Given the limited space on metal plates and the painstaking labor of engraving each word by hand, one would expect divine efficiency—maximum precision, minimum waste. Yet the Book of Mormon often feels anything but concise.

Take this example:

“And we did sojourn for the space of many years, yea, even eight years in the wilderness” (1 Nephi 17:4).

A clearer, more natural rendering would simply read:

“And we did sojourn in the wilderness for eight years.”

So, the question lingers—why would an all-knowing God dictate a clumsy, repetitive phrase through a seer stone when a human editor could improve it in seconds?

Divine revelation shouldn’t need an English tutor.