Close Menu
  • The One Climbs Show
    • YouTube
    • Apple Podcasts
    • Spotify
    • Show Posts
  • Topics
    • All Posts
    • The Book of Mormon
    • Atonement
    • Symbolism
    • Temple Prep
  • Study Tools
    • Book of Mormon Onomasticon
    • Etymology Dictionary
    • Hebrew 4 Christians
    • Lectures on Faith.com
    • LDSSymbols.com
    • Number in Scripture
    • Isaiah Explorer
    • ScriptureNotes
    • Strong’s Condordance
    • The Book of Isaiah (IIT)
    • Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
  • About
    • About oneClimbs
    • Contact
Trending
  • #40 – The Fountain of Filthy Water
  • The Meaning of Isaiah 4:1 and Seven Women Taking Hold of One Man
  • Lecture Five, the Godhead, and the Light We Missed
  • Retaining brightness
  • Sebus, Severed Arms, and Humility Unto Salvation
  • oneClimbs on The Stick of Joseph: Alma’s Sermon
  • What were Nephite “Sanctuaries”?
  • Why the Conventional Interpretation of Jacob 2:30 Falls Short
oneClimbs.comoneClimbs.com
  • The One Climbs Show
    • YouTube
    • Apple Podcasts
    • Spotify
    • Show Posts
  • Topics
    • All Posts
    • The Book of Mormon
    • Atonement
    • Symbolism
    • Temple Prep
  • Study Tools
    • Book of Mormon Onomasticon
    • Etymology Dictionary
    • Hebrew 4 Christians
    • Lectures on Faith.com
    • LDSSymbols.com
    • Number in Scripture
    • Isaiah Explorer
    • ScriptureNotes
    • Strong’s Condordance
    • The Book of Isaiah (IIT)
    • Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
  • About
    • About oneClimbs
    • Contact
oneClimbs.comoneClimbs.com
Home»Articles»Beautiful Literary Patterns in Alma 19:6
Articles September 13, 20154 Mins Read

Beautiful Literary Patterns in Alma 19:6

image

I was doing a search today in the Gospel Library app for the word “mind” because I was looking for particular themes related to the mind in the Book of Mormon. As I looked at Alma 19:6, the repetition of the word “light” was clued me in that there must be some literary structure at work.

In ancient Eastern languages without punctuation, you painted pictures through repetition, emphasis, contrast, and many other techniques. I have broken down Alma 19:6 based on various patterns, the most obvious being an overarching chiasm and various sets of parallelisms. There are a couple of different ways you can read this depending on the theme being emphasized.

  • A1 – he knew that king Lamoni was under the
  • A2 – power of God; he knew that the
    • B1 – dark veil of unbelief was being
    • B2 – cast away from
    • B3 – his mind, and the
      • C1 – light which did
      • C2 – light up his
      • C3 – mind, which was the
        • D1 – light of the glory of
          • E – God, which was a marvelous
        • D1 – light of his goodness–yea, this
      • C1 – light had
      • C2 – infused such joy into his
      • C3 – soul, the
    • B1 – cloud of darkness having been
    • B2 – dispelled, and that the light of everlasting life was lit up in
    • B3 – his soul, yea,
  • A1 – he knew that this had overcome his natural frame, and he was
  • A2 – carried away in God–

The entire thought presented here is surrounded by the name of God, who appears at the beginning and the end (how appropriate). Next is this dark veil or cloud of unbelief which was preventing the light of God from shining through. This light that comes from God lights up or infuses joy into the mind and soul. This light is called the “light of the glory of God” and the “marvelous light of his goodness.”

The word “light” appears six times, seven if you include God himself at the center with three mentions of light preceding and proceeding his name.

  • light
    • light
      • light
        • God
      • light
    • light
  • light

We also have the contrasting themes of:

  • the dark veil of unbelief
  • the light of everlasting life

Here’s another less complex way to structure things that shows how the language changes a little after the crux of the chiasm.

