JOSH - 3 Ne. 12:22, That verse, taken almost verbatim from the King James Version of Matthew 5:22 except for the deletion of the words "without a cause," reads:
"But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of his judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire"(3 Ne.12:22) .
The use of the Aramaic word Raca [raka], a term of opprobrium, would be meaningless to New World people who are depicted as speaking either Hebrew or reformed Egyptian. A further disparity lies in the phrase "shall be in danger of the council." In the Gospel account the reference is to the Jewish governing body, the Sanhedrin, a term which would have no historical point of reference in a New World context.
So the question is: Why would Jesus, speaking to the Nephites, use an Aramaic word that they wouldn't understand. And why would He refer to the Jewish Sanhedrin "The council"?

JOEL - Jesus wanted to give the Nephites the exact same teachings He gave His followers in Jerusalem, and therefore repeated the exact same sermon He gave on the mount to the Nephites in the Temple.
"Raca" is both Aramaic and Greek, meaning contempt or derision. There are other Greek words in the Book of Mormon that Joseph Smith chose to use during translation(e.g. Christ, epistle, synagogue, Timothy, Alpha, Omega), the reason being so that they would be more recognizable to a modern English Bible reading public. So rathar than using an unrecognizable reformed Egyptian word for Raca, he just left the same word in there that we see in the Bible.
We assume that the Nephites knew nothing of the Greek language. However, it has been determined that the Greeks could have had some influence on the culture in Jeruselem at the time of Lehi. H.V. Hilprect noted that Greek mercenaries entered Egyptian service in large numbers about 600 B.C (H. V. Hilprect, "Explorations in Bible Lands," AJ Holman & Co., 1903, p. 647).
W.H. Hale noted that by the 7th century BC the Greeks were establishing colonies and trading posts as far away as Syria, Thrace, Asia Minor, and to Egypt (W.H Hale, "Ancient Greece," 1965, p. 27, 117).

The "council" that Jesus is refering to when He spoke to the Nephites is of course not the Jewish Sanhedrin. To the Nephites "the council" would refer to the elders in charge of administering the kingdom of God where they live(3 Ne.12:1).

Return to top

Return to Questions

HOME