Episode 16

Deutero-Isaiah

Original Air Date: 2022-08-31

Deutero-IsaiahBook of MormonBiblical Scholarship

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This video, titled "Deutero-Isaiah and the Book of Mormon," is episode 16 of the LDS Discussions series on the Mormon Stories Podcast, hosted by John Dehlin with Mike from LDS Discussions. The episode explores a significant anachronism within the Book of Mormon: the inclusion of biblical text from Isaiah that scholars agree was written after Lehi and his family supposedly left Jerusalem 1.

Here is a detailed summary of the video's content:

The Core Problem: Who Wrote Isaiah?

The central issue discussed is the authorship and timeline of the biblical book of Isaiah. While traditional religious views often attribute the entire book to a single prophet living in the 8th century BCE, mainstream biblical scholarship has held since the 20th century that the book was written by multiple authors over centuries 2.

  • First Isaiah (Chapters 1–39): Attributed to the historical prophet Isaiah in Jerusalem (pre-exile) 3.
  • Deutero-Isaiah (Chapters 40–55): Written by an anonymous author during or after the Babylonian exile (circa 586 BCE) 2, 3.
  • Trito-Isaiah (Chapters 56–66): Written even later, in the post-exilic period 3.

    • The Conflict: The Book of Mormon asserts that Lehi and his family left Jerusalem around 600 BCE, taking the "Brass Plates" with them. However, Deutero-Isaiah (Second Isaiah) was written after the Babylonian exile began. Consequently, this material would not have existed yet for Lehi to possess, yet the Book of Mormon quotes extensively from these specific chapters (e.g., in 2 Nephi and Mosiah) 3, 4.

    Evidence for Multiple Authors of Isaiah

    The hosts outline several reasons why scholars are confident that chapters 40+ were written later than the historical Isaiah:

  • Specific Historical References: Chapter 45 mentions King Cyrus by name. Cyrus was the Persian king who liberated the Jews from Babylon around 539 BCE—long after the historical Isaiah died. The text treats Cyrus as a contemporary figure, not a distant future prophecy 5.
  • Shift in Theme and Tone: The historical Isaiah warned of Jerusalem's potential destruction. In contrast, Deutero-Isaiah assumes Jerusalem has already been destroyed and offers a message of comfort and restoration to exiles in Babylon 6.
  • Linguistic Evidence: Later chapters show the influence of Aramaic, a language the Jews adopted during the exile, which is absent in the earlier chapters. The Hebrew used in the later chapters dates to the post-exilic period 7, 8.
  • Literary Anachronisms: Deutero-Isaiah references Jeremiah (who lived after the historical Isaiah), while Jeremiah never references Deutero-Isaiah, suggesting the latter had not yet been written 9. Additionally, figures like Abraham are mentioned in the later chapters but are absent from First Isaiah, reflecting evolving theology 10.

    • The King James Version Connection

    The video highlights that the Book of Mormon does not merely contain the ideas of Deutero-Isaiah; it quotes the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible almost word-for-word 11.

  • Copying Errors: The Book of Mormon includes KJV translation errors, italicized words (added by 17th-century translators for clarity), and late additions that would not appear in an ancient Hebrew text 11, 12.
  • Implication: This suggests Joseph Smith used his own KJV Bible to draft these sections of the Book of Mormon rather than translating from an ancient record. Mike notes this as evidence of Joseph Smith’s active role in producing the text 13.

    • Apologetic Responses and Rebuttals

    The hosts examine how LDS apologists, specifically FairMormon, attempt to resolve this anachronism:

  • The "Primitive Text" Theory: Apologists suggest an original Isaiah wrote a primitive version of these chapters, which was later "reworked" by scribes to add details like Cyrus 14.
  • Rebuttal: This contradicts the scholarly consensus on the linguistic and thematic origins of the text. Furthermore, if a "primitive" version existed on the Brass Plates, why does the Book of Mormon match the "reworked" KJV text exactly, rather than the alleged original? 15, 16.
  • Loose Translation Theory: This theory posits that when Joseph Smith encountered ideas similar to Isaiah, he simply utilized the KJV text available to him to save time, rather than translating literally 17.
  • Rebuttal: This contradicts the "tight translation" accounts provided by witnesses (like David Whitmer and Martin Harris), who claimed words appeared on a seer stone and would not change until written correctly 18, 19. The hosts argue apologists switch between "tight" and "loose" translation theories depending on which problem they are trying to solve 20.
  • The "Laziness" Argument: Mike argues that relying on the KJV implies God allowed Joseph Smith to use a corrupted, error-filled 17th-century text instead of providing a pure translation of the ancient record, effectively making Joseph "lazy" in the translation process 21, 22.

    • Conclusion

    The episode concludes that Deutero-Isaiah is a "smoking gun" regarding the historicity of the Book of Mormon.

  • 19th-Century Origin: The presence of post-exilic writings, combined with KJV-specific errors, indicates the Book of Mormon is a 19th-century creation rather than an ancient historical record 23, 24.
  • Pattern of Behavior: This fits a broader pattern discussed in the series where Joseph Smith integrated contemporary sources (Adam and Eve mythology, the long ending of Mark, etc.) into his scripture 25.
  • Final Thought: The hosts argue that while believers may find spiritual value in the text, the evidence overwhelmingly shows that the people described in the Book of Mormon could not have had access to the writings of Deutero-Isaiah 26, 27.

    • Episode Info

    Guests: Mike (LDS Discussions)

    Related Article: LDS Discussions