According to Thomas Valletta, it is noteworthy that sometimes the term “word” was used synonymously with “covenant” (e.g. Numbers 30:2; Deuteronomy 33:9; 1 Chronicles 16:15; Psalms 105:8). This may be a result of the binding nature of the revealed word of God (compare Exodus 13:16; Deuteronomy 11:18). In our own dispensation, the Lord has revealed: “For of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation” (D&C 82:3). Phrases such as “keeping the commandments” (Alma 48:15), and “maintenance of the sacred word of God” (Alma 44:5), are the scriptural equivalent of living the covenants of the Lord (Alma 46:21). [Thomas R. Valletta, “The Captain and the Covenant,” in The Book of Mormon: Alma, The Testimony of the Word, p. 227]
“Maintenance of the Sacred Word of God”
According to John Fowles, Captain Moroni taught that they owed all of their happiness to the “maintenance of the sacred word of God” (Alma 44:5). It appears that words such as covenant, law, word, or oath were used almost synonymously in the Old Testament. G.E. Mendenhall has posited:
In view of the fact that the term for “covenant” is quite rare in the earliest sections of the Old Testament, the tradition of the covenant with Yahweh must have been designated by other words than [berit]. It seems quite likely that the oldest designation of the Decalogue as … “the ten words” … rests on this early tradition, since covenants were regarded and called the “words” of the suzerain. The theological usage of the “word” of God may therefore be very closely bound up in its very origin with the covenant, though, of course, much expanded in scope with the passage of time. (716)
Even the name “Deuteronomy,” which means “second law,” comes from the Greek Septuagint which is actually a mistranslation of the earlier Hebrew term debarim or words. Therefore, the book of Deuteronomy is in reality the book of the “Words of the Covenant” (Grant 143). [John L. Fowles, “The Decline of the Nephites: Rejection of the Covenant and Word of God,” in The Book of Mormon: Helaman through 3 Nephi 8, According to Thy Word, pp. 82-83]