  • A – he knew that king Lamoni was under the power of God; he knew that the
    • B – the dark veil of unbelief was being cast away from his mind,
      • C- and the light which did light up his mind,
        • D – light of his goodness–yea, this which was the light of the glory of God, which was a marvelous
      • C – light had infused such joy into his soul,
    • B- the cloud of darkness having been dispelled, and that the light of everlasting life was lit up in his soul,
  • A – yea, he knew that this had overcome his natural frame, and he was carried away in God–

First we see the mind as the focus and then it is the soul. A dark cloud or veil over the mind prevents one below from seeing the light of God above, much like a cloud blocks out the sun. After it is cast away or dispelled, then the light of God comes in from above filling the entire soul below, the mind, body, spirit, intelligence, etc.

These are just the few ways that 99 words in a single verse of scripture can be explored by looking at literary structures. These kinds of things are all over the place in the Book of Mormon, and I love it when I find a good one like this.

image

Book of Mormon Chiasmus Light The Mind of God The Spirit
Previous ArticleShort Film: Discovering the Word of Wisdom
Next Article “Who has known the Mind of the Lord?”
Steve Reed

I created oneClimbs as a place to organize my thoughts and share my observations with anyone who might find the information useful. Though I may speak passionately or convincingly in some of this content, PLEASE don't simply take my word alone on anything. Always seek the truth of all things through study and prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

New Post Email Notifications

You can subscribe any time, and I will ONLY use your email to send you new post updates.

POPULAR POSTS
  • Popular
  • Recent
Recent Comments
  • Christian Mills on The Meaning of Isaiah 4:1 and Seven Women Taking Hold of One Man: “Not to derail, but to add my thought… Remember that Christ is symbolically wedded to his church, so to use…”
  • Pam on oneClimbs on The Stick of Joseph: Alma’s Sermon: “Thank you for that insight. I did not pick up on Moroni’s comment being 33:1. Your approach makes total sense…”
  • Steve Reed on oneClimbs on The Stick of Joseph: Alma’s Sermon: “Good catch, and I’ll try to explain. I’m using Alma 32 and 33 which are all part of one sermon,…”
  • Pam on oneClimbs on The Stick of Joseph: Alma’s Sermon: “Thank you for sharing your knowledge on Alma 32/33. These ideas/insights were enlightening and illuminated Alma’s words for me. I…”
  • Greg on Lecture Five, the Godhead, and the Light We Missed: “Thank you Dawn. Well said.”
Blogroll
  • A Traditional Architecture Glossary
  • Academy for Temple Studies
  • Book of Mormon Onomasticon
  • Bruce Charlton's Notions
  • Interpreter Foundation
  • Isaiah Explained
  • Isaiah Explorer
  • Isaiah Institute
  • Isaiah Prophecy
  • Junior Ganymede
  • Latter-day Saint Architecture Blog
  • Latter-day Saint Temples
  • LDSSymbols.com
  • Leading Saints
  • Number in Scripture by E. W. Bullinger
  • Strongs Concordance
  • TempleStudy
  • The Ancient Context of Joseph Smith's Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar
  • Webster's 1828 Dictionary
New Post Email Notifications

You can subscribe any time, and I will ONLY use your email to send you new post updates.

About this Site

I created oneClimbs as a place to organize my thoughts and share my observations with anyone who might find the information useful. All content on this site is considered a work in progress that is often updated when new insights are obtained.

Climbspiration

We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. -T.S. Elliott

oneClimbs.com
  • Home
  • All Posts
  • About oneClimbs
  • Contact

LecturesOnFaith.com  //  LDSSymbols.com

© 2025 oneClimbs. All content unique to oneClimbs is fair use. All other content is property of the respective copyright owner. oneClimbs.com is not owned, controlled, or affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All views and opinions are of the authors here who are solely responsible for their content and should not be interpreted as official statements of Church doctrine, belief, or practice, unless specifically stated and correctly referenced.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.