Cite
your minds forward. In one of his discourses, Alma2
declared, “I would cite your minds forward to the time when the Lord God
gave these commandments unto his children; and I would that ye should
remember that the Lord God ordained priests . . . to teach these things
unto the people” (Alma 13:1). In English, the word forward implies the
future, which does not fit with such past-tense verbs as gave and ordained,
and cannot be “remembered” since it has not yet happened. If the Hebrew word
rendered “forward” is קדם (qedem), which means “before, in front of,” (HALOT,
1069-70) in both a temporal and locative sense, it would here have a temporal
meaning, and hence it refers to something that has gone “before,”—that is, in
the past. (John A. Tvedtnes, “Hebrew Words Reflected in the Book of Mormon,” in
Seek Ye Words of Wisdom: Studies on the Book of Mormon, Bible, and Temple in
Honor of Stephen D. Ricks, ed. Donald W. Parry, Gaye Strathearn, and Shon
D. Hopkin [Provo, Utah: Interpreter Foundation and Religious Education, Brigham
Young University, 2020], 146)
Further Reading:
Alma
13:1 and the Past Being "Before" and the Future Being
"Behind" People
