Translation: “Synagogue,” as used earlier in the Book of Mormon, seems to refer to a religious gathering place rather than anything as specific as a Jewish synagogue. (See commentary accompanying Alma 16:13.) This verse seems to confirm the word’s generic use. The Zoramites, who do not follow Mosaic law, build synagogues, suggesting that their places of worship had to be designed for a different function (see the next verse) and a different religion. They could not have been Jewish synagogues, not only because of time and distance from the Old World, but because they did not follow the Jewish religion. Since the Greek origin of “synagogue” means a place for meeting, I hypothesize that the word on Mormon’s plates also conveyed the meaning of a religious meeting place, which Joseph translated as “synagogues.”