Introduction

Mark Twain famously said that if the phrase “and it came to pass” were removed from the Book of Mormon, it would be no more than a pamphlet. [1] That was a bit of an overstatement, but it is certainly true that that phrase is used (to use another one of the Book of Mormon’s overused words) “exceedingly” often.

The phrase “and it came to pass” is, of course, also used in the Bible, but it occurs more than three times as often in the Book of Mormon – and fifteen times more often when adjusted for the size of the texts.

The Book of Mormon also copies entire chapters from the King James Version of the Bible. Of the 239 chapters in the Book of Mormon, 27 are copied nearly verbatim from the Bible.

Readers of the Bible often find it a bit on the wordy side, using a hundred words when ten would do. The Book of Mormon out-bibles the Bible on this as well. Here for example is a verse from the book of Ether telling us how Jared’s barges were built:

And they were built after a manner that they were exceedingly tight, even that they would hold water like unto a dish; and the bottom thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the sides thereof were tight like unto a dish; and the ends thereof were peaked; and the top thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the length thereof was the length of a tree; and the door thereof, when it was shut, was tight like unto a dish. Ether 2:17

These 82 words could easily be reduced to four, by saying: “They built watertight barges.”

By taking this approach, I’ve been able to reduce the size of the Book of Mormon by about a factor of five – not quite Mark Twain’s pamphlet, but certainly a Book of Mormon in Fewer Words.

Of course, not everyone will agree with my decisions about what to include and what to leave out, which is as it should be since these are necessarily subjective in nature. I encourage the reader to refer to the corresponding Book of Mormon verses to compare my summary of the text that is included, as well as the text that I have left out. I have provided superscripted verse numbers to facilitate this.

I hope that this book will help those who would like to read the Book of Mormon, but who just can’t find the time, or who don’t want to waste the time required to read the entire book.