The 1981 LDS edition of the Book of Mormon in English contains 268,158 words if you count only content from the plates and ignore modern accretions such as chapter summaries. The word count comes from Microsoft Word. See the article "Some Questions and a Rule," Rule of Book of Mormon Interpretation, point #4 for a link to download the word document. Most of these words are easy enough to understand that Aymara saints around Lake Titicaca and Kekchi saints around Lake Izabal draw profound personal meaning from the Nephite text. Some of these words, though, have proven difficult for serious students to interpret. This article lists some phrases bearing on the New World setting of the Book of Mormon whose ambiguous interpretation has created division among readers.
Alma 22:27 "running from the east towards the west" has been interpreted as:
Alma 22:27 "running from the east towards the west" has been interpreted as:
- the river Sidon was running from the east towards the west
- the narrow strip of wilderness was running from the east towards the west
- from the east sea to the west sea
- from an unspecified point in the east to the west sea
- from the east sea to the west sea
- from an unspecified point in the east to the west sea
- all the land northward and the land southward
- all the continental land of Zarahemla including land Bountiful (see the article "Zarahemla") that divided into northern and southern tiers
- the people who were in the land Bountiful or rather Captain Moroni
- the people who were in the land Bountiful or rather the land of Moroni
- by the west sea and by the east sea
- by the west sea which at this point had both a western and an eastern component such as a coastal saltwater lagoon behind a sandbar
- from the west sea to the east sea
- from the west sea to some unspecified point in the east