I read the claim recently that all of the “And it came to pass” phrases in the Book of Mormon are a non-issue because the Greek rendering of that phrase appears with as much frequency in the original Biblical record, and the editors of the King James version chose to remove them. Is this the case? The preacher at my church knew nothing about that, but I thought I’d check with you before I repeated it.<\/p>\n\t
It is true that the language used in the Book of Mormon was heavily influenced by the King James Version, but the result was something that was never used by people. It is a blend of the 1800’s style of speaking with the 1600’s style.<\/p>\n
The phrase “it came to pass” in English has been replaced with “and then” or “eventually” or “then one day,” but it doesn’t mean the phrase itself is meaningless. The New King James Version uses it 180 times. It was more popular in the King James Version which used it 457 times. But you can tell it has faded out of our language. The New American Standard only uses it five times and the New International Version only uses it twice.<\/p>\n
The phrase is not a literal rendering of any Hebrew or Greek phrase. Instead, a variety of Hebrew and Greek words which indicate time order are all translated to this phrase. Some examples from Hebrew are\u00a0bow<\/em>\u00a0(to attain) and\u00a0qets yowm<\/em>\u00a0(after days). But in many of the King James and New King James usage, the phrase was added in for clarity. There is no Hebrew or Greek words behind its use. The Greek\u00a0ginomai<\/em>\u00a0(to cause to be) is the one the King James and New King James translates as “it came to pass.” Newer translations select less archaic forms.<\/p>\n So the argument is wrong unless someone wants to argue that all 636 uses of\u00a0ginomai<\/em>\u00a0in the New Testament should have all been translated “it came to pass.” Definitely the translators of the various English translations did not remove the phrase. The Greek word was translated to English in a variety of ways depending on the context, as typically happens when you go from one language to another.<\/p>\n But as a point against the Book of Mormon, it isn’t worth using beyond pointing out that it used phrases not typically used by people living in the 1800s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I read the claim recently that all of the “And it came to pass” phrases in the Book of Mormon are a non-issue because the Greek rendering of that phrase appears with as much frequency in the original Biblical record, and the editors of the King James version chose to remove them. Is this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[687],"class_list":["post-16472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-mormons"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":69028,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/proof-the-book-of-mormon-is-not-true\/","url_meta":{"origin":16472,"position":0},"title":"Proof the Book of Mormon Is Not True","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Author Unknown The Book of Mormon contradicts the Bible and was a work of fiction written by Joseph Smith in the 1800s, who copied much of it from the King James Version, trying to make it look like an ancient manuscript. Here is proof that the Book of Mormon isn't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88435,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-we-believe-the-book-of-mormon\/","url_meta":{"origin":16472,"position":1},"title":"Should We Believe the Book of Mormon?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Paul Smithson Should we believe that God told Joseph Smith that we should all be a part of the Mormon Religion? Members of the 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' claim the Book of Mormon is of divine origin. They believe it to be a book more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49043,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-mormons-are-in-town\/","url_meta":{"origin":16472,"position":2},"title":"The Mormons Are in Town","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne S. Walker Not too long ago when I was taking a walk in the large park which is across the street from our house and had sat down for a moment to rest on one of the benches, I was approached by two nice-looking, clean-cut young men in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20053,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-you-mormon-what-are-your-beliefs\/","url_meta":{"origin":16472,"position":3},"title":"Are you Mormon? What are your beliefs?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I happened to stumble upon your church when I googled \"the most accurate version of the Bible.\" I have been currently attended a Baptist church, which solely uses the King James Version. I am really in search of the truth on my Christian journey. I am not one who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6931,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-to-use-the-book-of-mormon\/","url_meta":{"origin":16472,"position":4},"title":"How to Use the Book of Mormon","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 28, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dudley Ross Spears The \"Book of Mormon\" is one of several alleged \"revelations\" the followers of the late Joseph Smith, Jr. accept as divinely inspired. While they give some credence to the Bible, \"as far as it is translated correctly\" (Articles of Faith, # 8), the Book of Mormon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37518,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/changing-the-book-of-mormon-and-other-mormon-absurdities\/","url_meta":{"origin":16472,"position":5},"title":"Changing the Book of Mormon and other Mormon Absurdities","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant One of the strange Mormon doctrines states that the reason for the dark skin of Negroes and Indians is that God cursed them as the result of sin. But as the result of these people being converted, their skin would lighten, and they would become a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Salad-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16472\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}