Aside from chiasmus, there are indeed several other forms of parallelism and Hebraic literary structures found in the Book of Mormon. Here are a few of them with examples:
1. **Synonymous Parallelism**: This is where the same idea is expressed twice using different words. This is evident in Mosiah 14:2:
“For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant,
and as a root out of dry ground;
he hath no form nor comeliness;
and when we shall see him
there is no beauty that we should desire him.”
2. **Antithetic Parallelism**: This is a form of parallelism where the second half of a verse or passage directly contrasts with the first half. For instance, in 2 Nephi 2:27:
“Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh;
and all things are given them
which are expedient unto man.
And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life,
through the great Mediator of all men,
or to choose captivity and death,
according to the captivity and power of the devil…”
3. **Climax or Gradation**: This involves the successive lines building upon each other to a climactic point. In Alma 5:48, you can see this gradual build:
“I say unto you,
that I know of myself
that whatsoever I shall say unto you,
concerning that which is to come, is true;
and I say unto you,
that I know that Jesus Christ shall come,
yea, the Son,
the Only Begotten of the Father,
full of grace,
and mercy,
and truth.
And behold, it is he that cometh to take away the sins of the world,
yea, the sins of every man
who steadfastly believeth on his name.”
4. **Epiphora or Epistrophe**: This is when the same word or group of words is repeated at the ends of successive clauses or verses. In Alma 36:28 and 30 you can observe this feature with the repeated phrase “and I will praise him forever”:
“And I know that he will raise me up at the last day,
to dwell with him in glory;
yea, and I will praise him forever,
for he has brought our fathers out of Egypt,
and he has swallowed up the Egyptians in the Red Sea;
and he led them by his power into the promised land;
yea, and so he has delivered them out of bondage and captivity from time to time.”
“And again, I say unto you
as I have said before,
that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God,
or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love,
and have received a remission of your sins,
which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls,
even so I would that ye should remember,
and always retain in remembrance,
the greatness of God,
and your own nothingness,
and his goodness and long-suffering towards you,
unworthy creatures,
and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility,
calling on the name of the Lord daily,
and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come,
which was spoken by the mouth of the angel.
And behold, I say unto you
that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice,
and be filled with the love of God,
and always retain a remission of your sins;
and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him
that created you,
or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.
And ye will not have a mind to injure one another,
but to live peaceably,
and to render to every man according to that which is his due.
And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry,
or naked;
neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God,
and fight and quarrel one with another,
and serve the devil,
who is the master of sin,
or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers,
he being an enemy to all righteousness.
But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness;
ye will teach them to love one another,
and to serve one another.
And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor;
ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need;
and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain,
and turn him out to perish.
Perhaps thou shalt say:
The man has brought upon himself his misery;
therefore I will stay my hand,
and will not give unto him of my food,
nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer,
for his punishments are just—
But I say unto you,
O man,
whosoever doeth this the same hath great cause to repent;
and except he repenteth of that which he hath done
he perisheth forever,
and hath no interest in the kingdom of God.
For behold, are we not all beggars?
Do we not all depend upon the same Being,
even God, for all the substance which we have,
for both food and raiment,
and for gold,
and for silver,
and for all the riches which we have of every kind?
And behold,
even at this time,
ye have been calling on his name,
and begging for a remission of your sins.
And has he suffered that ye have begged in vain?
Nay; he has poured out his Spirit upon you,
and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy,
and has caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance,
so exceedingly great was your joy.
And now, if God, who has created you,
on whom you are dependent for your lives
and for all that ye have and are,
doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right,
in faith,
believing that ye shall receive,
O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another.
And if ye judge the man who putteth up his petition to you for your substance that he perish not,
and condemn him,
how much more just will be your condemnation for withholding your substance,
which doth not belong to you but to God,
to whom also your life belongeth;
and yet ye put up no petition,
nor repent of the thing which thou hast done.
I say unto you,
wo be unto that man,
for his substance shall perish with him;
and now, I say these things unto those who are rich as pertaining to the things of this world.
And again, I say unto the poor,
ye who have not and yet have sufficient,
that ye remain from day to day;
I mean all you who deny the beggar,
because ye have not;
I would that ye say in your hearts that:
I give not because I have not,
but if I had I would give.
And now, if ye say this in your hearts ye remain guiltless,
otherwise ye are condemned;
and your condemnation is just for ye covet that which ye have not received.
And now, for the sake of these things which I have spoken unto you—
that is, for the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day,
that ye may walk guiltless before God—
I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor,
every man according to that which he hath,
such as feeding the hungry,
clothing the naked,
visiting the sick
and administering to their relief “both spiritually and temporally,
according to their wants.
And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order;
for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength.
And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent,
that thereby he might win the prize;
therefore, all things must be done in order.
And I would that ye should remember,
that whosoever among you borroweth of his neighbor should return the thing
that he borroweth, according as he doth agree,
or else thou shalt commit sin;
and perhaps thou shalt cause thy neighbor to commit sin also.
And finally,
I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin;
for there are divers ways and means,
even so many that I cannot number them.
But this much I can tell you,
that if ye do not watch yourselves,
and your thoughts,
and your words,
and your deeds,
and observe the commandments of God,
and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord,
even unto the end of your lives,
ye must perish.
And now, O man,
remember, and perish not.”
As you can see, the repeated phrase “and I will praise him forever” in the verses of Alma serves to emphasize the overall message of faith and devotion to God, which is a common function of parallel structures like epiphora.
5. **Prophetic Speech Patterns**: These are characteristic forms of speech that are associated with prophets in the Hebrew Bible and are also found in the Book of Mormon. For instance, the Book of Mormon often uses phrases such as “thus saith the Lord” or “wo unto you” which are prophetic speech patterns found in the Old Testament. An example is in 2 Nephi 1:13:
“O that ye would awake;
awake from a deep sleep,
yea, even from the sleep of hell,
and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound,
which are the chains which bind the children of men,
that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe.”
In this example, the prophetic speech pattern serves to underscore the gravity of the message and position the speaker as a prophet delivering a divine warning.
The presence of these Hebraic literary forms in the Book of Mormon is a subject of ongoing research and discussion among scholars. Some see them as evidence of an ancient Semitic influence on the text, while others suggest they may reflect the influence of the King James Bible or other sources on the language of the Book of Mormon.