According to the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude date ...

, Mosiah II (),

King Benjamin According to the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin, son of King Mosiah the first, was the second Nephite king to rule over Zarahemla. An account of his life and teachings are recorded in both the Words of Mormon and the Book of Mosiah. He was consid ...

's son and Mosiah I's grandson, was king of the Nephite nation from about 124 BC to 91 BC. The

Book of Mosiah The Book of Mosiah () is one of the books which make up the Book of Mormon. The title refers to Mosiah II, a king of the Nephites at Zarahemla. The book covers the time period between ''ca'' 130 BC and 91 BC, except for when the book has a flas ...

is named after Mosiah II. Mosiah was also a prophet and is described by

Ammon Ammon (Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; he, עַמּוֹן ''ʻAmmōn''; ar, عمّون, ʻAmmūn) was an ancient Semitic-speaking nation occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok, in p ...

as a "seer" who could translate records.

Accounts

Mosiah instituted a new governing system after all of his

sons A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some current co ...

declined to succeed him as king, choosing rather to preach the gospel. This new government was based on judges elected and chosen by the people. After Mosiah's death in approximately 91 BC, this council of elected

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

s constituted the government of the land until

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...

visited the Nephite nation (see ).

Possible origin of the name

Mosiah II was presumably named after his grandfather.

Hugh Nibley Hugh Winder Nibley (March 27, 1910 – February 24, 2005) was an American scholar and an apologist of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) who was a professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) for nearly 50 years. He was a ...

relates the name to a combination of the name

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

with that of

Yahweh Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he posse ...

(Jehovah). The

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

root ''msy'', "child of", has been considered as a possible etymology for the name Moses, arguably an abbreviation of a

theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or God's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that deit ...

, as for example in Egyptian names like

Thutmose Thutmose (also rendered Thutmoses, Thutmosis, Tuthmose, Tutmosis, Thothmes, Tuthmosis, Thutmes, Djhutmose, Djehutymes, etc.) is an Anglicization of the Ancient Egyptian personal name ''dhwty-ms'', usually translated as "Born of the god Thoth". Th ...

s ( Thoth created him) and Ramesses ( Ra created him),Christopher B. Hays
''Hidden Riches: A Sourcebook for the Comparative Study of the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East''
Presbyterian Publishing Corp, 2014 p. 116. with the god's name omitted. In the case of Mosiah, the inversion of the elements could yield the combination "son of Yah". The name is also similar to

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...

in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

, and the "-iah" suffix can be found in a number of Book of Mormon names such as

Amalickiah In the Book of Mormon, Amalickiah (; Ameleckiah as a frequent scribal variant in the original manuscript) was a Nephite leader of a movement to reestablish a king, specifically himself, as the king of the Nephites. When he failed to gain power ...

and

Sariah According to the Book of Mormon, Sariah () was the wife of Lehi, and the mother of Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi. The Book of Mormon also mentions Jacob, and Joseph, two additional sons born to Lehi after his departure from Jerusalem, but does ...

, as well as the Biblical names

Jeremiah Jeremiah, Modern: , Tiberian: ; el, Ἰερεμίας, Ieremíās; meaning " Yah shall raise" (c. 650 – c. 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the "weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish ...

and

Zedekiah Zedekiah (), was the 20th and last king of Judah before the destruction of the kingdom by King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. His birth name was Mattaniah/Mattanyahu ( he, מַתַּנְיָהוּ, ''Mattanyāhū'', "Gift of God"; el, Μαθθ ...

Sons of Mosiah

The sons of Mosiah is the collective name used in the

for four sons of King Mosiah II, whose names were

Aaron According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of ...

Omner According to the Book of Mormon, Omner () was a Nephite missionary and one of the sons of King Mosiah II. He was also brother to the prophet Ammon. As related in the Book of Mormon narrative, Omner and his three brothers (Ammon, Aaron, and Himn ...

, and

Himni In religion, according to the Book of Mormon Himni () was a Nephite missionary and one of the sons of King Mosiah, and brother to the prophet Ammon. According to the Book, Himni and his three brothers Ammon, Omner, and Aaron left their father, an ...

. These sons were notable for their initial opposition to the church, their miraculous repentance and conversion to Christ. They subsequently served as missionaries among the

Lamanites The Lamanites () are one of the four ancient peoples (along with the Jaredites, the Mulekites, and the Nephites) described as having settled in the ancient Americas in the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement. The Lamani ...

, accompanied by their friends Muloki and Ammah.

Accounts

Possible origin of the name

Sons of Mosiah

References

Further reading