Looking at words and phrases, the number of times each appears certainly does not appear to be random.
91 words appear in Alma 29 once and only once. This is a relatively high density in a text only 708 words long. Alma’s skill here gives solo emphasis to these singular terms, which in turn makes it more likely that the words used more than once were also intentionally chosen and counted.
Showing their diversity, the 91 words, in alphabetical order, are: Abraham, alone, always, am, amen, among, arm, away, because, before, blameless, body, calling, carried, coming, conscience, content, counsel, cry, declare, destruction, down, Egyptians, ends, exceedingly, extended, face, filled, firm, fit, forever, granteth, harrow, heard, heart, holy, how, instrument, Isaac, Jacob, kingdom, land, man, many, merciful, mine, myself, Nephi, no, O, our, penitent, perform, perhaps, plan, praise, prayer, preach, redemption, remorse, reward, salvation, separation, shake, shall, sin, sit, so, some, sorrow, surely, teach, than, there, therefore, think, those, thunder, tongue, towards, true, truly, trump, unalterable, upon, we, what, wills, words, work, would.
Reading these 91 words in the order of their appearance highlights the special power that each of these singular words has in the flow of this text: O, mine, heart, trump, shake, cry, would, declare, thunder, plan, redemption, our, there, sorrow, upon, face, am, man, sin, content, harrow, firm, granteth, unalterable, wills, salvation, destruction, before, blameless, remorse, conscience, than, perform, work, ends, tongue, teach, fit, therefore, we, counsel, true, myself, perhaps, instrument, some, many, truly, penitent, coming, filled, what, heard, prayer, merciful, arm, extended, towards, surely, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, always, Egyptians, among, holy, calling, preach, alone, because, land, Nephi, exceedingly, how, shall, reward, think, carried, away, separation, body, so, sit, down, kingdom, those, no, praise, forever, words, amen.
At least 27 words that appear twice, as doublets, in this text are color-coded as pairs in the chart of repeated expressions. These most often appear in synonymous or antithetical parallelisms, adding contrasts and drawing attention to nuances.
Only four words appear three times in this text, giving triadic solidarity to the central rejoicing of Alma, not only over the deliverance from bondage but also from sin:
Other triads, such as the God of Abraham / God of Isaac / God of Jacob, also appear (11).
Seven terms appear four times or in quatrains. Alma may have cast these fours in honor of his four friends, the four sons of Mosiah, his brethren, remembering the glory of their deliverance in the combat between good and evil:
The word “according to” appears five times:
Two words appear six times. They have to do with our desires, which make all the difference for all men, all nations, all that God wills, and all who bring forth good fruit, one of Alma’s main points:
Interestingly, four key words are given the special status of appearing seven times, emphasizing the completeness of revealed knowledge and of righteous joy, as well as the seven-fold holiness of the name of Jehovah (Lord):