The original language of a text will often preserve evidence of puns, word play, homonyms, alliteration, or other literary devices that do not translate easily into other languages.

In the case of the Book of Mormon, one of those noteworthy word plays is the fact that the Book of Mormon relies on the similar sound/spelling of “son” and “sun,” a word play that only makes sense in English and not in Hebrew, Greek, or any biblical or semitic language. This is evidence that the Book of Mormon was originally composed in English not a semitic language.

This word play arises in two Book of Mormon texts that are dependent on and based on Malachi 4:2

Malachi 4:2 reads “But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.”

But in 3 Nephi 25:2 this verse reads: “But unto you that fear my name, shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves in the stall.” With this verse, it is possible that Oliver Cowdery accidentally heard “son” rather than “sun” and that this is accidental. (This was proposed by Royal Skousen in his earliest text project)

However, in the other allusion to Malachi 4:2, the use of “son” rather than “sun” is clearly deliberate. In 2 Nephi 26:9 we read: “But the Son of Righteousness shall appear unto them; and he shall heal them, and they shall have peace with him, until three generations have passed away, and many of the fourth generation shall have passed away in righteousness.”  This latter verse clearly alludes to Malachi 4:2 with its reference to a “son of righteousness” appearing and bringing “healing.” And “son” is plainly intended in this verse given the clear allusion to the ministry of Jesus Christ among the Nephites.

If there was any question about this, the book of Ether likewise refers to Jesus as the “Son of righteousness” in Ether 9:22: “[A]nd he even saw the Son of Righteousness, and did rejoice and glory in his day; and he died in peace.”

Malachi 4:2 has long been interpreted by Christians as a Messianic prophecy. Therefore, the connection between the “sun of righteousness” and Jesus would have been common in Joseph Smith’s day. And in English the connection between “sun of righteousness” and “son of righteousness” is extremely logical. In English the two words “sun” and “son are very similar. They look alike and sound alike.

For this reason transposing “sun of righteousness” into “son of righteousness” is a very common in English both deliberately and in error. For instance, renowned Rev. Jeremy Taylor referred to Jesus as “the great physician of our souls and the Son of Righteousness arising with healing in thy wings.” And the lyrics in the hymn “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” are frequently erroneously sung or written as “Hail the Heav’n-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Son of Righteousness!“

But this word play makes no sense in most other language, least of all in Hebrew. The words in Hebrew for sun (שמש) and son (בן‎) are not related in any way. In Hebrew the phrase SUN of righteousness is unmistakably used, שמש צדקה (shemesh tsdakah), and there are no textual variants using the word “son.” Furthermore, the word for Sun is feminine in Hebrew not masculine (so the Hebrews refers to “healing in her wings) whereas the word Son is clearly masculine in Hebrew.

Therefore, the fact that Joseph Smith transposed “son of righteousness” for “sun of righteousness” is a telling indication that this text was written in English rather than in a semitic language. (Kathy Peterson made a similar argument here and here)

In addition, the connection between Malachi and the Book of Mormon provides further evidence that the Book of Mormon was written in the 19th century.

Nephi similarly showed his dependance on Malachi in 1 Nephi 22:15 which is based on Malachi 4:1

“[F]or the day soon cometh that all the proud and they who do wickedly shall be as stubble; and the day cometh that they must be burned” (1 Nephi)

v

“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” (Malachi)

This is highly problematic since Malachi had not yet been written at the time of Nephi. Indeed, 3 Nephi 24 seems to be aware of this, noting that the Nephites did not have the writings of Malachi and therefore Jesus had to give his words to them. So the presence of these words of Malachi in 1 and 2 Nephi is yet another indication that the Book of Mormon is a 19th century creation. (Because 1 and 2 Nephi were written/translated after 3 Nephi, the most likely explanation is that Joseph Smith was less careful about not including language from Malachi after he wrote/translated 3 Nephi.)

The Book of Mormon’s use of Malachi therefore provides evidence that it is a 19th century creation and not an ancient text.

(After publishing I found another blog post on Boisterous Beholdings that makes the argument re “son of righteousness” quite compellingly and points out that 2 Nephi 26 shows further clear dependence on Malachi 4.)

(I also recommend Colby Townsend’s comprehensive and thorough article about Malachi in the Book of Mormon)