JOEL - Actually, the two terms, Red Sea and Reed Sea, can be interchanged. Researchers at the Oriental Institute at Chicago University, have determined that anciently, the sea known as the Yam Suf(Sea of Reeds) was a name that also included the Gulf of Suez, or the Red Sea.

There are three possible reasons why some Bible errors and words of Greek origin are found in the Book of Mormon:

1. As Joseph Smith was translating the Book of Mormon and came to passages which are also quoted in Bible scriptures such as Isaiah or in the New Testament; if his translation appeared close enough to that of the King James Version, rather than take time to retranslate the scripture, and if there were no points of doctrine in question, he may have simply recited what he already knew from the Bible. Also the Book of Mormon was translated to be read by people who were already familiar with the language of the Bible. Joseph Smith may have decided to use the Greek form of a word in some instances so that it would be more understandable to people who were already familiar with the Bible. But we really don't know exactly how the translation process worked. No one could understand it unless they experienced it for themselves.

2. Lehi's family and descendants may have been familiar with the Greek language. It has been determined that the Greeks could have had some influence on the culture in Jeruselem at the time of Lehi. H.V. Hilprect noted that Greek mercenaries entered Egyptian service in large numbers about 600 B.C (H. V. Hilprect, "Explorations in Bible Lands," AJ Holman & Co., 1903, p. 647). W.H. Hale noted that by the 7th century BC the Greeks were establishing colonies and trading posts as far away as Syria, Thrace, Asia Minor, and to Egypt (W.H Hale, "Ancient Greece," 1965, p. 27, 117).

3. The title "Christ" is used several times throughout the Book of Mormon, even hundreds of years before Jesus was born. The very first scripture that mentions the word "Christ" explains the reason why this Greek title was used:

"Wherefore, as I said unto you, it must needs be expedient that Christ--for in the last night the angel spake unto me that this should be his name--should come among the Jews, among those who are the more wicked part of the world; and they shall crucify him--for thus it behooveth our God, and there is none other nation on earth that would crucify their God." (2 Nephi 10:3)

In this scripture the prophet Nephi is told in a revelation from an angel that the Greek term, "Christ", is the title that Jesus would be known as. Since it was a Greek term, they may not have come up with this word on their own. It was revealed to them by an angel of God and they continued to use it thereafter. The process of revelation from God can be used to explain other instances where words of Greek origin are found in the Book of Mormon.