Abstract: The Book of Mormon, being an ancient book, was originally written without typographic punctuation and employs verbal punctuation instead. This article looks at the use of “and now” as verbal punctuation in the Book of Mormon. The phrase is used to mark major breaks in the text, not only for chapters but also within chapters of the text. The Book of Mormon usage is borrowed from Classical Biblical Hebrew (the Hebrew used before the exile) and follows the pattern set by pre-exilic Hebrew scribes. While this usage dropped in the Old World after the Babylonian exile as Aramaic replaced Hebrew as the major language spoken, the Book of Mormon preserved the usage until the end of Nephite civilization.

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According to John Gilbert, the typesetter, the printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon was unpunctuated: “Every Chapter, if I remember correctly, was one solid paragraph, without a punctuation mark, from beginning to end.”1 This is in keeping with many ancient languages and scripts that work without punctuation marks. Ancient languages tend to do without typographic punctuation; they use words for punctuation instead. This verbal punctuation provides the signposts that control and structure the flow of the narrative.

Historical Examples of Verbal Punctuation

Sentences in Anatolian languages like Hittite and Luwian, usually start with a particle to which various enclitic particles are attached. The [Page 34]particle functions as verbal punctuation because it signals where a new sentence starts. Consider, for example, the simple Hittite sentence:

nu-wa-ra-aš TI-an-zaNow he will live.2

The Hittite particle nu “now” (the Hittite and English words are, in fact, cognates)3 functions as verbal punctuation to let the sentence start.