sense line 1: I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents,
“I” and “I, Nephi“
The word “I” occurs in Unit 1 (1 Nephi chapter 1 through chapter 5) a total of 103 times and the phrase “I, Nephi” occurs 10 times.
A student of the Book of Mormon should compare the text to the Bible – for the purpose of identifying similarities and differences.
From its beginning, one significant way in which the Book of Mormon differs from the Bible is in the manner that the original Book of Mormon writers and editors identify themselves and address the reader in the first person.
Grant Hardy makes this comparison in his book “Understanding the Book of Mormon” (see page 15) and provides analysis of its impacts on the text and reader as well:
“From its first verses, the extended first-person narrative of Nephi offers a mode of writing almost entirely absent from the Hebrew Bible (the only exceptions are a few chapters of Ezra-Nehemiah). This means that the primary narrators of the Book of Mormon – Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni – are accessible to readers in a way that the dominant narrative voice of the Bible is not. The narrators in the Hebrew Bible are anonymous, omniscient, reticent, and unobtrusive. They speak from no particular time or place, reporting words, actions, and secret thoughts (even, at times, what God is thinking). They rarely comment on the story, offer judgments, mention themselves, refer to their own editing, or address their audience directly. We are seldom told how we should react to specific incidents, and as a result, biblical narratives are generally open to multiple readings and interpretations. This is part of their literary appeal. As Robert Alter has observed: “Many of these habits of reticence may be plausibly attributed to an underlying aesthetic predisposition. The masters of ancient Hebrew narrative were clearly writers who delighted in an art of indirection, in the possibilities of intimating depths through the mere hint of a surface feature, or through a few words of dialogue fraught with implication.” Without exception, the Book of Mormon narrators operate very differently. They reveal their identities from the beginning and exercise strict control over their material. They write from a limited, human perspective-that is, they give us their personal view of what happened and why it is important (though for those within the faith, the prophetic authority of these men makes them uniquely qualified to render such judgments). They do not hesitate to address readers directly to explain their intentions, their writing processes, their editorial decisions, and their emotional responses to the events they recount. They demarcate textual units for our consideration. They interrupt the narrative to offer explicit judgments. They even admit the possibility of human error and ask indulgence for their “weakness in writing.” (Ether 12:23, 40; cf. 2 Nephi 33:1, 4).”
“having been“
The phrase “having been” occurs twice in Unit 1. Both instances of this phrase appear in 1 Nephi 1:1.
sense line 2: therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father;
The acquisition of knowledge is crucial to every individual soul. As we read in Doctrine and Covenants 131:6: “it is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance.”
The word “learning” and the phrase “the learning of” appear twice in Unit 1.
sense line 3: and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days,
sense line 4: nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days;
In 1 Nephi 3:6, Lehi speaks to Nephi and provides one reason why Nephi was “favored of the Lord“. It reads: “… and thou shalt be favored of the Lord because thou hast not murmured.”
sense line 5: yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God,
The word “mysteries” and the phrase “the mysteries of God” appear twice in Unit 1. The other occurrence is in 1 Nephi 2:16, which reads:
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young,
nevertheless being large in stature,
and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God,
wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord;
and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart
that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father;
wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers.
sense line 6: therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.
The phrase “I make a record” occurs twice in Unit 1. The other instance is in 1 Nephi 1:2.
sense line 7: Yea, I make a record in the language of my father,
sense line 8: which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians.
sense line 9: And I know that the record which I make to be true.
sense line 10: And I make it with mine own hand,
sense line 11: and I make it according to my knowledge.
Unit 1 – Segment 1 – Nephi’s Introduction – 1 Nephi 1:1-3
*This segment title “Nephi’s Introduction” comes from Grant Hardy’s “The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, Maxwell Institute Study Edition.”
The organization of the text into sense lines is derived from the manner in which Royal Skousen organizes the text of “The Book of Mormon: the Earliest Text.”
sense line 1: I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents,
“I” and “I, Nephi“
The word “I” occurs in Unit 1 (1 Nephi chapter 1 through chapter 5) a total of 103 times and the phrase “I, Nephi” occurs 10 times.
A student of the Book of Mormon should compare the text to the Bible – for the purpose of identifying similarities and differences.
From its beginning, one significant way in which the Book of Mormon differs from the Bible is in the manner that the original Book of Mormon writers and editors identify themselves and address the reader in the first person.
Grant Hardy makes this comparison in his book “Understanding the Book of Mormon” (see page 15) and provides analysis of its impacts on the text and reader as well:
“From its first verses, the extended first-person narrative of Nephi offers a mode of writing almost entirely absent from the Hebrew Bible (the only exceptions are a few chapters of Ezra-Nehemiah). This means that the primary narrators of the Book of Mormon – Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni – are accessible to readers in a way that the dominant narrative voice of the Bible is not. The narrators in the Hebrew Bible are anonymous, omniscient, reticent, and unobtrusive. They speak from no particular time or place, reporting words, actions, and secret thoughts (even, at times, what God is thinking). They rarely comment on the story, offer judgments, mention themselves, refer to their own editing, or address their audience directly. We are seldom told how we should react to specific incidents, and as a result, biblical narratives are generally open to multiple readings and interpretations. This is part of their literary appeal. As Robert Alter has observed: “Many of these habits of reticence may be plausibly attributed to an underlying aesthetic predisposition. The masters of ancient Hebrew narrative were clearly writers who delighted in an art of indirection, in the possibilities of intimating depths through the mere hint of a surface feature, or through a few words of dialogue fraught with implication.” Without exception, the Book of Mormon narrators operate very differently. They reveal their identities from the beginning and exercise strict control over their material. They write from a limited, human perspective-that is, they give us their personal view of what happened and why it is important (though for those within the faith, the prophetic authority of these men makes them uniquely qualified to render such judgments). They do not hesitate to address readers directly to explain their intentions, their writing processes, their editorial decisions, and their emotional responses to the events they recount. They demarcate textual units for our consideration. They interrupt the narrative to offer explicit judgments. They even admit the possibility of human error and ask indulgence for their “weakness in writing.” (Ether 12:23, 40; cf. 2 Nephi 33:1, 4).”
“having been“
The phrase “having been” occurs twice in Unit 1. Both instances of this phrase appear in 1 Nephi 1:1.
sense line 2: therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father;
The acquisition of knowledge is crucial to every individual soul. As we read in Doctrine and Covenants 131:6: “it is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance.”
The word “learning” and the phrase “the learning of” appear twice in Unit 1.
sense line 3: and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days,
sense line 4: nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days;
In 1 Nephi 3:6, Lehi speaks to Nephi and provides one reason why Nephi was “favored of the Lord“. It reads: “… and thou shalt be favored of the Lord because thou hast not murmured.”
sense line 5: yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God,
The word “mysteries” and the phrase “the mysteries of God” appear twice in Unit 1. The other occurrence is in 1 Nephi 2:16, which reads:
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young,
nevertheless being large in stature,
and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God,
wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord;
and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart
that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father;
wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers.
sense line 6: therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.
The phrase “I make a record” occurs twice in Unit 1. The other instance is in 1 Nephi 1:2.
sense line 7: Yea, I make a record in the language of my father,
sense line 8: which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians.
sense line 9: And I know that the record which I make to be true.
sense line 10: And I make it with mine own hand,
sense line 11: and I make it according to my knowledge.