So I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and it must have stunk in the areas where the book happened because they farted all the time... "and it came to pass..."

K maybe that was only funny in my head, but I'm laughing at myself now!

Actually, it is much funnier how JS meant it. First, it was used to sound like scripture. Second, English doesn't need it at all where JS used it. If something is written consecutively, it is chronological. If something is not chronological, language requires words to place it out of such order.

I once tried to rewrite the BoM and got part way through 1 Nephi. The number of words shrank by a third without any loss of meaning. Apparently some languages need something to keep people thinking chronologically but not English.

BTW, I told the council about how badly written the BoM is and how difficult it is to read.

Ether 14:23
"and the scent thereof went forth upon the face of the land, even upon all the face of the land; wherefore the people became troubled by day and by night, because of the scent thereof;"

Whenever he found his speech growing too modern which was about every sentence or two he ladled in a few such Scriptural phrases as exceedingly sore, and it came to pass, etc., and made things satisfactory again. And it came to pass was his pet. If he had left that out, his Bible would have been only a pamphlet.

Mark Twain

And the angel stretched forth his hand, and in his hand was a pint of beer. So I did partake of the pint of beer. Drink the pint of beer did I.

And it came to pass that after a short while that I did pass water.

Yeah, I mean, yea, passing the water did come to pass, even to the coming of the passing of the water within me, which is to say, that I did pass water.