Simile Curses in the Ancient Near East, Old Testament, and Book of Mormon

Authors

Mark J. Morrise, Corbridge, Baird and Christensen, Salt Lake City, Utah

Keywords

Ancient Near East, Language, Bible, Language, Symbolism, Imagery, Book of Mormon

Abstract

The simile curse is a type of curse that appears in ancient Near Eastern, Old Testament, and Book of Mormon texts. It consists of two parts: (1) an event (e.g., “Just as this wax is burned by fire”) and (2) an application of that event to the subject of the curse (e.g., “so shall Arpad be burned”). In ancient Near Eastern texts, simile curses appear in written treaties and were often part of a ritual acted out during a treaty ceremony. In the Old Testament, simile curses appear primarily in prophetic writings as literary devices. In the Book of Mormon, simile curses appear in the context of treaties, religious covenants, and prophecies, and in several instances were acted out. These curses were probably part of the oral tradition of ancient Near Eastern, Old Testament, and Book of Mormon peoples.

BYU ScholarsArchive Citation

Morrise, Mark J. (1993) "Simile Curses in the Ancient Near East, Old Testament, and Book of Mormon," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: Vol. 2: No. 1, Article 9.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol2/iss1/9