And that the Urim and Thummim breastplate did not aid the grammarless translator, or his uninspired amanuensis, or even his village printer, is evident from such eccentric irregularities and bold departures from the "well of English undefiled" as:
“thou remembereth” (page 27); "and I have not written but a small part of the things I saw" (page 35); "therefore they did not look unto the Lord as they had ought" (ibid.);…"and this he done" (page 225); "and the words of Amulek which was declared unto the people" (page 245); "now the object of these lawyers were to get gain" (page 251);…
I pause out of breath, with this result of a most cursory inspection of the inspired pages under examination
Now, the speculations about what this may or may not say about the alleged divine origins of said book are not entirely convincing, though the comments do help develop this aspect of the article.
Why I want to comment is to note the phenomenon of archaisms for religious speech. Needs more investigation but there surely is something to investigate: a number of Anglicisings of the Qur'an opt for KJV English (Pickthall being the most prominent). And then listen to what happens in programmes like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed when they want to wheel out some serious ritual ...
So are we missing something important in terms of contextualisation in going for prayer in contemporary English?
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