Kaylee McElroy only wears sensible shoes (if she has to wear shoes at all) and is passionate about pants with functional pockets (even her Sunday slacks). She loves slicing tofu, kneading bread, Indian food, and honey on homemade tortillas still hot from the pan. She has degrees in physics and electrical engineering, but has spent the last few years as a rather alarmingly domesticated stay-at-home mom with hobbies that include knitting, crocheting, and painting. Fabulously written non-fiction is her new favorite genre of books.
Emily M.’s poetry inspired by first Nephi prompted me to share a poem that I’ve found in the Book of Mormon.
Several months ago I started typesetting the Book of Mormon during my personal scripture study. I want to see the text in groups that are more logical than the chapter breaks. I want Captain Moroni’s epistle to the chief governor to stand out from the surrounding text. I want it to be easier to remember who is speaking and who they are speaking to.
I have also been finding poems within the text and breaking it into stanzas and lines. (Isaiah is a bit easier to comprehend when the text is presented in verse form. Lots of highlighting doesn’t hurt either. This explanation was a revelation to me.) Sometimes, it is hard to distinguish between a poem and very structured prose. I’ve just been going by what feels right. While the whole project is daunting, I have found this way of studying the scriptures to be very rewarding—sometimes I’ll work on it for an hour at a time and have to peel myself away to go to bed. Here I want to share one of my first rewards: the title page of the Book of Mormon as poetry:
Wherefore, it is an abridgment of the record of the people of Nephi,
and also of the Lamanites—
Written to the Lamanites, who are a remnant of the house of Israel;
and also to Jew and Gentile—
Written by way of commandment,
and also by the spirit of prophecy and of revelation—
Written and sealed up, and hid up unto the Lord,
that they might not be destroyed—
To come forth by the gift and power of God unto the interpretation thereof—
Sealed by the hand of Moroni, and hid up unto the Lord,
to come forth in due time by way of the Gentile—
The interpretation thereof by the gift of God.
An abridgment taken from the Book of Ether also,
which is a record of the people of Jared,
(who were scattered at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people,
when they were building a tower to get to heaven)—
Which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel
what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers;
and that they may know the covenants of the Lord,
that they are not cast off forever—
And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ,
the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations—
And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men;
wherefore, condemn not the things of God,
that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ.
(To anyone who is interested in a similar endeavor of organizing scriptural text, there are useful files to get started with here.)
(To anyone who simply wants to read the Book of Mormon in paragraphs instead of verses, Grant Hardy’s The Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Edition might be for you. I haven’t read it yet, but several people have told me they loved it.)
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