JOEL - Generally speaking there are three reasons for phrases found in the Book of Mormon that are similar to those found in the Bible:

1. A Book of Mormon prophet is quoting something from the Brass plates that Lehi carried with him, which contains many records also found in the Bible(eg Isaiah).

2. Either a Book of Mormon prophet is quoting something he heard Jesus say to them when He visited them or Jesus himself is saying something that He also said to the people in Jerusalem recorded in the Bible.

3. The translation from reformed egyptian was not a word for word process. Symbols represent ideas and phrases rather than specific words. Joseph Smith may have consulted the Bible when he found concepts or teachings on the gold plates that were similar to that in the Bible. If those interpolations found in the Bible helped to complete or make more clear the meaning then they were also used in the Book of Mormon.

SCOTT - Isn't the term "Jew" an anachronism (e.g. 1st Nephi ch.1, BofM title page). The term didn't come about until after the post-exilic period during the Joshian Reformation of the Hebrew religion.

JOEL - There are hundreds of words and terms in the Book of Mormon that were not known at the time the actual events happened. The word "Jew" was well known at Joseph Smith's time however. The Book of Mormon was translated from an ancient language into a modern language. Nineteenth century words and phrases were used to convey the essential meaning of the ancient symbols so those reading it in the 19th century could better understand what it was talking about.

SCOTT - Why is there a notable absence of referneces to colours and distances in the text independent of quotations from the Bible?

JOEL - I don't understand why this is a problem. I guess the Book of Mormon prophets just didn't think such details were necessary. Since they were writing on metal plates they were often limited on the amount of space they had to use, so they no doubt left out such extraneous details(See Jarom 1:2,4 Morm 8:5, Morm 9:33) . They were also more concerned about writing about the things of God.

"Wherefore, I shall give commandment unto my seed, that they shall not occupy these plates with things which are not of worth unto the children of men. (1 Ne. 6: 3, 6)

Aside from this there are a few instances where colors and distances are mentioned in the Book of Mormon. For example, the color red, is used twice(besides the Red sea)(Alma 3:4, 3:13), white 26 times; black is used twice(2 Nep 26:33, 3 Nep. 12:36); scarlets(1 Nephi 13:7- 8); and grey(1 Nephi 18:15).
There are several mentionings of distances in the Book of Mormon. They were not measured in any kind of units, but were measured in how many days it took to get somewhere(eg. 1 Ne. 16: 13, Alma 8:6, Alma 22:32, Helaman 4:7, Mosiah 24:25).

SCOTT - What was the purpose of the Jaredites storing fish in the barges for 344 days when they could have easily fished for food before and during their journey? It seems like an induvidual with a lack of knowledge pertaining to fishing seemed to have authored the book.

JOEL -

"And they did also lay snares and catch fowls of the air; and they did also prepare a vessel, in which they did carry with them the fish of the waters." (Ether 2:2)

This is the only scripture I see where it talks about fish they carried with them. The "vessel" was a container they kept the fish in while they traveled on dry land. But this was only for when they were traveling through the wilderness, not for while they were on the barges(See Ether 2:5).
Later on they built barges to travel over "many waters"(Verse 6) and again when they made the big crossing over the sea(Verse 16), but neither of these water travels say anything about storing fish on the boats.

SCOTT - What was the purpose of Moroni having to translate the Jaredite record when Mosiah (the second) made a translation of the text already?

JOEL - Mosiah translated the Jaredite record(Mosiah 28:11-19). We don't know if Moroni translated it again or relied on Mosiah's translation when he abridged the records into a smaller volume and attached them to the rest of the gold plates. There is no scripture that specifically says that Moroni translated them again.