In their excellent review of The New Mormon Challenge (2002), John A. Tvedtnes and Matthew Roper addressed the use of KJV verbiage in the Book of Mormon:
But Joseph Smith was not alone in following this practice. Nearly a century after the publication of the Book of Mormon, Robert H. Charles prepared his magnum opus, a two-volume translation of ancient texts known as The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament. Charles made it a point to imitate the style of the King James Version of the Bible. He did so for several reasons; for example, the New Testament cited some of these works or earlier writings on which they were dependent. Because the KJV was the Bible most commonly read in the English speaking world, this ensured that readers of Charles’s work would readily make the tie between the KJV and those other texts. Oxford University Press continues to publish Charles’s book. Jewish scholar Theodor H. Gaster intermingled KJV language and modern English in his Dead Sea Scriptures. When citing passages from the Dead Sea Scrolls that were also found in the Bible, he employed the older style of English. When Robert L. Lindsey began his work in Israel with the Gospel of Mark, he initially translated it “into simple modern Hebrew from the Greek text. The text was then distributed to Hebrew-speaking readers and comments invited.” Many of those who reviewed the work expressed “the desire that the Gospels, as ancient works, should be read in Old Testament Hebrew style.” Lindsey returned to the task and prepared a translation of Mark in biblical Hebrew that has received wide acclaim. (John A. Tvedtnes and Matthew Roper, “One Small Step,” FARMS Review 15, no. 1 [2003]: 159-60, emphasis in bold added)
I recently acquired a physical copy of the Gaster book. The following examples of KJV verbiage come from:
Theodor H. Gaster, The Dead Sea Scriptures in English
Translation (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1956)
A Formulary of Blessings:
THE LORD BLESS THEE [from His
holy habitation] and open for thee from heaven the perpetual spring un[failing].
[ ] in/at thy hand, and Favor
THEE with all manner of blessing, and make thee [privy] to that know]- edge
which is possessed by the Holy Beings
[Verily, with Him is] a perpetual
spring, and He [withholds] not [living waters from] such as thirst (for them).
So mayest thou too [drink therefrom].
[THE LORD KEEP THEE from all evil
and] deliver thee from all [domination by Belial],4 and may the frenzy thereof
be (destroyed) without re[mnant]. [THE LORD KEEP THEE and deliver thee] from
every satanic spirit* [and from every corrupting spirit].
. . .
THE LORD KEEP [unto thee the
covenant sworn to] thy fathers.
. . .
THE LORD FAVOR THEE with [His
salvation] [ ] and cause thee to delight in peace [abounding].
THE LORD (FAVOR THEE also with [ ]
THE LORD FAVOR THEE with the holy
spirit, with loving-kindness [ ]
Be THE LORD FAVOR THEE also with
[His] eternal covenant and [ ] thee [
].
THE LORD FAVOR THEE by visiting
upon thee just judgment, [that] thy [foot may not] stumble [upon thy way]
THE LORD FAVOR THEE also in all
thy works [and in all that] thy [hand undertaketh] and in all the [ ].
[THE LORD FAVOR THEE also with
insight into] eternal truth. [THE LORD GIVE PEACE unto thee and] unto all thine
off-spring [ ] (pp. 87-88)
The Oration of Moses:
Moses’
farewell exhortation
And [God called] unto Moses in
the [fortieth] year of the going out of the [children] of Israel [from the land
of] Egypt, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, saying:
[Gather together] all the
congregation, and go up unto [Mount Nebo] and stand there, thou and Eleazar,
[the son of] Aaron.
Interpret [the Law] [unto the
heads of the fam]ilies, unto the levites and all the [priests];
And enjoin upon the children of
Israel the words of the Law which I commanded [thee] on Mount Sinai to enjoin
upon [them].
Explain carefully in their
hearing all that [I exact] of them; [and call] heaven and [earth to witness]
conceriing that which will befall them if they and their children [walk] not in
the way which I have commanded [them throughout their lives] on earth.
[For] I declare that if they
renounce Me and choose [the filthy ways of] the heathen and their abominations
and their idols, and if they [worship] their godlings, these will prove but a
trap and a snare.
And if they neglect [any] of the
holy [convocations], or the sabbath which is itself a Covenant, [or the festivals]
which I command them this day to observe, it shall redound to their being
[smitten] with a great [smiting] in .. the midst of that land [for the
possession of which] they are about to cross the Jordan.
For all the curses [of the
Covenant] will come upon them and overtake them, to the end that they shall
perish and be [destroyed]. Then shall they know [that] the truth has been
evinced among them.
So Moses called Eleazar the son
of [Aaron] and Joshua [the son of Nun and said unto] them: Rehearse [all the
words of the Law] completely. . .
[Give ear,] O Israel, and
hearken! This [day art thou to become a people] unto GOD [your God].
Thou shalt keep [My statutes] and
Mine orders and My [commandments] which [I] command thee this day [to perform].
When thou crossest the [Jordan]
to [possess thee] of great and goodly [cities], of houses filled with all
[goodly things, of vineyards and olives] which thou didst not [plant], and of
hewn wells which thou didst not hew; and when thou eatest and art satisfied,
[Beware] lest thy heart become
haughty and thou [forget] that which I [command] thee this day. For it is [thy]
life and the length of [thy] days. (pp. 233-34)
The New Covenant:
(Col.
1)
. . . . .
[but wilt Thou] allot unto the righteous.
The portion of the wicked shall
be [to be afflicted with pain]s in their bones and to be a reproach to all
flesh; but the righteous [shall be destined to en]joy the rich delights of
heaven and to be [glut]ted on the yield of the earth.
[Thou wilt distinguish between
the right]eous and the wicked. Thou wilt give the wicked as our [ran]som, and
the faith- less [in exchange for us].
[Thou wilt make] an end of all
that oppress us; and we shall give thanks unto Thy name for ever, [and bless
Thee alway;]
for this it is for which Thou
hast created us, and that it is that [beseemeth] Thee. BLESSED wilt Thou] allot
unto the righteous..
BLESSED . . .
(Col.
2)
[and Thou hast appointed] the
greater luminary for the season of [day and the lesser luminary for the season
of night], and there is no overstepping their bounds. They all [minister unto
Thee, and defy not Thy word], and their sway is over all the world.
But the seed of man hath not
understood all of which Thou hast made it heir, neither have men known Thee
whensoever Thou hast spoken;
but they have done more wickedly
than all things else, and have not perceived Thy great power.
And Thou hast rejected them,
because Thou delightest not in wrongdoing, and wickedness hath no standing in
Thy presence.
Howbeit, in the time of Thy good
pleasure,’ Thou wilt (again) choose unto Thyself a people, for Thou hast
remembered Thy covenant; and Thou wilt make them to be set apart unto Thee as
an holy thing distinct from all the peoples; and Thou wilt renew Thy Covenant
unto them with a show of glory and with words of Thy holy [spirit] with works
of Thy hand and with a script of Thy right hand, revealing unto them both the
basic roots of glory and the heights of eternity; [ ; and Thou wilt appoint] for them a
faithful shepherd,! one who will [ ]
the lowly and [ ] the [ ] (pp. 311-12)
