And it came to pass that we did find upon the land of promise, and we journeyed in the wilderness

that there were beasts of the forests of every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the ass and

the horse, and the goat and the wild goat, and all manner of wild animals, which were for

the use of men. First Nephi chapter 18 verse 25.

Hey listeners, this is Nick from Book of Mormon Central,

and today's podcast addresses the question,

When Lehi's party arrived in the land, did they find horses there?

When Lehi and his family arrived in the promised land,

according to Nephi's account,

they found beasts in the forest of every according to Nephi's account, they found beasts

in the forest of every kind, the ass and the horse, and all manner of wild animals. The inclusion

of horses in the Book of Mormon is a subject that has long perplexed many readers, since

conventional thinking among scientists maintains that horses went extinct in the Americas around the end of the last Ice Age,

circa 10,000 BC. Some have used this apparent discrepancy to try and discredit the Book of Mormon.

Others, however, have argued that various possibilities could account for it.

For example, some have suggested that the use of the term horse is an instance of what scholars call loan shifting or referential extension,

where a familiar word is applied to a foreign item or concept.

This has happened frequently when new cultures encountered the horse in both the old and new worlds.

Some scholars suggest something similar may have happened when Lehi's family first explored the promised land.

That is, they may have extended their term for horse to a new unfamiliar species.

Others have noted that translation sometimes introduces anachrodisms into a text,

and so propose that words like horse may be the result of the Book of Mormon's translation into English.

...