The following is a guest post written by Jack, a reader of this blog:
I learned the other day that Jerry Grover has received some criticism of his translation because it fails to demonstrate a chiastic pattern that has been found in the original “caractors” document. So out of curiosity I looked for such a pattern in his translation and found what looks like a possible chiasm in his first paragraph. And so I did a quick little “chiastic” breakdown of it.
First, I post his paragraph as is. Then break it down into what seem to be the basic building blocks of the chiasm. And finally provide more nuanced connections within each block by utilizing matching numbers.
That said, I think it’s important to note that Jerry had to fiddle with the language structure a bit to get it to read coherently in English–so that may account (at least in part) for why some of the internal details are not in the same order in the opposing blocks.
Also, I should mention that whether or not Jerry’s first paragraph was intended to be a chiasm in and of itself (assuming for the sake of argument that his translation is correct) it seems to reflect the overall chiastic structure of the portion of the record that it summarizes.
And finally, I could be reaching for things that aren’t really there. In which case, it would not be out of character for silly me. 
***
In the nineteenthth regnal year of Mosiah I, the Nephites traveled over the mountains to the foreign speaking people of Mulek. These twenty thousand ‘children of Mosiah’ traveled downriver on the east side of the River Sidon [Grijalva] for eighty days and reached Zarahemla. And then it came to pass that after ten years thus began the period of the Seven Tribes. After the space of twenty‐one more years had passed, Zeniff, with sixty of his people, departed. Fifty‐three more years then passed; then the Limhiites obtained twenty‐four plates from the west in the Land of Desolation, returning upriver on the River of Lamanite Possessions [Usumacinta]. After their return upriver, seven years later, the Limhiites traveled west, bringing the pure gold Jaredite plates to Mosiah (II), which he translated.
***
A: In the nineteenthth regnal year of Mosiah I, the Nephites traveled over the mountains to the foreign speaking people of Mulek.
B: These twenty thousand ‘children of Mosiah’ traveled downriver on the east side of the River Sidon [Grijalva] for eighty days and reached Zarahemla.
C: And then it came to pass that after ten years thus began the period of the Seven Tribes.
D: The period of the Seven Tribes?
C: After the space of twenty‐one more years had passed, Zeniff, with sixty of his people, departed.
B: Fifty‐three more years then passed; then the Limhiites obtained twenty‐four plates from the west in the Land of Desolation, returning upriver on the River of Lamanite Possessions [Usumacinta].
A: After their return upriver, seven years later, the Limhiites traveled west, bringing the pure gold Jaredite plates to Mosiah (II), which he translated.
***
A:
1) Nineteenth regnal year
2) Mosiah I
3) The Nephites traveled over the mountains
4) foreign speaking
5) People of Mulek
B:
1) Twenty thousand ‘children of Mosiah’
2) traveled downriver on the east side of the River Sidon
3) Zarahemla.
C:
1) After ten years thus began the period of the Seven Tribes.
D:
0) The period of the Seven Tribes?
C:
1) After the space of twenty‐one more years had passed, Zeniff, with sixty of his people, departed.
B:
1) Limhiites obtained twenty‐four plates
2) Returning upriver on the River of Lamanite Possessions
3) The Land of Desolation
A:
1) Seven years later
2) Mosiah (II)
3) The Limhiites traveled west
4) Translated
5) Jaredite
Sources and Notes
- Read Jerry Grover’s complete translation of the Caractors Document here: http://bmslr.org/translation-of-the-caractors-document/
- Featured image of the Caractors Document found here: https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/knowhy/what-do-we-know-about-the-anthon-transcript
Science Is True and the Church Is Too 
Chiasmus are not good evidence for historicity of Book of Mormon text – especially for this odd “translation”. Dr Seuss by this kind of structure often and he definitely wasn’t writing 2000 years ago in some unknown modified Egyptian script with a Hebraic cultural and maybe linguistic background transplanted to somewhere in the Americas surrounded by Native American language and cultures.
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Thanks for chiming in, Brian.
I certainly agree that chiasmus itself cannot be the final litmus test for Book of Mormon historicity. Even so, when it is so pervasive and complex as it is in the BoM text–that should at least raise our suspicions as to how it got there precisely. And so, for me, the fact that it’s difficult to link up that kind of writing with what we know of Joseph Smith’s regular dialect and communications makes it evidence of *something* coming from beyond the realm of his immediate culture.
That said, one might argue that he got that pattern from the Bible–and it’s certainly true that there are chiasms to be found there. But I think the Book of Mormon far outstrips the Bible — and probably any other writings that we’re aware of — in its use of chiasmus and chiastic structures across entire narratives.
That (and that) said, even though we may disagree on chiasmus amounting to meaningful evidence for the authenticity of the Book of Mormon–it seems (to me) that you do recognize a chiastic pattern in Jerry Grover’s translation. So whether or not that pattern is of any real significance in Grover’s work (and I think it is) I’m glad I’ve got a witness from someone who is smarter than I am that I’m not just seeing things. 😀
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I should mention that Ryan — the kind owner of this blog — discovered an interesting correlation between the Mulekites and the Jaredites in this little project.
At A5 we find “Mulek” corresponding to “Jaredite.”
And at B3 we find “Zarahemla” corresponding to “The Land of Desolation.”
It’s interesting that the only two places where the two peoples are mentioned (respectively) are where they correlate vis-a-vis the chiastic structure of the paragraph. So kudos to Ryan — what with his background in engineering — for discovering the connection.
That said, those correlations become doubly interesting in light of the work that Ryan has been doing on the Book of Ether–some of which has brought up questions having to do with the influence of Jaredite culture on the Mulekites. Fun stuff!
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