In the Book of Mormon, Ammon cuts off the arms of his Lamanite attackers at the waters of Sebus, and his fellow servants take those severed arms and present them to king Lamoni as “a testimony of the things which they had done” (Alma 17:39). Taking the body parts of one’s defeated enemies as trophies of valor and as a witness of how many were killed is a well-known practice throughout the ancient...

Alma 11 contains an intriguing story of a lawyer named Zeezrom and his contention with Amulek and Alma. However, this chapter starts off with a seemingly confusing and misplaced list of the Nephite monetary system. With names like antion, senine, ezrom, onti, readers may wonder why this list exists at all. Mormon’s explanation of the Nephite monetary system might illuminate several points of...

Cross-posted from Studio et Quoque Fide. This week for Come, Follow Me , we study the short series of books filling in the gap between Nephi and Jacob (both members of the founding generation of Nephites) and King Benjamin (who reigned about 476 years after Lehi left Jerusalem). Naturally, we would all love to have more information about this period in between. It’s impossible...

Cross-posted from Book of Mormon History . In this new episode of the Book of Mormon History podcast, BMC associate Stephen Smoot discusses the new archaeological discovery of an ancient temple within four miles of Jerusalem with independent Book of Mormon researcher Joshua Gehly. Stephen provides his reasons for a historical approach to the Book of Mormon and...

The Book of Mormon reports that Nephi and his followers built a temple “after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things” upon their arrival in the land of promise ( 2 Nephi 5:16 ). As explored in a past KnoWhy (#31, “Did Ancient Israelites Build Temples Outside of Jerusalem?” ), the Book of Mormon was criticized during Joseph Smith’s lifetime...

When Lehi embarked on his journey around 600 B.C., little did he know that millions of people would read and wonder about his story thousands of years later. While there is still much to learn about the people and stories in the Book of Mormon, some of the best archaeological evidence to support the Book of Mormon comes from Lehi’s journey to the promised land. Seven notable locations are...

Two months ago, in November 2019, a colleague and I visited the best (actually only credible ) candidate for the River of Laman and the Valley of Lemuel in Saudi Arabia. We were astounded to find that the small year-round stream flowing down wadi Tayyib al Ism had extended several hundreds of yards beyond its usual limit, this time reaching to within about 40 yards of the Red Sea coast...

At the turn of the new year, the BYU Studies Quarterly officially removed its paywall, making all its content available free immediately upon publication. This is a blessing to those Latter-day Saints studying 1 Nephi 1–7 right now for their Come Follow Me study. The latest issue—which would normally be behind a paywall for non-subscribers—includes an excellent article by Warren Aston,...

New evidence for the Book of Mormon name Sariah ( 1 Nephi 2:5 ) was published today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship . In the paper “Revisiting ‘Sariah’ at Elephantine,” Neal Rappleye, a research project manager here at Book of Mormon Central, explains that scholars have identified a Jewish woman named ŚRYH, which can be translated as ...

Researching a topic is infinitely more complicated today than it was before the advent of the internet. Back in the day, if we wanted to look into something, we had to go to libraries and bookstores and actively seek out the “best books”. There were librarians and professors to help know where to look and which sources to trust. Today, we can almost accidently fall into a “...