The author Brenton Yorgason tells of a professor Sami Hanna, an Egyptian who was especially schooled in the Arabic language and who accepted the assignment of the First Presidency to translate the Book of Mormon into the Semitic cultural format. According to the words of Dr. Hanna, "When I began reading the Book of Mormon, and began making myself familiar with it, I expected to find a very poorly written book, as I had been told by critics . . . but to the contrary, I found myself reading the most beautiful Semitic book I had ever read!"
According to Dr. Hanna, the word "curious" in 1 Nephi 16:10 referring to the workmanship of the Liahona does not mean "strange" as many have presumed, but actually designates an instrument of "skilled" or "elegant" workmanship. [Brenton G. Yorgason, Little Known Evidences of the Book of Mormon, pp. 32,36] [See the commentary on 1 Nephi 18:1]