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Gospel Wiki Connections mos-kj-voice-of-people

Mosiah 29:26 · Mosiah 7:9

Textual Shared phrasing

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Book of Mormon Mosiah 29:26
"therefore this shall ye observe and make it your law—to do your business by the voice of the people"
Book of Mormon Mosiah 7:9
"who was made a king by the voice of the people"

Shared words: by the voice of the people

The phrase 'the voice of the people' first appears at Mosiah 7:9, 22:1, and Mosiah 29 (29:2, 26, 27, 29; variant 'the voice of this people' at 29:25), then recurs throughout Alma (2:3, 2:4, 2:7, 4:16, 27:21, 27:22, 46:34, 51:7, 51:15, 51:16) and Helaman (1:5, 1:6, 1:8, 1:13, 2:2, 5:2) once the reform institutes it. The phrase predates the reform: Limhi's self-introduction attaches it to kingmaking in his line (the relative clause's antecedent is ambiguous between Limhi and Zeniff, but 19:26 states of Limhi 'having the kingdom conferred upon him by the people'), and Limhi's deliverance council acts 'that they might have the voice of the people concerning the matter' (22:1). 29:26 converts an attested practice into standing law ('make it your law'). Corpus disclosure: the phrase's earliest occurrence is not Nephite - 1 Samuel 8:7 has the Lord tell Samuel 'Hearken unto the voice of the people' at Israel's own request for a king, the Old Testament backdrop to the Nephite reform's use.

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Kings & Judges