In the opening verse of the Book of Mormon, we read:
I, Nephi, having been born of
goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my
father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days,
nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea,
having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God,
therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days. (1 Nephi 1:1)
It might seem unusual that an ancient
writer would introduce themselves with the first person pronoun “I” coupled
with their proper name. The word-ordering is probably the result of the Book of
Mormon being a translation of an ancient text. Notwithstanding, in the 20th
century BC Syro-Palestine text, The Idrimi Inscription, we read the following
in lines 1-4:
In Aleppo, my
ancestral home, a hostile [incident] occurred so that we had to flee to the
people of Emar, my mother's relatives, and stay there. My older brothers also
stayed with me, but nnoe of them had the plans I had. So that, I,
Idrimi, the son of Ilim-ilimma, devotee of IM, Hebat, and my lady Ištar,
lady of Alalah, thinking to myself, "Whoever <seeks> his patrimony
is a great nobleman, but whoever [remains] among the citizens of Emar is
a vassal," took my horse, chariot, and groom and went away. (Edward L. Greenstein, “The
Akkadian Inscription of Idrimi,”
Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society, Vol. 8. Issue 1, 1976, 59-96,
here, p. 67)
