KnoWhy #134 - Why Was Jershon Called a Land of Inheritance? (Alma 27:22)

The Lord commanded Ammon to move the Anti-Nephi-Lehies closer to the Nephite polity in order to protect them from further Lamanite aggression. The Nephites welcomed them, proclaiming: “Behold, we will give up the land of Jershon, . . . [and this] is the land which we will give unto our brethren for an inheritance.” The name Jershon and the attending detail that it was a land of “inheritance” is a fairly obvious Hebrew pun. The Hebrew verb yrsh means “to inherit,” and Jershon would therefore be a “place of possession/inheritance.” Quite literally, Alma 27 depicts the Anti-Nephi-Lehies “inheriting” the “place of inheritance.” This pun reinforces the literary sophistication of the Book of Mormon.