There are a few passages from the Book of Mormon I honestly felt were divine. Some were so significant they even cemented my testimony in a way. One such verse is found toward the front of the book:

“I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them” (1 Nephi 3:7).

Very profound, far reaching, and multi-faceted – it must be divine.

Published six years before the BOM, on 23 February 1824, The Christian Baptist – Volume 1, page 54 reads:

“With an open bible in my hand, I must say that God never called a man to any work for which he was not fully qualified, and in the performance of which he was not successful.”

Then, there is this verse from the Apocrypha; found in the Smith family Bible:

“And she said unto them, Command the gates of the city to be opened unto me, that I may go forth to accomplish the things whereof ye have spoken with me. So they commanded the young men to open unto her, as she had spoken” (Judith 10:9).

I give JS high marks for re-wording this, so it wasn’t quite as clumsy, but the sentiment and inspiration were not original.

Mark Twain said it best: “All ideas are second-hand.” In this respect, Joseph Smith, Jr. magnified his calling.