the building of the temple. It wasn't until the Jewish revolts against the Romans that the final split between the Egyptians and Jews occurred.

Secondly, you may be interested in the article 'Jewish and other Semitic Texts Written in Egyptian Characters' which addresses the other part of your question. It has a very detailed explanation of the use of the Egyptian language by the Jews. Blessings, Pam

Richard from Orem:


There is a promise in the Book of Mormon, found in Moroni 10:3-5 which directs the sincere reader to ask of God to see if the book is true. As directed in those scriptures, those who ask in truth and have real intent have witness from the Holy Ghost that the book is what it says it is. And by the power the the Holy Ghost you may know the truth of all things.

I've taken up the Book of Mormon on that challenge and have received witness that the book is exactly what it is claimed to be by the witnesses (signed in the front of the Book of Mormon) as well as Joseph Smith (see Joseph Smith History) and God himself (see D&C section 1 as well as section 17)

You seem like an intelligent individual so why not test God as he has directed his children in the promise found in the Book of Mormon as mentioned above?
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