The word "Bible" comes from "Biblea," an original Greek word not used by Hebrew prophets. Its presence, therefore in chapter 29 of 2 Nephi (the only place the word "bible" is mentioned in the Book of Mormon) is regarded as an anachronism by critics of the Book of Mormon. However, according to Roy Weldon, we should note that the word "Bible" is in a prophecy by Nephi about what would happen when the Nephite record should come forth in the nineteenth century. The prophet's words are as follows:
And because my words shall hiss forth, many of the Gentiles shall say, A Bible a Bible, we have got a Bible, and there can not be any more Bible. (2 Nephi 29:3)
Prophecy is foreknowledge, so the use of the word "Bible" by Nephi is on a par with Isaiah's use of the name "Cyrus" in one of his prophecies of the future. There is excellent historical evidence from ancient historians Xenophon and Josephus that Isaiah did indeed use the name "Cyrus" long before the Babylonish captivity and the birth of Cyrus.
Josephus quotes the following message that Cyrus sent throughout Asia:
Thus saith Cyrus the king: Since God almighty hath appointed me to be king of the habitable earth, I believe that he is that God which the nation of the Israelites worship; for indeed he foretold my name by the prophets, and that I should build him a house at Jerusalem, in the country of Judea.
Josephus makes this note:
This was known to Cyrus by his reading the book which Isaiah left behind him of his prophecies, for this prophet said that God had spoken thus to him in a secret vision: "My will is, that Cyrus whom I have appointed to be king over many and great nations, send back my people to their own land, and build my temple." This was foretold by Isaiah one hundred and forty years before the temple was demolished. Accordingly, when Cyrus read this, and admired the Divine power, an earnest desire and ambition seized upon him to fulfill what was so written.--Antiquities of the Jews, Book II, p. 321.
Thus, Nephi was doing nothing that hadn't been done before. [Roy E. Weldon, Book of Mormon Deeps, Vol. III, pp. 301-302]
2 Nephi 29:3-6 A Bible! A Bible! (Chiasm) [[Illustration]]: A Bible! A Bible! (Chiasm) [Donald W. Parry, The Book of Mormon Text Reformatted according to Parallelistic Patterns, p. 108]
According to Donald Parry, Parallelism is universally recognized as the characteristic feature of biblical Hebrew poetry." . . . Chiasmus is a form of inverted parallelism. . . . A good example is found in 2 Nephi 29:3-6:
And because my words shall hiss forth--many of the Gentiles shall say:
A A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible.
B But thus saith the Lord God: O fools, they shall have a Bible;
C and it shall proceed forth from the Jews, mine ancient covenant people.
D And what thank they the Jews for the Bible which they receive from them?
E Yea, what do the Gentiles mean?
F Do they remember the travails, and the labors, and the pains of the Jews, and their diligence unto
me,
G in bringing forth salvation unto the Gentiles?
G O ye Gentiles,
F have ye remembered the Jews, mine ancient covenant people?
E Nay; but ye have cursed them, and have hated them, and have not sought to recover them.
D But behold, I will return all these things upon your own heads;
C for I the Lord have not forgotten my people.
B Thou fool, that shall say:
A A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible.
[Donald W. Parry, The Book of Mormon Text Reformatted according to Parallelistic Patterns, p. 108]