Joseph Smith was fond of the German translation of the Bible.

“I have an old edition of the New Testament in the Latin, Hebrew, German and Greek languages. I have been reading the German, and find it to be the most [nearly] correct translation, and to correspond nearest to the revelations which God has given to me for the last fourteen years” – History of the Church 6:307.

“The old German translators are the most nearly correct — most honest of any of the translators; and therefore I get testimony to bear me out in the revelations that I have preached for the last fourteen years” – History of the Church 6:364.

In the German Lutheran Bible, the names of the two sons of Zebedee are Jacob and John. In the King James Bible, the translators oddly changed the name of Jacob to James. But this is beside the point…or maybe it helps to make my point. I served my mission in Germany and became fluent in the language and as such, I collected a number of German Bibles. I will now quote an interesting passage from the Lutheran Bible:

Epheser 6:12 Denn wir haben nicht mit Fleisch und Blut zu kämpfen, sondern mit Fürsten und Gewaltigen, nämlich mit den Herren der Welt, die in der Finsternis dieser Welt herrschen, mit den bösen Geistern unter dem Himmel.

Translated into English, it reads:

Ephesians 6:12 For we do not battle with flesh and blood, but rather with rulers and mighty ones, namely with the lords of this world who rule in the darkness of this world with the evil spirits under heaven.

Lord is defined as someone or something having power, authority, or influence like a landlord, a warlord, or even a druglord.

That is how I personally render the translation and it provides interesting context in light of the distorted translation rendered by the King James Version:

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

An earlier English translation than the 1611 KJV, namely the Geneva Bible in 1587, renders the translation so:

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, and against the worldly gouernours, the princes of the darkenesse of this worlde, against spirituall wickednesses, which are in ye hie places.”

An even earlier translation, the Bishops’ Bible of 1568 renders it similarly:

“For we wrastle not agaynst blood & flesshe: but agaynst rule, agaynst power, agaynst worldly gouernours of the darknesse of this worlde, agaynst spirituall craftynesse in heauenly places.”

My point is that we are being warned against what the Book of Mormon calls secret combinations which are perpetrated by people who hold high offices. This carries many implications which alone could fill a book. Secret combinations have existed in the church and in governments throughout history since the days of Adam. Secret combinations murdered Abel. Secret combinations murdered the Son of God, even Jesus Christ. Secret combinations also murdered Joseph Smith. They were perpetrated by the “lords” and by the “rulers” of this world. I have thought about writing my own commentary on the Book of Mormon addressing things which I have not yet seen written, but I have not felt impressed by the Spirit to do it.

Some commentaries are by prominent men who follow favorable yet trite and banal narratives. This does the membership a disservice and keeps them asleep when we are commanded in Ether chapter 8 to awake to a sense of “your” awful situation because of the secret combination that shall be among “you” (Ether 8:24). There is a duality about the last days believing Gentiles (goyim) and Ephraimites implied by Book of Mormon prophet-authors. Isaiah also warned about the Drunkards of Ephraim. Incidentally, relatively few people have read, or for that matter, admitted to reading my free book By A Thread which is a very easy read at barely 170 pages. How would I be able to persuade anyone to read a book that might easily be between 700 to 1,000 pages?

But if I could summarize succinctly what I might have written about in my giant tome, it would be this: The Book of Mormon teaches you two paramount lessons: how to seek Christ (and behold Him face to face) AND how to identify and avoid modern “Gadiantons” and the “Nephites” who support them. If this interests you, then my free book By A Thread is a good start. But it’s directed towards disciples of Jesus Christ who hunger and thirst after HIM. It is probably too dry/tedious for anyone else.