Isaiah 52:13-53:12, Mosiah 14, and KJV Chapter and Verse Separations in the Book of Mormon

Matthew Paulson wrote the following on the purported (and anachronistic) influence of KJV chapter and verse divisions in the Book of Mormon:

Wright and Tvedtness have missed something very important in comparing the Book of Mormon to the KJV Bible. They both neglect discuss on chapter and verse separations. Many quotations in the Book of Mormon begin and terminate in the KJV verse separations. (Matthew A. Paulson, Breaking the Mormon Code: A Critique of Mormon Scholarship Regarding Classical Christian Theology and the Book of Mormon [Livermore, Calif.: WingSpan Press, 2006, 2009], 218)

Au contraire. Recent scholarship has soundly refuted this charge, including:

John Gee, “‘Choose the Things That Please Me’: On the Selection of the Isaiah Passages in the Book of Mormon,” in Donald W. Parry and John W. Welch, eds. Isaiah in the Book of Mormon (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1998), 67–94; David Rolph Seely, “Nephi’s Use of Isaiah 2–14 in 2 Nephi 12–30,” in Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, 151–170; Grant Hardy, Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide (New York, N. Y.: Oxford University Press, 2010), 58–86.

While the Hardy volume is not available online, one can read the Isaiah in the Book of Mormon text online here.

One may ask, related to this criticism the following better argument (my attempt to "steel-man" Paulson's argument): "why the Book of Mormon begins its quotation of the Fourth Servant Hymn, not at Isa 52:13, but Isa 53:1 in Mosiah 14:1?"

It is true that modern scholarship (and I agree with them on this point), that Isa 52:13-53:12 encompasses a literary unit, so some might find it problematic that Abinadi begins by quoting Isa 53:1 and not 52:13 in his speech to the corrupt priests of King Noah. Notwithstanding, there are some compelling arguments to support the way the Book of Mormon divides this pericope.

In terms of textual divisions, the manuscript tradition for Isaiah 52-53 shows some variation. Generally, most Hebraic versions treat Isaiah 52:13-53:12 as either one or two literary units; see John Goldingay and David Payne’s Isaiah 40-55; ICC, pg. 275.

Some Masoretic manuscripts feature a setuma or “closed” diacritical mark before 53:1, separating this verse from the previous section. Similarly, the Dead Sea Scroll, 1QIsa, features intentional spacing and new lines of text beginning at 52:13, and again, prior to 53:1. So even though scholars are correct that the full-textual pericope runs from 52:13-53:12 there exists a well-established Jewish tradition for interpreting Isaiah 53:1 as a new thematic unit. Hence, in beginning his citation of the Suffering Servant passage with Isaiah 53:1, Abinadi proves consistent with the literary approach taken in several Hebraic manuscripts including the Dead Sea Scrolls. 

My friend, Christopher Davis, provided the following image, with an 'x' next to the beginning of what is now Isa 53:1 in the Great Isaiah Scroll, showing that Isa 53:1 was interpreted as a new thematic unit in the Fourth Servant hymn:

Moreover, there exists compelling contextual reasoning for Abinadi to commence his citation of the Suffering Servant passage with Isaiah 53:1: “Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed.”

First, like Isaiah himself, Abinadi came with a “report” that Noah and his people refused to “believe.” Allusions to Abinadi’s role as God’s messenger delivering the Lord’s “report” include (yet are certainly not limited to) the following statements:

Thus has the Lord commanded me, saying—Abinadi, go and prophesy unto this my people (Mosiah 12:1)

And the Lord said unto me . . .  (Mosiah 12:2)

Touch me not, for God shall smite you if ye lay your hands upon me, for I have not delivered the message which the Lord sent me to deliver (Mosiah 13:3)

Ye see that ye have not power to slay me, therefore I finish my message (Mosiah 13:7).

Hence, by beginning his citation of the Suffering Servant passage with Isaiah 53:1, Abinadi appears to place emphasis upon the fact that Noah and his people did not “believe God’s report” that he, himself, came to deliver. Abinadi, therefore, links himself with those presenting the rhetorical question in Isaiah 53:1, “who hath believed our (Isaiah and Abinadi's) report.” Yet perhaps more importantly, Isaiah 53:1 specifically answers the question presented by Noah’s wicked priest earlier in the account:

“And it came to pass that one of them said unto him: What meaneth the words which are written, and which have been taught by our fathers, saying:  ‘How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings; that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good; that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth; thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion; Break forth into joy; sing together ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem; The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God?’” (Mosiah 12:20-24)

In their effort to confuse Abinadi, the wicked priest asked the prophet to explain Isaiah 52:7-10, a biblical passage that refers to messengers whom Israel receives with joy and adulation due to their proclamation of salvation. Significantly, this passage concludes with a reference to the Lord making “bare his arm.”

When Abinadi answers this specific question, the Book of Mormon prophet begins with the Isaiah passage that serves as a natural counterpart to 52:7-10, i.e. Isaiah 53:1: “Yea, even doth not Isaiah say: Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” (Mosiah 14:1).

Not only does the expression “arm of the Lord” in 53:1 directly link with the earlier expression in 52:10, “the Lord hath made bare his holy arm,” but the initial rhetorical question emphasizes the irony of the fact that when presenting a report of salvation, the people receive the Lord’s messengers with appreciation and belief. Biblical scholar John Watts notes the connection between these two distinct passages in his Word Biblical Commentary volume:

Messengers who had brought word protest that it is was not their fault. No one had believed them. Are these the same messengers who were greeted with such jubilation in 52:7-10 when they brought a message of peace and salvation? (Isaiah 34-66, pg. 231).

So in reality, not only does there exist Hebraic manuscript evidence for the division of Isaiah 52:13-53:12 in the precise way presented in the Book of Mormon, the connection between Isaiah 53:1 and 52:7-10 suggests a highly sophisticated understanding of this section of Isaiah. 

For more responses to Paulson's book, see:

Listing of articles responding to "Breaking the Mormon Code"