Were the Book of Mormon authors familiar with the Egyptian language?

Thomas R. Valletta

“The Book of Mormon indicates that it was written using Egyptian characters, called by Moroni ‘reformed Egyptian,’ though the Nephites also knew Hebrew (see Mormon 9:32–34). Nephi made ‘a record in the language of [his] father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians’ (1 Nephi 1:2). Evidently, the brass plates of Laban also contained Egyptian characters, for King Benjamin informed his sons that, without a knowledge of Egyptian, Lehi would not have been able to read them (see Mosiah 1:3–4)” (Ricks, “Pressing Forward with the Book of Mormon,” 2).

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