Wrights Argument #2: Where Did Joseph Get the Tricolon of 2 Nephi 12:16?
As for the second part of Wright’s argument, an attempt to explain how Joseph might have added the phrase from the Septuagint in spite of apparently not having access to the Septuagint, Wright is truly grasping at straws. Here is an excerpt of his argument: So how does BoMor Isaiah come to have a phrase that is so similar to the interpretive reading in the Septuagint and Targum? It turns out that interpreting the phrase “ships of Tarshish” as “ships of the sea” was well-known in British and American Bible interpretation in the decades preceding the publication of the Book of Mormon. He then cites several sources published in the British Isles, as well as a U.S. publication: The many pre-1829 editions of Thomas Scott’s The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments (Philadelphia: 1810-12; New York: 1812-15; Boston: 1823-24, 1827) also cite Lowth’s comment: “Ships of Tarshish signify in scripture, any trading or merchant ships: accordingly here the Septuagint render the words ‘ship
